The Bishop's Return

Lutheran Bishop Lajos Ordass (rhymes with war-dash) is a tough and gallant churchman. He was a valiant center of Hungary's anti-Nazi resistance during the occupation; in 1945 he was made Bishop of Budapest. The Communists found him no easier to handle than the Nazis had; he stubbornly resisted the nationalization of church schools. In 1948 the Communists arrested him on trumped-up charges of currency-law violation and sentenced him to two years in prison. Yielding to Communist pressure, the Hungarian Lutheran Church court deposed him as bishop. After his release in 1950, he retired to live quietly with his family in a Budapest apartment.

But Lutherans never ceased to work for the rehabilitation of Bishop Ordass. And as the leaders of the United Lutheran Church in America met last week for their 20th biennial convention in Harrisburg, Pa., good news came from Hungary. "The Presidential Council of the Supreme Court," growled Radio Budapest, "has declared Lajos Ordass not guilty for lack of evidence." The news was particularly gratifying to Manhattan's Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, re-elected president last week for his seventh term. Last summer Dr. Fry, chairman of the central committee of the World Council of Churches was in Galyatetoe, near Budapest, for a meeting of the committee (TIME, Aug. 13). Rehabilitation was in the air and the Reds were courting the good opinion of the West; Dr. Fry seized his chance. He opened direct negotiations with the Hungarian government. Together with World Council Secretary W. A. Visser 't Hooft and Lutheran Bishop Hanns Lilje of Hannover, Dr. Fry made many a hurried trip between Galyatetoe and Budapest and sat through many a tough-talking session before the Communists gave Dr. Fry assurance that Bishop Ordass would soon be completely exonerated. In addition to rehabilitation by the state, the Hungarian Lutheran Church has also revoked its deposition of

Ordass, will soon reinstate him as Bishop of Budapest. "Until then," said Ordass last week in a letter to his church, "I have agreed to serve as theology professor. I abdicate only temporarily until the obstacles to the return of my former office are cleared away."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.