Together with our Churches at the service of society [antikvár]

Preface We have known from the time of our King Saint Stephen, what benefits the church, benefits the whole country and vice versa. Sei-vices of churches, their intellectual and moral contribution to the life of society cannot be replaced by anything else. In places where hurches and religious groups are active, spiritual life is nourishing, and its profound influence can be noticed in everyday life. We Hungarians take pride in the fact that the Árpád dynasty gave the most saints and beatified people: St. Stephen, St. Emeric, St. Piroska of Hungary, St. Elizabeth, St. Margaret, St. Kinga, St. Hedwig, (Blessed) Gisela of Hungary, (Blessed) Jolenta of Poland and our last king, Charles IV is also among the blessed ones. Regardless of religious affiliation, it is a common human interest that one should be able to develop physically, intellectually and spiritually to their fullest, and churches play a very important role in this. When a relationship with God develops, it gives strength to people tired of their daily struggles to find balance and peace in their lives; and their prosperity benefits the whole society. The role of the state is to sustain the nation and improve the quality of life of its citizens. In order to realize that on intellectual and spiritual levels, the state needs to rely on the distinctive services of churches. Therefore, our church policy is built on harmonious cooperation and not on confrontation or dismissive separation of the state and the churches, since we are members of our churches and citizens of our countiy at the same time. This cooperation is the only option which serves the common good of the whole society, as we see it through the good examples of church-run universities, schools, dormitories, social institutions and hospitals. Since 2010, as a result of our cooperatíon, more than 3000 churches have been renovated and 150 new churches were built in Hungary and on territories populated by Hungarian kin-minorities in the Carpathian Basin. This is a tremendous achievement even by historical standards. Churches have not been built and renovated to such a great extent since the time of Saint Stephen. We are experiencing an intellectual warfare in Europe and all over the world. Our faith and civilization, our nations, communities, families and children are being threatened. Who can protect us, if not our churches?