On May 17, 2025, the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom hosted the 23rd Warwick Symposium on Parish Research, where Béla Vilmos Mihalik, senior research fellow and scientific secretary at the Institute of History of the HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities, presented his paper.
Organized by the My-Parish Network, the symposium focused on “Parish Communication,” exploring how parishes communicated with their congregations, ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and how these interactions were reflected in external discourses across different historical periods.
In his presentation titled “The Jews of the Parish: Communicating the Otherness,” Béla Vilmos Mihalik examined a case from 1780–1786 in eastern Hungary. The incident involved the informal, playful baptism of a three-year-old Jewish girl by the daughters of a noble family. The matter eventually drew the attention of Emperor Joseph II, who personally adjudicated the case.
Mihalik’s analysis highlighted the varying interpretations of the event at different levels — the local community, the Diocese of Eger, Szabolcs County, the Royal Council of Lieutenancy, and the Hungarian Royal Chancellery. He explored how official discourse on religious difference was constructed and how ecclesiastical and state legal arguments intertwined in the 18th century. The case exemplified the contrasting interpretive frameworks of the Catholic Church and the Enlightenment-influenced Josephinist state regarding the fate of the child.
The full program of the symposium is available for download.
