Calvin Synod Herald, 1976 (76. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1976-11-01 / 11-12. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 5 REV. DR. ROBERT V. MOSS, Jr. The Rev. Dr. Robert Verelle Moss, Jr., 54, president of the United Church of Christ and an authority on the New Testament, died October 25, 1976 at Mountainside Hospital, Montclair, N.J. after a short illness. He was the second president of the 1.8 millionmember denomination that was formed in 1957 in the union of the Congregational Christian Churches, the towards the Reformed Church in Hungary. There are no set rules for which language is used in the congregations but due to the rise in the third generation, English is predominant. The Hungarian Reformed Church in America, an independent denomination (formerly the Free Magyar Reformed Church) has about thirty congregations. The denomination claims to be the Hungarian Reformed Church in America, in reality leaning heavily on the English language but the feeling is independent Hungarian. There are a few more congregations either independent or belonging to other denominations. Concerning religious education, the Hungarian churches in the Presbyterian Church or in the United Church of Christ but not part of the Calvin Synod usually follow the policy of the denomination, while churches in the Calvin Synod and Hungarian Reformed Church in America struggle either to produce their own material or make use of the material available through the American Protestant religious education publications. III. Facilities for Religious Education When the Hungarian churches were first organized and buildings were put up, the Church consisted of the sanctuary itself with rooms in the church basement used for the Church School. Sometimes church buildings were purchased from other congregations and they were used just as they were. As the church membership grew and shifted from place to place, new locations were sought for relocating the church itself and then along with the sanctuary, a church hall and rooms for Church School were also built. Today, the larger congregations possess adequate facilities for religious education. Within the past twenty years, the Cleveland East Side Church, both Bridgeport congregations, the Youngstown and Lorain congregations, Hammond and Lansing, and the Detroit Church built modern sanctuaries and educational facilities. Other congregations are hindered in their development due either to a shift in the population or to the small number of remaining members. Rev. Francis Vitéz historic denomination of the Pilgrims, and the Evangelical & Reformed Church which had its origin in early 18th Century settlers from middle Europe. Dr. Moss was elected in 1969. Born in Wilson, North Carolina on March 3, 1922, Dr. Moss graduated from Franklin and Marshall College (A.B., 1943), Lancaster Seminary (B.D., 1945) and the Divinity School, University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1954). He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Gamma Mu. Dr. Moss fust taught at Franklin and Marshall College, Department of Religion, Lancaster, Pa. from 1946-50. In 1951, he went to Lancaster Seminary as Professor of New Testament, a post in which he continued even after becoming president of the school in 1957. Dr. Moss was president of Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pa., a graduate school of theology related to the United Church of Christ, from 1957-1969. He resigned to accept the presidency of the United Church of Christ. He was an official observer at the Second Vatican Council, a delegate to the Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi in 1961 and the Fifth Assembly in Nairobi in 1975. He was also a delegate to the International Congregational Council in Rotterdam in 1962. Dr. Moss was co-chairman of the Roman Catholic-Presbyterian and Reformed Dialogue group from 1966 to 1968. Dr. Moss served the American Association of Theological Schools, first as chairman of the Commission on Accrediting, 1964-66, and later as president, 1966- 68. He was a member of the United Church of Christ Theological Commission and Council for Higher Education. Dr. Moss was an ecumenical leader in the United States and abroad. He served on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and was vice-president of the Council and chairman of its Commission on Faith and Order. (To be continued)
