Op an improvised trestle-table altar in the gymnasium of Talavera Barracks, Aldershot, the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop O'Hara, said NIass on Sunday for a congrega. lion of 700 Hungarian refugees.
Through a priest interpreter, Fr. Anton Molnar, the Archbishop said : "1 come to you from the Holy Father with a message of sympathy and love, assuring you of our great admiration for the heroic stand of the Hungarian people.
" Remember now that you are in the West, you need not fear to practise your religion."
He asked them to have patience since the authorities knew of their plight and everything possible is being done.
A woman led the Rosary in Hungarian during the Mass, and the congregation sang their national anthem and two hymns. The barracks, which is being used as a transit centre, has a floating population of about 3,000 refugees.
The Apostolic Delegate said he had himself been to Transylvania he was Papal Nuncio in Rumania and was expelled from Bucharest-and had seen the sufferings of the Bishops( and people there. He had also seen the faith of the Hungarian people at the 1939 Eucharistic Congress in Buda pest.
"Remember Our Blessed Lady, that she is watching over you. Put your trust in her, that she has care for you and understands all your needs." he said.
Confessions were heard continuously and Archbishop O'Hara gave Holy Communion during and after the Mass, at which he was assisted by Fr. Daniel O'Hanlon, parish priest of St. Joseph's Church, Aldershot, A number of engaged couples have already asked to be married here. " All these cases will have to be very carefully looked into." said a Catholic social worker at the Talavera centre. They saw the local registrar and were told that they must fulfill the necessary 18-day residential qualification.