ACTA SZEKSZARDIENSIUM - Pécsi Tudományegyetem Illyés Gyula ...

Márta Korpics
sacral scenes.
The postmodern society had its deep impact on the lives of the churches. The unity
of the church was exchanged for the diversity of a great number of small communities
and much more emphasis was laid on individualization. A new type of communication
and the revision of the concept of unity of the churches were developed (Máté-Tóth 1999,
161-163). 13 Another factor also plays an important role in the changes in individual and
community religiousness. On the part of the individual, getting personal experiences is
a decisive social endeavor (c.f. Schulze 1992). This is the motivation behind the form
of religiousness that is termed “bricolage” or “patchwork” religiousness by sociologists.
(Berger 2004; Tomka 1986). One way of getting experiences is being involved in a
community: this is the communitas experience described by Turner (1997; Turner-Turner
1978). 14
If churches are considered communities then various types of community existence
should be differentiated. The current research will focus on the second and third scenes
and churches will be regarded as special communities in the description and analysis.
Regarding the church a community does not entail studying formal church communities;
but studying the specific features of the religious small communities, associations and
movements that are connected to the church. 15 These spiritual movements and small
communities are present in the lives of the churches and societies in a subterranean
way; still they have a strong cohesive power. The goal of the current research is to study
this cohesion. It is related to the questions above: the role and status of the church in the
society, and the role of the communities in the life of the society and in the construction
and mediation of values. The issue of communities and the related thematizations have
recently been emphasized within the Catholic Church. This is first and foremost a
consequence of the paradigm shift that took place in the Second Vatican Council. 16 As
far as the future and mission of religion and church are concerned, one of the most
frequently raised questions is the issue of small communities. The renewal of churches
is possible via the renewal of communities only. Thematization and research of religious
communities have commenced. First, an inventory on the communities (Ilyés 2009),
second, efforts to outline an adequate typology were made (Béres 2010; Tomka Ferenc
1999; Máté-Tóth 1999). Further, studying narratives about the communities has also
started. (Máté-Tóth 2010).
13 Wolfgang Huber, a theologian of the Reformed Church has called the attention to the fact that the
churches may have a very significant role in mediating between individual and community life (Huber
2002, 15).
14 Group pilgrimage is an effort to experience communitas (Pusztai 2000; Korpics 2000; 2011a; 2011b). In
his doctoral dissertation Pusztai claims that religious “tourists” escape from the communities that are not
able to integrate them and do not offer substantial experiences to search for more authentic experiences
(Pusztai 2009).
15 The nature of the attachment and relation is the object of the study.
16 According to a definition by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church is the church of communities
and its essence is communio, living and experiencing love and community (Gánóczy 2001; 2006; Lafont
2007; O’Malley 2007; Wildmann 2006).
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