Calvin Synod Herald, 1990 (90. évfolyam, 2-6. szám)
1990-05-01 / 3. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 5 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA The United Church of Christ Celebrated the Installation of The Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry President — The Establishment of The Church Headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio March 23, 24 & 25,1990 Cleveland, Ohio, is now the new headquarters city for The United Church of Christ. We sincerely believe it was a memorable time in the life of our Church and a meaningful experience for the participants of the special events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 23, 24 & 25. Installation & Relocation weekend was a time for new beginnings. Our Church wants to get acquainted with the Greater Cleveland community, and will examine the presidential principles proposed by Reverend Sherry. We will identify our Church as a force for social justice and equality in Cleveland and we will reaffirm our commitment to ecumenism. UCC members from 40 states and Puerto Rico and ecumenical representatives from as far away as Zimbabwe and the Philippines joined hundreds of dignitaries and residents of Cleveland and Ohio for a weekend of festivities celebrating the arrival of the UCC’s national headquarters in Cleveland. Capping the weekend was the installation of Paul H. Sherry as the UCC’s fifth president and Doris R. Powell as its second director of finance and treasurer. The weekend also included tours of the new offices, musical performances and speeches by Sherry, Cleveland Mayor Michael White and others. The United Church officially opened its Cleveland headquarters on Jan. 2. Church offices now occupy three floors of the nine-story Ohio Bell Building. The entire move from New York City, where the headquarters have been since 1963, is scheduled to take two years. Sherry and Powell were elected in July 1989 and took office on October 1. A congregation of more than 1,000 packed Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue Congregational UCC for the Sundayafternoon installation service. The coming of the 21st century presents a profound challenge and opportunity for the United Church of Christ to be responsive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Calvin Synod was officially represented by the delegation of the total Synodical Council and the chairman of our Committee on Church and Ministry headed by the Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Zoltán Szűcs. All six of them attended all the three day full activities from morning till midnight every day of the unforgettable festive celebrations. For us and for all our churches it was a magnificant experience to see our National Headquarters to come to Cleveland. This is the place where the very First of all Hungarian Reformed Churches was organized in 1891. This is the place where the former adopting Church, the Reformed Church in the U.S., merged into the Evangelical & Reformed Church in 1934. This is the place where later the E. & R. Church with a new merger was organized as United Church of Christ in the year of 1957. Some of us are still here who participated in both grand processions. U.C.C. finally ended up in the “best location in the Nation”. From the many greetings for this Celebration may we quote just one that came from the Southern Conference of the U.C.C.: “The United Church of Christ has an exciting future in mission and ministry. A rapidly changing and deeply conflicted world longs for a faithful word of guidance and hope. We have that Word, we nurture it in our covenant unity, and we have the will and the skill to share it.” UC Board for World Ministries David A. Vargas is executive secretary of the “Common Ministry in Latin America and the Caribbean” of UCBWM and its counterpart in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is at the Disciples’ headquarters in Indianapolis; his associate, Carmen Alicia Nebot, is at UCBWM’s New York City office. Patricia Rumer resigned last summer as UCBWM’s regional secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean to become general director of Church Women United. * * Office for Church in Society Ken South began work in June as OCIS’s consultant working with the AIDS National Interfaith Council in Washington, DC. * * Office for Church Life & Leadership Thomas R. Tupper is again executive associate of OCLL, now based in Cleveland. Charlotte H. Still, formerly based in New York City as OCLL associate for the Middle Atlantic Region, is now at the Cleveland headquarters as Great Lakes regional associate.
