The priest students of the Diocese can learn English and Italian abroad. Father Levente Serfőző also speaks the latter language and has recently defended his doctoral thesis in Rome.
In the Szeged-Csanád Diocese there is a strong emphasis on enriching priests with foreign language skills and traveling to Verona and Dublin from year to year. They can spend one month via scholarship funding in their respective countries.
This year, the palette will be expanded with German
Monks and priests from all over the world come to study with them in Italian and English. Not only do they practice spelling, grammar, or reading, but also mass, prayer, and joint programs are conducted in the native language of the country, increasing their vocabulary. This is also a good basis for the language exam. ’We want to expand the opportunities this year with a German course, so students can travel to Vienna’, he said.
Specific language exam
The Bishop's Educational Vicar also helps prospective priests to learn the language, and is sometimes referred to as Italian. He added that students at Gál Ferenc College will receive a professional language exam, so they will also learn expressions related to administrative work, liturgy and other ecclesiastical activities.
He was a doctor in Rome
Serfőző himself studied in Italy, attended postgraduate training in Rome between 2009 and 2012 and then obtained his certificate. On January 21 this year, he reached another milestone, defending his doctoral thesis at the Salesian Papal University.
He told our newspaper he was surprised to find that six pastors from his diocese had accompanied him, and that the Hungarian Ambassador to the Holy See, the first counselor of the Holy Embassy, and the rector of the Hungarian Pontifical Institute were present at the one and a half hour defense. In addition, Hungarian pastors studying and serving in Rome, and two Hungarian students studying at the university, were there all along.
Many in the diocese already hold a doctoral title, but Levente Serfőző is the only one who defended in Rome his thesis. He said this was because he started his studies there, so he wanted to finish there.
He wrote about catechesis
In the first part of the dissertation, the former Hungarian student at the Hungarian Pontifical Institute presented the experiences of catechesis and training in a domestic context, as well as the results of research conducted by faith teachers of the Szeged-Csanád Diocese.
