In a message dated 7/22/2005 8:37:25 PM US Eastern Standard Time, JANDA143@aol.com writes: <<,I am finding that many of the baptisms were performed for Lutherans. Is that common and why would they go to a Catholic church to baptize their children?>>> Greetings All Since you didn't indicate the time period for which you have noticed these baptisms in the records, I'm going to guess that they are either prior to ~1790, or they were for a very very remote village that wasn't regularly (or often) visited by a circuit rider Lutheran pastor. In the first example, prior to the Edict of Toleration by Austrian Emperor Joseph, all baptisms and marriages had to be performed by a Catholic priest -- that was the law -- and the recording of all events was to be by the Catholic church -- again, the law. When Germans from the Holy Roman Empire immigrated to repopulate Hungary beginning ~1715 (work for the landlords essentially), they had to be Catholic in order to be sponsored by the Austrian gov;t. Lutherans went to Hungary anyway because there were numerous *tolorent* landlords who allowed Lutherans to have a pastor (but not churches until late 1780s -- they had to "follow their religion" in private) -- so in those villages (and those nearby), you'll find records for Lutherans kept by the pastor (who was also many times also the schoolteacher). The same can be said for Calvinists, or the Reformed church. As I understand it, the real rub for Lutherans living in 'Catholic' villages in those early days was not the difference in the organized church, it was having to PAY the fees to the Catholic church that were charged -- alter fees, priest fees, use fees etc. in order to get married and have a child baptized. Essentially, there was not the freedom of religion as we know it today, although the culture was not completely intolerant either. Also, the role of the church was much different then in Europe, than we experience today. At that time, the church WAS the authority in the village along with the owner (landlord) of the village. People were no more or less pious then, than they are now. Some went to church regularly and celebrated the feast days (catholic) etc., and some didn't. All of which is meant to indicate that the fact one finds records in a particular set of books does not indicate an affiliation with that church or religion (people could not choose which 'church' to attend as was the case in USA) -- the recording of vital events was by law the responsibility of the Catholic church in Hungary (and elsewhere) until the late 1780s. The other reason you'll find Lutheran records in Catholic books even after ~1790, is that the village was in a location that did not have access to a Lutheran pastor -- either in a nearby village or in a village that was on the route of a traveling pastor. As with all things, as time went on, people reported events (this was the law) to whatever authority was available to report to, and as toleration grew, and a village with Lutherans or Calvinists could afford it, they would support a leader of their own faith and you'll find separate vital records for additional religions. One finds Lutheran, and Catholic people recorded in the Greek Orthodox records for some small villages in 'old Slavonia' (now Croatia) for example. Hope this provides a little insight Linda