Magyar Egyház, 1957 (36. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-10-01 / 10. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ NEWS MAGYAR LUTHERANS HOLD FIRST ASSEMBLY SINCE 1954 For the first time since 1954 the Lutheran Church in Hungary has held its General Assembly, according to reports from the Hungarian Church Press. Presiding Bishop Lajos Ordass who since then has visited the U.S.A. and has been elected first vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation, presented his report to the Assembly and expressed gratitude to Lutherans throughout the world for their “generous” aid to Hungarian Christians in “recent difficult times.” Bishop Ordass said that Hungarian Lutherans “have kept up brotherly contacts with world Lutheranism for a long time.” Looking toward the future, Bishop Ordass said it was natural to ask: What is the situation of our church in the state? “We can state here again, as we have done often in recent times, that our church lives in the Hungarian People’s Republic and under the provisions of an agreement, concluded with the state, in 1948. Church and state have both declared that they want to stand by the terms of that agreement. Our hope is that the state is going to recognize the rights of the church, assured in that agreement. As for ourselves, we are resolved to keep all the obligations undertaken in the agreement on behalf of our church. This is a suitable foundation for carrying on the church’s work and service, in the preaching of the word and in administering Christian charity.” ★ ASIANS ON CHURCH UNITY (Pusan)—The forty-second General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Korea unanimously approved a report expressing continued support and confidence in the World Council of Churches. At the same time, the Assembly said it opposed those in the ecumenical movement who are working towards “uniting all denominations and forming one single Church.” “There are two trends of thought among Christians who are promoting the ecumenical movement,” the Assembly said. “Those who work towards . . . one single Church and . . . those who work towards the object of cooperation among the churches in friendship and service. In regard to the ecumenical movement as concerned with friendship and cooperation, in the past as in the present we have been and are taking part and we shall continue to take part. But in regard to the ecumenical movement which aims at one single Church, we definitely oppose it.” (E.P.S.) ★ CHURCHES’ CONCERN PRESENTED TO UN The statement on atomic tests and disarmament adopted by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in its meeting in this country in August has been transmitted to all delegates to the twelfth General Assembly of the United Nations. It is part of a detailed memorandum, dealing with issues to be discussed at the current session of the Asssembly, prepared by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. The 63-page memorandum takes up issues of special Christian concern on the Assembly agenda and outlines statements and action of its sponsoring organizations. The CCIA is a joint agency of the World Council of Churches and the International Missionary Council. The nearly 700 delegates from 82 member nations and the secretary general and other officers of the UN receive the document which peresents recommendations made in meetings of the world’s leading Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox churchmen. The document indicates the bases for position which the Commission of the Churches of International Affairs will advance in relation to items on the UN agenda. On the subject of the report of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees, the CCIA memorandum calls attention to Christian concern for the 24,000 Hungarian refugees left in Austria and the additional 8,000 in Jugoslavia. It also cites the CCIA Executive Committee resolution (July 1957) which expresses concern over the 700,000 Chinese refugees in Hong Kong for whom no form of inter-governmental assistance is provided, and urges member governments of the UN to offer financial assistance toward their rehabilitation and intergration “whether or not they are qualified under the present mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.” The CCIA calls attention to its resolutions urging the UN to prolong the mandate of the High Commissioner for as long as it is necessary and calls on governments to vote money to the UN Refugee Emergency Fund so that the program may be “continued and intensified.”The CCIA transmitted the statement of its Executive Committee which “records its conviction that ordinary human rights and liberties will not be obsreved in Central Europe until the Government of the USSR and associated states desist from the present oppression and the citizens of Hungary be no longer persecuted, imprisoned, or killed.” Minden nyelvbeli nehézségen átsegíti Amerika legnagyobb magyar KÖNYVESBOLTJA szakkönyvekkel és szótárakkal HUNGARIAN BOOK STORE & SERVICE 1613 First Avenue New York 28, N. 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