Just a little background story: I went to the regional English competition which was held at
the Saint Margaret High School in Budapest. I got the third place in it, so I was able to go to
the next round which was organised in Kalocsa and students from all over the country came
to participate.
All in all, the whole competition was really nice, the only bad thing was that I needed to get
up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get to Kalocsa by 8.30 and I was a bit tired during the
competition. However, as I said, I enjoyed it. If the time comes, I’ll certainly take part in
another competition of this type even if it is more difficult or at a higher level of language.
Nagy László 9.a
Pope Francis declared this new church year beginning at Advent the Year for Consecrated Life. He, with his Jesuit roots, wants to point out that purity, poverty and submission are gifts from God and the Church is guarding them by the grace of God.
Consecrated Life can be of several kinds. They own gifts according to God’s Grace for them: they may follow the praying Christ (contemplative orders), or the one preaching God’s kingdom and helping people (apostolic orders like Congregatio Jesu), or Christ living among us in the world (newly-found orders and communities), but they always follow Christ, who acts upon the will of the Father.
In the Year of Consecrated Life everyone can get acquainted with the rich variety that has been bought to life by the Grace of God in Hungary and the world via different programmes, and also in print and the media.
The motto of Mary Ward Schools in Hungary this year is REFER EVERYTHING TO GOD. To be able to understand it more thoroughly a new prayer will be introduced in this Advent. Every day around noon we are going to hold an Examen, an examination of our conscience. We are going to stop and think about the day behind us and contemplate about the tasks before us, aiming at a kind of religiousness which does not consist of only set prayers and taking part in liturgy but connecting everything that happens to us with God. This is what Mary Ward described as referring everything to God.
I hope that the Examen and all the happenings in the Year of Consecrated Life are going to take every one of us closer to our loving God, who looks after all of us.
Judit Knáb
provincial superior
Our school, formerly known as the School of the English Ladies, maintained by Congregatio Jesu (CJ), has been educating pupils since 1787, with a gap of 49 years between 1948 and 1997. In the 2015/2016 termweare going to start a secondary school for musical arts with Church musician, Classical musician with early music specialization, and Folk musician directions.
Professional knowledge can be learnt parallelly with high level academic studies, and in technical and further education after school leaving exams.
Our starting trainings aim to nurture universal, European, and national traditions as well as to protect our cultural heritage. Such training is not available on secondary level in Hungary at the moment, so our initiative is of a pioneering character. In our classical musician specialities we put an emphasis on teaching historian rendering, presenting and using period performing practices.
These three musical directions in one school mean a considerable surplus as ages and styles, sacred and lay, individual and communal experiences and active and receptive roles exercise mutual influence.
We are co-operating with the departments of Liszt Ferenc University of Musical Art in connection with our starting training courses. Students graduating from us can find jobs requiring intermediate level musical qualifications as well as go into higher education.
The founder of Congregatio Jesu, Mary Ward also found it important to educate the whole person, to emphasize emotional education. We would like to provide this for our students and by them the society of the future by starting our secondary school for musical art.
Kálmán Némethy
headmaster
Benefit Concert for Mary Ward Elementary and Grammar School of Budapest
28th November 2014 Friday 7.00 pm
1. A. Vivaldi: Concerto in G-Minor for Flute „La Notte” (The night) RV 439
2. A. Vivaldi: Concerto in D MajorforLute RV 93
3. Pál Esterházy: Harmonia caelestis – 5 cantatas
Nil canitur iucundius
Jesu, dulcedo
O, nitida stella Maria
O mors, o mors
Triumphate
4. W. A. Mozart: Adagio in E Major for Violin and Orchestra KV 261
5. W. A. Mozart: A Little Night Music KV 525
Performers:
Mária Zádori – sopran, prized with Liszt Award
and
the teachers of the Mary Ward Music High School of Budapest:
Katalin Kállay – flute
István Győri – lute
Piroska Vitárius – violin
Savaria Baroque Orchestra (Budapest) plays
period instruments
Artistic director: Pál Németh
conductor, flutist, prized with Liszt Award
Savaria Baroque Orchestra
It is one of the post-orchestras of Capella Savaria, founded by Pál Németh, flustist and conductor in 1981.
Their aims are showing the music of the 17-18th centuries authentically based on contemporary documents as well as depicting the values of the musical past of Hungary.
Their repertoire covers a wide variety of genres from early Baroque to classical, from Monteverdi to Mozart. They have introduced to the Hungarian and national public such masterpieces as Pál Esterházy’s Harmonia Caelestis collection or the album called Hungarian Dances showing the birth of Hungarian Verbunk by discovering hidden treasures of Hungarian and international libraries. Besides showing the records of several decades of Joseph Haydn’s work in Hungary, they are also proud of the introduction of the less known Michael Haydn’s works. More than 80 CDs of theirs present classical masters’ – Händel, Bach, Vivaldi és Mozart – less frequently heard works of art.
They make great effort to introduce Hungarian-related Baroque and classical chamber operas. As a regular orchestra for Budapest Chamber Opera they find it very important to introduce classical music to young generations. They have performed in several national and international concert halls, churches and on festivals.
Pál Németh
conductor, artistic leader, prized with Liszt Award
This month there was a school-leaving ball in Mary Ward School of Budapest again. This is an exciting and uplifting moment in the lives of teachers and students as well, a kind of rehearsal for the school leaving exams. It is not only an exam in knowledge, but also humanity, manners, creativity, dance and sharing community and individual experiences.
Still, I had more tears in my eyes this year than ever before, and moments have still been coming up in my memory since then.
These kids went to class 10 when I was the headmistress of this school. Several of them were frequent visitors in my office, not only because they were naughty, but also because they needed attention, human words. They only came when their form-mistresses, Zsuzsanna Buzgó and Veronika Guld had no more time or ideas to help them. These fantastic teachers, who did not give up on their students and believed this day would come, could really celebrate at the school leaving ball. They constantly believed that there is a possibility in every child to become healthy adults, who can be themselves, and dare to face their faults and hidden talents.
This school leaving ball was not special because of its special performances, but because the students could show their hidden selves: Niki could dance as a seeing person, Csilla was better at dancing rock and roll than a lot of model-figured girls.
In the majority of society, where the main objective of schools is to give knowledge only, Mary Ward School is not noted. In this part of society, where people are categorised by achievements and “objective” and comparable rates and figures, you will not find our school in the top 50.
But in the society of those building upon Christian values, looking to the future, where the school itself and Congregatio Jesu, the maintainer of the school belongs, we are certainly among the first three schools. Unfortunately, however, there is no official indicator of this yet. The achievements are revealed at certain occasions only, when we allow our hearts to see what is below the surface.
We owe gratitude to our colleagues who work in the hiddenness of everyday life ad educate these kids to become adults who has a healthy soul, who can reveal and use their abilities and who are sensitive to others’ problems!
Thank you for showing this valuable “achievement” at this school leaving ball, which was not measureable but deeply touched everybody.
Viktória Kaszap CJ
