Magyar Egyház, 1958 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1958-03-01 / 3. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Scandinavian Primate Asks Hungarian Government to Give Church Freedom (Geneva) — The presiding Lutheran bishops in four Scandinavian countries have made public the text of a letter they sent on January 14 to Dr. Janos Horvath, president of the Hungarian government’s Office for Church Affairs, in which they express concern about changes in church leadership under government pressure, and ask for the spiritual freedom of the churches to be upheld. The letter is signed by Archbishop Yngve Brilioth of the Church of Sweden, Bishop H. Fuglsang-Damgaard of the Church of Denmark (Copenhagen), Archbishop Ilmari Salomies of the Church of Finland and Bishop Johanness Smemo of the Church of Norway (Oslo). The message expresses appreciation of the Hungarian Lutheran Church’s re-election of Bishop Lajos Ordass and Bishop Zoltán Turoczy since 1956, and says the churches of the Scandinavian countries had “noted with pleasure” the fact that the Hungarian government had enhanced its reputation by being ready to uphold religious liberty in this way. Going on to point out that they have felt “exceedingly upset and disturbed” by the news that Bishop Ordass had lost his position as leading bishop and Bishop Turoczy had been “removed from his position, although acknowledged by the government at his official installation”, the four church leaders say they hope these and other reports are exaggerated. Answering the possible objection that their letter might be considered as interference in Hungarian internal affairs, the signatories emphasize that the evangelical churches have a feeling of responsibility for each other regardless of national boundaries, and point out that they “cannot be indifferent when the right of our sister church to conduct its own spiritual affairs and organization is being held in question.” E.P.S., Geneva WCC EXECUTIVE ENDS LONDON MEETING (EPS, London)—The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches closed its semi-annual meeting in London on February 14. The 12-member committee recommended to the Central Committee that the Third Assembly of the council, scheduled for Ceylon at Christmas, 1960, be postponed one year; it approved plans for the purchase of a site for permanent headquarters of the WCC in Geneva, looked at plans for the August meeting of the 90-member Central Committee and pased on to the Central Committee the application for membership of the Evaangelical Church in the Cameroons. In other action, the Executive Committee expressed itself as “deeply concerned at the tragically inadequate response of the United Nations Pledging Conference last October to the minimum budgetary requirements of the United Relief and Works Agency for the Middle East in 1958 for the agency’s relief and rehabilitation programme”. At that time the budget was undersubscribed by $15,200,000. The committee said it was “apprehensive that the possible breakdown of the agency’s programmes will result not only in disastrous political repercussions but also in a tragic intensification of human suffering that is already intolerable”, and called on its 169 member churches to “urge governments of their countries to make an immediate and generous response to the outstanding financial needs of the agency”.-----------------o----------------National Council States Views on “The Churches and Alcohol” In the first policy statement on alcohol it has made since its organization eight years ago, the National Council of Churches went on record recently with a warning of the threat of alcoholism “to health, happiness and the general welfare.” Members of the Council’s 250- strong General Board, representing all “divergencies of opinion” on the subject, adopted the pronouncement at their first meeting in the new triennium. “Alcoholics are persons in need of diagnosis, understanding, guidance and treatment,” the pronouncement declared. Pointing out that there “need be no condoning of their behavior,” it was emphasized that “neither should a church permit its antagonism to alcohol to prevent its offering an effective ministry to alcoholics and their families.”-----------------o-----------------1650 students from 92 nations met in Lansing, Michigan on February 27 at the invitation of Governor G. Mennen Williams. It was a gathering to promote friendship and mutual understanding among young people attending Michigan institutions of higher learning. Our picture shows the Hungarian group with the Governor and Mrs. Williams. The Rev. John Paul Nagy Pastor of our Detroit Church, in the second row, was member of the committee which organized this International Students’ Day. Mrs. Nagy, wearing a Hungarian folk costume, sits in the first row.
