Hungarian Jesuits have been offering a wide variety of online initiatives since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Beside a full-scale range of Eucharist broadcasts, there are digital prayer sheets, audio examens and other materials also available, encouraging individuals, couples and families to look upon their home as a sanctuary, and lead prayers on their own.

However, living behind closed doors for weeks, maybe months at length, is not at all easy. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic gave a special touch to this year’s lent period: it has made us halt, revise our daily life and face our boundaries. What is more, all that is happening to us may cause a turmoil in our soul, existential questions may arise and we might also have uncertainties.

This has made the Hungarian Jesuits and their companions – religious and lay people alike –, trained at the Ignatian Spiritual Centre Manréza in Dobogókő, offer online spiritual direction and support for anyone who seeks to find God in these special circumstances, would find stillness or ask guidance for their prayers. In our Online Port, the dates and times available are listed in an online calendar; once you have registered to one of the spiritual guides, he or she will contact you in order to arrange how – via Skype, Zoom, Hangouts, etc. – the talk will take place.

This initiative goes hand in hand with a similar one offered by Oasis Pastoral Care and Mental Health Service, supported by the Hungarian Province of the Society of Jesus. Face-to-face counselling being unavailable amidst the pandemic, they also offer online opportunities to those who are in need of supportive listening, accompaniment and pastoral counselling.