Babes-Bolyai University
Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology
Doctoral School - Religion, Culture, Society

The Romanian Association of Hungarian Doctoral Students and Young Researchers (RODOSZ) organised an interdisciplinary international conference in Cluj-Napoca on 10-11 November. Two sessions were devoted to the field of theology. Both the Doctoral School of Religion, Culture and Society and the Ecumenical Doctoral School were represented by speakers in the sections on Church History and Theory and Empirical Research. Several of them were among the prize winners.

As we have been informed by the current news of the Catholic University of Linz, the head of the doctoral program of our Doctoral School, Dr. Klára Csiszár, professor at the Catholic University of Linz, after being elected Dean of the Faculty of Theology on 26 January 2023, has received the “Nihil obstat” of the Holy See.
At the same time, the Senate of the University elected him Vice-Rector for Education and Research, an election confirmed by the Bishop Manfred Scheuer as Magnus Cancellarius on 7 November 2023.
Congratulations to both of you for your responsible mandate! We wish God bless you and help you to fulfil your duties.

The XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be attended by Archbishop Dr. Gergely Kovács, Archbishop of Gulaforevo, representing the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, by Bishop Cristian Crișan, Greek Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Gulaforevo-Fogaras, representing the Eastern Rite, and by Bishop József-Csaba Paul, Bishop of Timisoara, as a Papal Appointed Member. Klára Csiszár, our colleague, head of the doctoral programme of our doctoral school and head professor at the Institute of Pastoral Theology of the Catholic University of Linz, is the first Hungarian woman to be appointed as an expert.

In order to gain experience and build partnerships with the universal Church, two lecturers of the doctoral school of the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of the University of Babeș-Bolyai University, Klára Csiszár and János Vik, visited the Philippines between 7-14 April 2023. The short visit to the Philippines was limited to the capital, Manila, and the town of Tagaytay, about 60 km away. During the one-week stay, four Catholic higher education institutions were visited, the first three of which have their own Catholic doctoral schools: the Catholic University of St. Thomas Aquinas (UST), the Jesuit-run private university Ateneo de Manila (AdMU), the Jesuit-run Institute for Missionary Studies on the Divine Word (DWIMS) and the Institute of Consecrated Life Asia (ICLA).

Dr. Dávid Diósi, PhD supervisor and István Faragó, third year PhD student at the Pannonhalma liturgical study days Praecedet suos in Galilaeam

It has become a tradition that our doctoral team, led by Klára Csiszár, meets every six months for two days for a so-called doctoral colloquium, where we present the current stage of our doctoral work, where we are with our research, what joys and difficulties we have experienced in the past six months and what plans we have for the next six months.

The book with the above title is an edited version of the lectures of the eight-part forum series organized by the Faludi Ferenc Jesuit Academy of the Society of Jesus of Hungary between December 2021 and December 2022, published by the Faludi Ferenc Jesuit Academy – Jesuit Publishing House.
The volume will be presented by Professor Dr. József Benedek, co-editor, on Wednesday, 28 June 2023, at 19:00 in the Márton Áron Hall of the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology.

The Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of the Babeș-Bolyai University and the Doctoral School of Religion, Culture, Society, organized by Dr. Klára Csiszár, professor of the Katholische Privatuniversität Linz, PhD supervisor of our doctoral school, will give a lecture entitled World Synod: Insights, Tensions, Conclusions on 6 June 2023 at 19.00 in the Márton Áron Hall of the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology.

The speaker, Dr. Klára Csiszár, is a member of the international team writing the final document of the Prague Continental Synod.

Scholarship opportunity for doctorate or habilitation with focus on pastoral theology (but not only) in Vienna and Linz. We look forward to receiving applications!

The synodal journey of the German local Church, like the synodal journey of the universal Catholic Church, is the result of the transformation processes that began in our Church at different times in the wake of Vatican II, but which are moving in the same direction. This question is analysed by our colleague Dr. János Vik, PhD supervisor at our doctoral school.