Bethlen Évkönyv, 1993-1996 (Ligonier)
Sándor J. Farkas: The Dooe is always open
THE DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN Sándor J. Farkas The development of an ecumenial home for refugees and the affirmation of a vision. During the Lenten season of 1974, Hungarian Presbyterian Church was wrestling with the question of what to do with its former manse in downtown Youngstown. Should it be rented? Should it be torn down for additional parking? Along with these practical possibilities, a vision and a dream came to my wife and me, the possibility of a transitional home for the resettlement of refugees. During a hospital visit I met the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in a Youngstown suburb, and he invited me to share my vision with members of Westminster’s Social Witness Commission. On that very evening, a partnership was formed between the two congregations to undertake the remodeling and furnishing of the former manse as a transitional home for refugees. With volunteers from both congregations, with financial support from Westminster Church, and with Hungarian Church’s willingness to make the home available rent-free, the vision became a reality and the Refugee Resettlement Home was dedicated in the Thanksgiving season of 1974 to the glory of God and to the assistance of refugees. The Board of the Resettlement Home, composed of an equal number of lay people from the Westminster and the Hungarian congregations, agreed to sponsor its first refugee even before the home was dedicated. By Christmas there were already four residents. Without pastoral cooperation and without the partnership of these two Presbyterian congregations, the establishment of this refugee resettlement ministry could not have become a reality. 133
