Bethlen Almanac 2000 (Ligonier)

Az amerikai egyháztestekben - In other denominations

vociferously in almost every decade of its existence, and yet the Federation has survived.

It has survived despite larger events and trends that could easily have capsized it. It survived both the cataclysm of the Great Depression, and the creation of government health, social security, and unemployment benefits arising out of the New Deal and addressing some of the same needs that fraternal associations had endeavored to meet. It survived the trauma of two world wars, with Hungary and the United States fighting on opposite sides in both, and Hungarian-Americans facing suspicion at home about their loyalty to their new country. It survived demographic challenges and generational, linguistic, and political divisions within the Hungarian immigrant community. And it has survived the advent of the computer age and the dramatic changes it has produced in the insurance industry.

What has made this survival possible? I believe it was the willingness, again and again, to dream ambitious dreams, to invest with faith in an uncertain future, and to reaffirm the Federation’s core mission of generous and practical solidarity. The Federation’s ambitious dream envisions a beautiful community rooted in the Hungarian Reformed Churches in America but willing to reach out beyond denominational, religious and national boundaries. In pursuit of this dream, the Federation has provided over 115 loans for the construction, renovation or expansion of Hungarian American churches. That number represents many extraordinary stories of faith and determination, of communities coming together and achieving what seemed impossible, brick by brick, pew by pew. Such stories continue into the present, and it is always moving to read in the Bethlen Almanac about ministers and congregations who are creating communities of faith and fellowship even in the toughest circumstances.

For thousands of individuals and families, like mine, the Federation has provided critical stepping-stones toward a better and more secure life through insurance, loans, and mortgages, even in circumstances where they would not have received assistance from conventional financial institutions. It has invested in the education of young Hungarian- Americans through scholarships and youth camps. But beyond these critical investments in its core membership, the Federation has reached out to a wider community, encompassing Hungarians throughout the diaspora and in Hungary itself. It was for instance an extraordinary act of faith and generosity to send $5,000 out of total capital assets of

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