Calvin Synod Herald, 1992 (92. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1992-09-01 / 5. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 8 -REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Tiffin Agreement (Continued from page 7) sions as representing the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, with the Conventus and not directly between the Conventus and the congregations. 6 b.) However, recognizing the value of intercommunication of pastors and people along language and racial lines in this country we recommend that pastors and elders of the Hungarian Reformed congregations meet in annual conference to consider the needs of their congregations in this country and make suggestions and overtures to the Board of Home Missions and to their respective Synods. 7 a.) Ministers, licentiates or students for the ministry called to serve in America shall have the recommendation of the Synod to which they belong or the school in which they studied, and the approval of the Conventus. Ministers and the licentiates thus called shall be acquainted with the History, laws and customs of the Reformed Church in the United States. Young men in America studying for the mini- j stry in Hungarian congregations here shall also be instructed in the History, laws and customs of the Reformed Church in Hungary, and shall be eli-i gible for pastorates in Hungary. b. ) We will welcome students from Hungary and Transylvania to spend here the two final years of the Theological Course in a Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States and will recommend them to the Board of Education for financial support. c. ) Ministers coming to the Reformed Church from the Hungarian Church are to be placed on exactly the same basis as our American ministers and will share in the benefits of the Board of Ministerial Relief of the General Synod. ★ ★ ★ Notes from the Editor: The place of signing was Tiffin, Ohio and the date was October 17, 1921. The signers representing the Mother Church from Hungary were: Dr. Elek Boér, lay president of the Conventus and Rev. Géza Takaró, pastor of the Budapest-Kőbánya Church. The signers from the receiving Church, the Reformed Church in the U.S.A. were: Rev. Charles E. Miller, president and the Rev. Charles F. Schaeffer, general secretary. It was an international Legal Contract binding for both. The decisive section is in Part 2nd - Article 5, quoted: “These congregations will become part and parcel of a large and influential American Denomination...and “nothing should be laid in the way to hinder or prevent them from assimilating through historical process...” With the Legal Contract of the Tiffin Agreement, we became: “Part and Parcel” of the Reformed Church in the U.S.A. from 1921-1934 (with equal rights of with 8 Synods & 57 classees). / “Part and Parcel” of the Evangelical and Reformed Church from 1934-1957 (added as 34th to the 33 Synods with equal rights) “Part and Parcel” of the United Church of Christ from 1957 to present, (among 39 Conferences and 205 Associations as a Synod acting with the power of all). ¥ * * Moreover: while the historical process is still going on we as Synod “will exist until this Synod dissolves itself” by the vote of its own congregations at an Annual Meeting, whether they like it or dislike it! (See Constitution’s Preamble No-3> *** One Final Note: (Nota Bene!) In the U.C.C. as a Synod, acting with the power of both Conference and Association, (where the power of government is alone centered) we are more independent than any Church Body flirting with that name!!! Our New Chaplain (Continued from page 4) them.” If I can be a voice in some small way, and help better the predicament of! these people who are so often overlooked, and whose pain so often dismissed, then my life will have not been “vanity, and striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes). My role models for such a task have been well in place. I was fortunate to witness the Reverend László Tőkés, a Hungarian Reformed minister in Timisoara, Romania, bring down and topple the Ceausescu regime by merely refusing to leave his church when the secret police came to arrest him. His people created a huge human barricade around him, which then led to protests and incited uprisings around the country. I have witnessed my father the Reverend Alexander Havadtőy, work for human rights by testifying before Senate subcommittees on the abuses and the destruction of Hungarian Bibles which were grinded and made into toilet paper by the Ceausescu regime. And I have witnessed preach on Radio Free Europe to one million Hungarian listeners for thirty years, despite the threats on his life from the Ceausescu regime, and the threats and torture to my extended family abroad. From my grandfather, this inherent right of the individual for self-determination and a spirit of religious tolerance was evident in his fight for Jewish rights during World War II as a member of Parliament, and as a minister who aided in the underground, hiding thousands of Jews and getting them to safety. Such models of courage and great faith in ministry have compelled me to hold dear these values, and to not forget the forgotten people, who suffer injustice without a hearing, and shed tears without any to comfort them. As I have resigned myself to the will of God who has given me so much and protected me from the tortures of this world, I am willing to serve in whatever capacity God leads me, working for the glory and honor of God’s Kingdom.
