Reformátusok Lapja, 1950 (50. évfolyam, 8-24. szám)
1950-06-15 / 12. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 3 ington, D. C., where they have formed an interdenominational Reformed congregation too, of which the president of the Federation, The Rev. Francis Újlaki, D. D., serves as pastor. In 1900, the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. also started work among Hungarian Reformed people, in such communities where they had not found any Reformed Church. This work also grew during all these years, and in the last public statement, issued in 1944, they listed 27 congregations, with 4,214 church members and 1,473 members in the Sunday Schools. The great difference between the work of these two denominations was and is that we in the Evangelical and Reformed Church enjoy complete and absolute autonomy in all the judicatories of the Church, starting from the congregations, through the old Classes (now Sections), through the Magyar Synod, even up to the General Synod; while in the Presbyterian Church, most of the congregations are only missions of large local American congregations, and there is no official judicatory for the Hungarians themselves on any of these levels. From 1906 to 1921 the Reformed Church of GENERAL SYNOD Mr. Thomas Yoczik, member and elder of the Hungarian Reformed Church in South Norwalk, Conn., also of the State Labor Board of the State of Connecticut. Mr. Julius Beriók, member and chief elder of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Toledo, Ohio. Alternate delegates are: Rev. Ladislaus Kecskeméthy, of Woodbridge, N. J., President of the Eastern Section, and chairman of the Committee on International Missions, of Magyar Synod; Rev. Stephen Sziártó, of Columbus, 0., now on leave-of-absence, Chairman of the Committee on National Missions in Magyar Synod; Rev. Charles Papp, of Toledo, O.; and Mr. Gustave Kovács, of Cleveland, O., chief elder of the First Hungarian Reformed Church, President of the National Association of Hungarian Reformed Presbyters; Mr. Michael B. Tusai, of Pittsburgh, Pa., elder of the Hungarian Reformed Church of Pittsburgh, District Manager of The Hungarian Reformed Federation; Mr. Louis Mucsi, of Detroit, Mich., chief elder of the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Detroit. Besides the delegates, we are quite sure that ministers of nearby Hungarian churches will also be present. The nearest Hungarian church to Collegeville is in Phoenixville, Pa., where Rev. Tibor Csikesz, Ph. D., is pastor; and the other one in Coatesville, Pa., which is served by Rev. William Tóth, Ph. D., Professor of History in Franklin and Marshall CoRege, Lancaster, Pa. Most certainly the President of Magyar Synod, Rev. Victor Rácz, pastor of our church in Passaic, N. J., will also appear at the meetings of the General Synod. And naturally, the editor of REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA, plans to attend in order that he could report on the meetings faithfully. Hungary established some kind of a preserving missionary work, into which many of our congregations went over, and many others were newly formed. After World War I, this movement collapsed and the Reformed Church of Hungary returned or turned over these congregations and their two Classes to our Church in 1921. Then all the three existing Classes were newly formed, according to geographical locations, first into three, later into four new Classes, working under the Eastern, Pittsburgh, Ohio and Chicago Synod, respectively. In 1939, after the Evangelical Synod and Reformed Church merged, these four Classes were absorbed by the newly organized Magyar Synod, which maintains now four Sections on the síimé geographical lines, on account of the immense territory of the Synod. In 1922, a Hungarian chair was established in Lancaster, Pa., in the Franklin and Marshall College and in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church, to facilitate the higher education of Hungarian youth and help in their preparation for the bilingual ministry in our Hungarian congregations. Rev. Alexander Tóth, formerly pastor of the First Church in Cleveland, O., was teaching here for fourteen years, until the great depression compelled the Board of Home Missions to give up this important undertaking, the loss of which is even today highly regretted by all our Hungarian constituency. Later, a chair was established in Elmhurst College, in Elmhurst, 111., where the late Rev. Barnabas Dienes taught until he was called to other fields, first in Europe, later in South America. Today the Rev. Wallingford Desmond D. Parragh, of Chicago, 111., serves this post gathering a fairly large group of students. After the Lancaster work was abandonned, the Board of National Missions employed Dr. Alexander Tóth as its Hungarian Secretary, later also charging him with the responsibility of the editing and publishing this paper. The Presidents of Magyar Synod up to now were: Rev. Barnabas Dienes, D. D.; Rev. Matthias Daróczy; Rev. Victor Rácz. Each served two terms. Present term expires in 1951. Some statistical data: In 56 charges, we have 64 congregations, 48 ministers serving in them (12 other ministers serving no charges). The number of students preparing for the ministry is 17. Number of / South Norwalk
