Bethlen Évkönyv, 1993-1996 (Ligonier)
Zoltán D. Szücs: Our churches and our federation
numberless industrial accidents that made the necessity of the orphanage very eminent. Thus, the convention at Buffalo mandated five cents per month, per member, for the purpose to build, at long last, this much-needed orphanage. This magnificent dream became a reality on June 4, 1921 in Ligonier, when the orphanage was jubilantly dedicated. Later on it was enhanced by a home for the elderly, remodeled, enlarged and was serving faithfully year after year. One of the most eminent and influential leader, in the lives of our Hungarian-Reformed brethren in America, was Dr. Ferenc Újlaki. He made his never-erasable marks both in the lives of our Hungarian-Reformed churches in America and in the life of our Reformed Federation. He worked all his life tirelessly, for both. As a matter of fact, he was at the helm of our Federation for one-fourth of our 100-year history, from 1931 to 1956. He linkened our churches and our Federation to two breads, which nourish and sustain our Hungarian-Reformed life in America. The sustaining bread for our brethren is the church. Yet we have another bread to nourish us: the Reformed Federation. “1. It created the community of brotherly love; 2. It brought about the American-Hungarian Reformed unity; 3. It established the American-Hungarian Reformed Orphanage and Old People’s Home... Our duty is to use this bread! Live with it! Whoever is standing as an outsider, must join the membership, so that he may have the privilege to sit at the table, to pick up and cut a piece from this bread.” (“How Many Breads Do You Have?”, Ferenc Újlaki, President, Árvaházi Naptár, 1933, Pp. 27-28.) We belong both to the church and to the Federation. We have to be in communion with God, but we also have to be in communion and in community with our brethren. This desire to belong brought about our churches and our Federation. The church is our mother and the Federation is our father that want to embrace us with loving arms. (“One Year in the Life of Our Federation. It Is A Joy to Be a Member of the Reformed Federation. Whose Are You?”, Ferenc Újlaki, President, Árvaházi Naptár, 1934, Pp. 27-29.) “The foundation of its life, the secret of its greatness, the assurance of its future of the Reformed Federation is that it fulfills the deepest, most genuine desires of the human heart. What is this desire? A fraternity, a thirst for love.” Like 91
