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Church Life
The new
settlers, from the beginning of their
presence in Scheindorf, tried to get a
priest. Supervisor Mlinaricz showed great
interest in the development of a sound and
solid community and wanted to fulfill the
wishes of the settlers. Subject to the
approval of the count, he reached an
agreement with the faithful, which stated
that the count's estate would pay the cost
and support of a chaplain during the time
they worked for the count and the tax-free
years. At the end of that time, the Swabians
would take over the cost. The pastor of
Erdeed, under whose care they would be,
agreed to the arrangement. How long the
Scheindorfers were served by Erdeed we don't
know. At any rate, it was only a short time.
At the same time, the people in Hamroth were
supposed to get a pastor. In fact, in 1781,
there already was a priest in Hamroth who
made the first entries in the Church record.
He also had the job to serve the Catholics
in Scheindorf. This relationship to Hamroth
lasted until 1861, when Bishop Haas raised
Scheindorf to an independent parish, and
appointed Johann Pradl, a priest from the
Steiermark, as its first pastor. Pradl
worked in Scheindorf until 1869.
Since Scheindorf was not one of the larger
parishes, the day-to-day work had to be done
by the pastor himself. Johann Ettinger, who
was pastor for many years, was given an
assistant priest because of his bad health.
From 1921-1943, seventeen assistants worked
with him.
Scheindorf Pastors:
1861-1869 Johann
Pradl
1914-1943 Johann Ettinger
1869-1883 Josef Weber
1943-1944 Stefan
Brendli
1883-1886 Michael Hohl
1944-1947 Johann Ettinger
1886-1905
Adalbert Ternyey
1947-1951 Franz Fischer-Fenyi
1905-1914 Johann Erni
1951-1957 Michael
Kind-Tyukodi
1957- Matthias Pfeiffer
Assistant Priests:
Franz Tillinger
Martin Tempfli
Stefan Brendli
Franz
Kern
Stefan Tempfli
Anton Heveli
Michael Kunz
Georg Muller
Hans Czumbil
Alois Baumgartner
Johann Muller
Lorenz
Gnandt-Geller
Martin Fugg
Wendelin
Fuhrmann
Wendelin Uhl-Baranyai
Franz
Hartmann
Ferdinand Flesch
The
first church was built by the faithful in
1835. The first rectory was not necessary
until 1861 when the parish became
established independently. One year later,
on July 8, 1862, a fire destroyed both
church and rectory. Since many houses and
businesses also fell victim to the fire, and
thus the community was not blessed with
earthly goods, the people were in a terrible
position. Through exemplary sacrifice, it
was possible to rebuild the church and
rectory. However, there was not enough money
to build a bell tower. This work was not
possible until 1871, when the diocese was
able to give the parish financial help. On
July 26, 1871, on the day of the church
fair, the dedication took place.
Bishop Haas, who had a soft spot in his
heart for the parish, gave the church a bell
and also an organ in 1864. In 1896, the
organ had to be replaced; a new one was
bought for 800 Gulden in Grosskarol.
In the fall of 1905, there was another fire
in Scheindorf. This time, the rectory was a
victim of the flames. The rebuilding, which
was completed on July 26, 1906, did not cost
the parish much money, because the insurance
paid 2,430 Kronen, and the diocese
contributed 1,000 Kronen. With this help, it
was possible to replace the straw roof with
a tiled roof.
In 1928, the building
of the cemetery chapel cost 91,670 Lei. It
was financed by contributions from parish
members. The acquisition of new bells and
the carrying out of needed repairs
constantly needed a large supply of money,
but thanks to the generosity of the people
in Scheindorf as well as those overseas, the
cost was always covered. In 1937, it was
decided to enlarge and renovate the church.
The cost was estimated at 600,000 Lei. Each
family would contribute 3,000 Lei. The first
contributions were raised, and the church
council was able to buy the first materials.
Then World War II broke out, and the
building stopped.
In the second half
of the nineteenth century, the Sathmar
bishops, as well as the priests of the
diocese, made a great effort to introduce
into the Swabian communities Hungarian
sermons and hymns. We know that on May 14,
1884, in Fienen, an assembly of priests of
the Grosskarol church district asked the
bishop of Sathmar if he would give an order
"that in those parishes, where the sermon
and hymns were always in German, that they
should be alternatingly Hungarian one week,
and German the next". Although the Swabian
faithful were probably not asked whether
they agreed with this proposal, Bishop
Schlauch introduced the Hungarian language.
As a result of the effort of the priests, it
is reported that in 1904, in eight Swabian
parishes the sermons were only in Hungarian,
but in 17 parishes they were in German and
Hungarian. In spite of those orders, Father
Adalbert Terneyey preached to the
Scheindorfer only in their mother tongue
during his 19-year tenure. It fell to his
successor to introduce Hungarian sermons.
Father Johann Erni, born in Schinal,
preached for the first time in Hungarian on
October 22, 1905, after being pastor for
three weeks. How the faithful, who spoke or
understood Hungarian either then or later,
reacted to this act, unfortunately we don't
know. This arrangement continued until World
War I. In 1921, the church and school
council decided to change this so that the
sermons would be German three times a month,
and Hungarian only once a month. The
assembly agreed with this decision.
By the year 1934, in the Scheindorf church,
sermons, songs, and prayers were only in
German. The goal of the Swabian faithful to
stay true to their mother tongue in religion
was reached.
[Credits,
Originally Published by Jody McKim Pharr at the DVHH.org 29 Sep 2006]
[Published by Sarah Coraggio
at the DVHH on 2 October 2018]
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Last
Updated:
13 Oct 2018 |
Keeping the Danube
Swabian legacy alive!
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