Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Takács, János

Hungarian chaplain; born Szuhogy, Hungary, 11 January 1906; died Sydney, 28 January 1983, aged 77.

From humble origins, at the age of sixteen, János Takács joined the Society, 30 July 1922. While still studying theology, in 1932, he went to the Hungarian mission in China. After a year of Chinese language studies in Daming, he studied theology in Shanghai where he also did some pastoral work among the local Hungarian community. He was ordained, 3 January 1937, and completed his tertianship in Wuhu, Anhui Province.

The Hungarian Jesuits took over an area from the French Jesuit Mission in the southern part of Hebei Province, the region of Daming, 11 March 1935. There were 36,012 Christians in 1934 in the south. This number grew to 43,000 in 1954.

Although gifted in the sacred sciences and destined to become a professor of theology in Shanghai, Xujiahui, Takács preferred the poor missionary life in Hebei. On 2 September 1942 he became the second and the youngest superior of the mission, succeeding Miklós Szarvas, and gave shape to the Daming Jesuit community.

In this latter job he was very exacting in carrying out instructions from higher superiors, such as forbidding the Jesuits to smoke cigarettes. He administered the mission during the Japanese invasion and subsequent Communist oppression with courage. After the confiscation of the mission's goods, his preoccupation was to save the native sisters and the seminarians. In October 1946 he ordered all Hungarian Jesuits to leave Daming, but he returned to the mission, and continued to be a presence among the Christians. On 7 February 1947 he left the city together with the Guomindang forces.

However, he returned to Daming in 1948, continuing his missionary work clandestinely by lying hidden during the days while visiting and comforting the dispersed Christians at night with Mass and the sacraments. He was caught several times, but each time managed to escape. When his presence around Daming endangered the Christians in the north, he settled down in Changyuan in the southern part of the mission and took care of about 2000 Christians working in the dispensary together with István Jaschkó. During this period of the severest persecution he baptised 3000 Christians. He spent three years under house arrest tilling the soil for his own sustentation, completely isolated from his Christian community. Finally, he was put in prison and underwent 'popular judgment' during which he was beaten severely and eventually expelled from China in 1954.

While superior of the mission, some perceived him as taking on too many tasks: superior, rector, vicar delegate, vicar forane, inspector of mission schools, teaching in school, and visiting rural Christian communities, to name a few. In 1947 he held few consultations and rarely sought advice. In his judgments he did not appear to show suitable prudence when dealing with difficulties as they arose. He would begin things but hardly ever completed them. He found it hard to communicate well with collaborators, and was not generous with salaries to paid workers. He even found it hard to work well with the Apostolic Prefect. On the other hand, he had some very difficult Jesuits to work with; some had mental illnesses; others he could not trust.

After leaving China, he spent a short time in Macao, then took up residence in Taiwan, and began missionary activity in Xiangshan, near Xinzhu. He built two churches with annexes and within a short time he baptized 300 Christians. He found this work difficult because he had to learn a new language as an older man, and his former catechist from the mainland could not get along well with the Taiwanese people. Another factor was that the people he served became more urbanised, and he was more isolated. He tried another parish, Xinzhu in 1965, with other Hungarians, but this did not work either.

He decided to leave Taiwan and went to Australia in 1974 to care for Hungarian emigrants, and hopefully raise funds for the China mission. Even here he was depressed with the worldliness which material success had brought his people. He had asked to return to Taiwan, but died suddenly while caring for aged Hungarians in a nursing home, attached to the Lavender Bay community.

Takács was also a very good musician, especially at the organ, and led a simple, austere religious life, with poor health, but with firm faith and missionary zeal.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)