Bethlen Évkönyv, 1993-1996 (Ligonier)

Zoltán D. Szücs: Our churches and our federation

These six committed, caring and visionary Hungarian Reformed pastors realized how fragmented our Hungarian Reformed ancestors were in America. They also experienced the unshakable faith, the self-sacrificial giving, the brotherly helping hand from a great number of our unassuming Hungarian Reformed country folk. Document after document show that poorly educated, yet divinely dedicated Hungarians went with these pastors from boarding house to boarding house, singing Hungarian hymns, encouraging cooperation and recruiting their Hungarian Reformed brethren to organize, to build a church, to enhance their spiritual life, brotherhood, mutual protection and support for one another, in this new and often hostile environment. Their sense of piety prompted them toward the Hungarian Reformed style of worship and Lord’s Supper, for they did not feel at home in American churches, though they were often invited and even welcomed by them. This was the facilitator, the propelling force, the very midwife, which prompted the birth of our isolated Hungarian Reformed Churches, in this land of opportunity. These Hungarian Reformed Churches were individual entities without any embracing or uniting organization.

These six visionary pastors wanted to get organized and for this reason came together in January of 1896, at the parsonage, in Pittsburgh. Ferenc Ferenczy of Pittsburgh, Sándor Harsanyi of Cleveland, Bertalan Demeter of New York, Gusztáv Jurányi of Trenton, Sándor Kalassay of Mt. Carmel were present at this historic meeting and Gabor Dokus was present in spirit and through a letter of consent. They had one common dream: To organize, to unite the Hungarian Reformed brethren in America. They envisioned to implement this dream by the means of these two avenues: 1. To create a uniting fraternal organization for the purpose to help and to protect each other; and 2. To establish a uniting church organization also to secure independence, selfprotection and for the enhancement of the Kingdom of God amongst our Hungarian Reformed immigrants in this land. These two embracing organizations were the needs of our Hungarian Reformed brethren in America. In the minds of men of faith and vision, thus in the minds of these six pastors, these two “need-children”

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