The interest shown by the Magyar Tribune in the organization of a parish for the Chicago north-side Hungarian Catholics has stirred [the desire for] activity in the hearts of the Hungarians of Chicago. In the past few years many things have been said in regards to the situation which has left the Hungarian Catholics of the North Side looking like orphans; their desire that a parish be established has never been realized. All their cries have been in vain. It is the duty of the Catholics of Chicago to find out why these people have been so neglected. These cries and pleas disappear within the home of Father Stephen Soltesz, who is the Catholic priest in the Hungarian Catholic parish located on the South Side of Chicago.

Many people have observed with interest the activities of the Hungarian Catholics of the North Side. Among them was Father Menyhert Erduhely who is now located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But the results of their activities were all the same; Father Stephen Soltesz, openly stated that as long as he was in Chicago, 2there would be no other Catholic parish established here, and that he would do everything in his power to stop the organization of a Hungarian Catholic parish on the North Side of Chicago.

It requires two hours of street-car riding for the average Hungarian Catholic to reach the church which Father Stephen Soltesz is serving. These people will not spend four hours traveling to and from church every Sunday. As a result, they have neglected their Catholic duties to the church, and the younger generation is growing up without faith. All this profitless selfishness is due to a fear that has no basis in reason.

According to official figures there are twenty-six thousand Hungarian-born people living in Chicago. Of these people there are approximately thirteen thousand Catholics, and Father Soltesz has approximately four hundred of them belonging to his parish. We know that many of the people who emigrated from Hungary are German-speaking people. These German-speaking Hungarians, most of whom live on the North Side, belong to St. Michael and St. Joseph German Catholic Church; their number is approximately one thousand, so there remains 3approximately eleven thousand Hungarian-Catholic immigrants in Chicago without a parish. Keeping in mind the strict immigration laws of the past ten years, most of the Chicago-Hungarian immigrants, elderly folks with families and their children, are not included in the figures mentioned above. Naturally, the German-Hungarians of the North Side talk nothing but German and, therefore, as far as they are concerned, there are no Hungarian-speaking Catholics on the North Side. If Father Soltesz is not acquainted with these figures, he certainly knows of the powerful Hungarian societies that exist in that part of the city; therefore Father Soltesz cannot be working for the welfare of the Church.

In the past two years Father Soltesz has refused to allow any Hungarian-Catholic priest to come into Chicago. He turned back a missionary priest sent here by the Bishop of Budapest, after which the Bishop condemned the Hungarian Catholics of America in a very critical article written in one of the daily papers, Est, in Budapest. Father Soltesz showed his hostility in the last month or so, when he openly fought against the appearance of Father Hemm, a Jesuit missionary.

Father Soltesz opposed the activities of Dr. Lipot Mosonyi, who worked among the North Side Hungarians on two occasions, during which time he worked with them in order to improve their religious attitude and their general Hungarian spirit. It is this kind of a man that the North Side Hungarians want for their priest, one who unselfishly devotes his time to his own herd.

But what did Father Soltesz do? He immediately started activities to stop the organization of a Hungarian-Catholic parish on the North Side. His basis for stopping these activities was that the Hungarians who lived in this district were German-speaking, and the German-Catholic churches could take these people into their fold. Father Soltesz denied religious rights to ten thousand Hungarian Catholics.

It is very evident that there will not be another Hungarian-Catholic church in Chicago ,so long as Father Soltesz is here. Yet there are three Hungarian-Protestant churches here and two Hungarian-Greek Orthodox churches. Those who have eyes must see, and those who have ears must hear.