Calvin Synod Herald, 1976 (76. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1976-05-01 / 5-6. szám

4

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

4. MATTERS CONCERNING OUR RELATIONSHIP

TO ECCLESIASTICAL BODIES.

a. Three members of our conference council had a consultation with Dr. Robert V. Moss, Ms. Helen Barnhill, and Attorney John T. Redmond on October 17, 1975 to discuss matters relating to the Hungarian Reformed Church Uniting. Other leaders of the United Church of Christ also gladly give their services if we request them, but we should do a lot of consciousness-raising in ethnic matters before our denomination will have an insight, even if not an empathy in our matters.

b. Hungarian Reformed Church Uniting. On June 2, 1975 I was present when the Hungarian Reformed Church in America unanimously voted in favor of accepting the Resolutions of February 17, 1975. In accordance with Synod action, Conference Council consulted ecclesiastical attorneys in regard to the implication of the establishment of a new and uniting church body. These attorneys agree that without structural changes the present status of our congregations, classes, and Synod remains as is. Mr. John T. Redmond, Attorney of the United Church of Christ phrased in this way: “At present, it can be legitimately viewed as being engaged in nothing more than joint program function.” For this reason, Conference Council recommends that Synod should vote for the adoption of the resolutions as printed in the 1975 Minutes on pages 29-32.

c. Reformed Church in Hungary. We rejoice with all Hungarian Reformed people around the world that the long waited newly translated Hungarian Bible was published last year. The Reformed Church in Hungary invited your Bishop and a delegation of our Calvin Synod to participate in the Galley Slave Observation on February 9-11, 1976 in Debrecen. Because the invitation arrived only in January and no sufficient time could be devoted to the study of the preliminary material, Conference Council decided to decline the invitation with thanks and wished God’s blessings on their celebrations.

d. Our relation to other churches and ecclesiastical bodies are also cordial and correct. We have fully cooperated with the American Hungarian Reformed Presbyter’s Association in preparing a plaque for the commemoration of the galley slave forefathers.

5. MATTERS CONCERNING OUR RELATIONSHIP

TO NON-ECCLESIASTICAL BODIES

Only two important events I wish to report here.

a. Erdély. As soon as we learned about the new and brutal violations of human rights in Transylvania, our Conference Council called the attention of our congregations to it, and cooperated with the American Hungarian Federation to alleviate the situation. We also alerted the United Church of Christ delegates to the Nairobi meeting furnishing them with basic documents and vital information. While our vision may not agree in every point with that of the American Hungarian Federation, when it comes to the oppression of our fellow man and fellow Christians in Erdély (or in any other place for that matter), we cannot, and we shall not remain silent.

b. In the home front the Bethlen Home elected the Rev. Paul Kovács to the place of the Rev. Kalman Csia who served faithfully and sacrificially for 15 years. While we regret the untimely resignation of Brother Csia, we extend cordial congratulations to his succesor and pledge our cooperation to him in every good work. In this connection Synod should clarify that we intend to send representatives to the Board of Directors of the Bethlen Home on the basis

of ALL congregational donations and not only on the basis of contributions submitted to the Maintenance Fund.

6. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

In this year of the Bicentennial here in Washington, D. C., we wish to express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the haven the Hungarian immigrants have found in this place. We are grateful for this land, for its people, for its opportunities and ideals. We prove our gratitude by establishing churches and raising God-fearing generations. We feel this is a greater contribution than any other service. However, to symbolize the sacrifice of the Hungarian immigrants who helped to build this nation from the Revolutionary War on, Conference Council recommends the Synod to participate in erecting a Kovats Bicentennial Monument in the Lafayette Park of Washington, D. C.

We rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Among those who rejoice we take special note of the Right Rev. Stephen M. Böszörményi and the Rev. Edmund Vasvary who for their meritorious long services will receive the American Bicentennial Citation during this Synod meeting. We also proudly commend our Elmer Charles, who was hot only reelected as President of the William Penn Fraternal Association but was also celebrated as the “Fraternal Man of the Year” in the Pittsburgh area. — With those who weep we weep with the families of the Rev. D. Nicholas Sewell, the Rev. Dr. Tibor Szilagyi, Mrs. Julius Melegh, and the Rt. Rev. Bishop László Ravasz of Hungary to whose family the Conference Council sent condolences by wire.

In conclusion let me express my deep appreciation and gratitude to the churches and pastors for their kind support and cooperation, especially at the installation and ordination service held in Ligoner last September. I must also acknowledge joyfully the tireless devotion of the Conference Council: they were always ready to take the second mile when need and opportunity demanded it in the interest of the Synod, but most of all I am deeply grateful toward God who gave me physical strength to serve him in His precious vineyard. Thus, I close as I started: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... who has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph. 1:9-10)

Dr. John Butosi, Bishop

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The officers were put up in private homes that night, while the main body of men camped in a nearby meadow, before leaving the next day on their march toward New York and later Virginia, where the famous Yorktown battle was fought ending the Revolutionary War.

Major John Polereczky and Lieutenant Francis Benyowsky were Hungarian officers in Lauzun’s Foreign Legion. Major Polereczky, whose grandfather Major Matthias Polereczky had lost his life in the Hungarian uprising led by Prince Francis Rákóczi II, settled in Dresden, Maine following the war and retired in 1828 after having served as the Town Clerk for fifteen years. Lieutenant Benyowsky, descendant of a noble family, was taken prisoner while fighting against the British, but he escaped. He died in America following the war in 1789.