The official picture of minorities in Bacau

 

An exhibition representing the minority groups living in Bacau County was opened in the Iulian Antonescu Museum on 12 February 2008. At least this was the purpose of the exhibition, as we learned it from the director of the museum and the manager of the ethnography department. In the spirit of multiculturalism and by keeping European diversity in mind, the organisers intended to illustrate the material culture of the minorities living in Bacau County. We could see documents, objects and photos demonstrating the culture and society of Armenians, Romas, Jews and finally the Roman Catholics at the exhibition. The Moldovan Csangos were not mentioned; they were in fact defined as a religious, and not as an ethnic minority group. Despite the spirit of the minority event organised in December, here the Csangos were not present, and the representatives of the minorities did not get the word either. Moreover, the program included mostly Romanian folk dances and Roma dances performed by the majority group.

Apart from the opening of the exhibition, the latest two works of the historian, Anton Coşa were also presented at the event. One of the volumes was the publication of the author's doctor's dissertation by the Sapientia Publishing House in Iaşi (Jászvásár), which is the publisher of the Roman Catholic Theological Institute. The title of the work is Catolicii din Moldova în Izvoarele Sfântului Scaun (Secolele XVII-XVIII) meaning, The Moldovan Catholics in the mirror of the Holy Chair in the XVII-XVIII centuries. The nearly 600-page book was appraised by Ştefan Lupu, director of the publishing house, while the author himself received appreciation from Ion H. Ciubotariu, his previous professor at Iasi University.
The second volume to be introduced at the exhibition was a publication of the Magic Print (Onesti) publishing house. The title of this book is Comunităţile Catolice din Judeţul Bacău, meaning, Catholic Parishes in Bacau County. This volume offers demographical, historical and administrative data with lots of pictures and abundant literature and documented background information from 57 parishes in Bacau County in alphabetical order.

Bejan Gheorghe, president of the Dumitru Martinas Association, Petru Gherghel Roman Catholic Bishop of Iasi, and Ioan Lacatusu, representative of the Covasna County Archives held a speech at the event; in addition the Director of the Bacau Archives was also present.
They all praised the efforts of the author and rejected several times those unscientific and untrue approaches that name the Moldovan Catholics as of Hungarian origin. Petru Gherghel bishop emphasised that the volumes were part of the Episcopal program and all the other programs monitored by the parish, since one of their goal is to build a future on solid base with the legacy of the true past. He blessed Anton Cosa's researches, saying that this kind of work had to be continued. Owing to the fact that several Vatican documents had also been forwarded to the Iasi Episcopacy, their assimilation needed plenty of work in the coming future.

The Association of Csango-Hungarians in Moldova rejects the notion that the Moldovan Csangos can only be defined as a religious minority group, just as well those pursuits that there are events related to minority groups without the actual presence of the minorities in question.

 

The director of the museum is talking; the material culture of the Moldovan Catholic minority in the background	Introduction of Anton Cosa's books	Stefan Lupu and Bejan Gheorghe (third and fourth from the left)
Adrian Solomon, President of MCSMSZ in the audience	The opened exhibition	Romanian folk music performance at the exhibition of the minorities
Cultural diversity is for everyone, but the Csangos do not exist	Petru Gherghel among girls dressed in minority costume	Roma dance, Romanian dancers

18 February 2008.

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