Magyar Egyház, 1961 (40. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
1961-05-01 / 5. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 Churches and the International Missionary Council at New Delhi will surely be a potent symbol. Its theme, “Jesus Christ the Light of the World”, is a reminder to all who have any part in it that our concern is with a Gospel for all men. Its place at the capital city of India will make it impossible for the delegates to evade the challenge to a faith of the great non-Christian systems of life. And the fact that it will be the occasion of the uniting of these two world bodies in one, so that from thence forth the World Council of Churches will itself carry the direct responsibility for missionary counsel and co-operation which the I.M.C. has carried for half a century, will surely mean in the end that all churches will have to take this missionary responsibility much more deeply to heart than they have done hitherto, will have to learn that to be a Christian congregation anywhere is to be part of a mission which reaches out to the ends of the earth. WORLD COUNCIL MAKES PLANS FOR NEW DELHI ASSEMBLY (The Religious Newsweekly) — Preparations for what promises to be one of the most important assemblies of Christians in many years were made at the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of the World Council of Churches. The 200 delegates and observers worked for two days at Buck Hill Falls, Pa., on details of the Third Assembly in New Delhi, India, later this year. A plea for “proper preparation” in order to present “a commendable American image” in India was voiced by Dr. Paul S. Minear of Yale University Divinity School. Americans at the Assembly should be “listening guests,” he told the delegates, warning them of the risk they run in India of being regarded as “religious imperialists.” Church unity and global programs will be high on the Assembly agenda, Dr. Minear declared. “Local unity is not true unity,” he said, “unless it also unites with the whole Christian fellowship in all places . . . and provides a witness and service to all.” Welcomed by Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, chairman of the WCC Central Committee and president of the United Lutheran Church in America, were applications for membership in the 176-member Council of eight more church bodies. Among them the application of the Russian Orthodox Church, in a letter from Patriarch Alexei of Moscow, was a surprise announcement at the meeting. All applications, Dr. Fry noted, will be acted on at the Assembly, which must give a two-thirds vote to each church before it may be seated. Archbishop Iakovos, head of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of North and South America and a World Council president, commented that the Russian church’s request for membership was in answer to the Greek Patriarch’s 1952 encyclical in which he invited all Orthodox churches to join the World Council. Christians Cannot Compromise With Communism Dr. O. Frederich Nolde, Director of the WCC Commision of the Churches on International Affairs, spoke on the attitude towards Marxist communism. He said: “The World Council has taken the firm position that totalitarianism is false in doctrine and dangerous in practice.” This applies, he said, wherever it appears and in whatever form “because it perverts the goals of social justice which it professes.” In his warning that the fundamental ideological conflict cannot be resolved by military action, Dr. Nolde pointed out that, while military defense against aggression is justifiable and is backed by the United Nations Charter, the nature of the ideological struggle “demands peaceful competition and setting our own house in order.” Dr. Nolde stated: “The impasse of today will not be broken by recourse to nuclear warheads and guided missiles ... It is not enough to make declarations against war, it is necesary to attack the root causes of war.” Dr. Nolde concluded with another warning: “Every effort to destroy the United Nations must be resisted at the same time that the equal right of every member state to play its part in the world community is respected.” NATIONAL COUNCIL RECEIVES FREEDOMS FOUNDATION AWARD For “pointing up the differences between Christianity and communism” the National Council of Churches received the George Washington Honor Medal of the Freedoms Foundation. Sharing the award was the American Broadcasting Company for the network radio program, “Christianity and Communism.” The program, moderated by Quincy Howe, is produced in the series, “Pilgrimage,” in cooperation with the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches. Accepting the award for the National Council, the Rev. Dr. Roy G. Ross, general secretary, declared in a special message: “It is particularly gratifying to know that the Council’s efforts to contrast the errors of communism wih the eternal truths of Christianity have received such an appreciative response.” “Ever since its founding,” he said, “the National Council has affirmed and reaffirmed the unalterable opposition of the churches to communism, and their loyalty to the freedoms that the churches themselves have helped establish and struggle to defend.” The presentation to the National Council and several other organizations was made at ceremonies in the Board of Governors Room of the New York Stock Exchange by Dr. Kenneth D. Wells, president, and Admiral Felix B. Stump, USN, (Ret.), vice-chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedoms Foundation. They noted that the Foundation at Valley Forge icluded the National Council of Churches in its annual “Roll Call of patriots who have by their words, acts and deeds accented constitutional fundamentals that this nation’s noble purpose may be seen above the fog and confusion of our times.” Officers of the Freedoms Foudation include former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, honorary chairman, and Herbert Hoover, honorary president. WOMEN'S CONFERENCE The second annual conference of the United Women of our churches in the Eastern area on May 7th in Carteret, N. J. was an excellently conducted and much enjoyed affair attended by more than 120 women. Five recent pronouncements of the National Council of Churches were thoroughly discussed. A full report on the conference proceedings as well as its findings will appear in the next issue of “Magyar Egyház.” Here is the new slate of officers elected for the year 1961-62: Mrs. Olga Szabó, Staten Island, president, Mrs. Margaret Kramer, Trenton, vice-president, Mrs. Mary Lazar, Carteret, secretary, Mrs. Bertha Cromwell, Carteret, associate secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Dudich, Perth Amboy, treasurer.
