Magyar Egyház, 1963 (42. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1963-01-01 / 1. szám
10 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Methods of preparation for this year’s conference theme of the Bethlen Youth Federation in addition to our presentation above will be early on the agenda for the New Year. Recent social and fellowship activities have included the canteens, Christmas Party, New Year’s Eve Party, and support of the church’s basketball team in the Y.M.C.A. league. The team, consisting of members of the Fellowship and Young Peoples Society, is the youngest group in the league. Religious activities at the regular Sunday meetings have concentrated recently on a study of the Reformation Period, beginning with Martin Luther’s challenge and gradually working towards the reformation in Hungary itself. A report on the recent quarterly conference of the Eastern Classis held January 27, in Trenton on the topic “Does the Catechism Affect Our Lives ” will follow in the next issue. NEWS FROM THE CONGREGATIONS BETHLEHEM At present we have 18 children in the Sunday School with 3 teachers. There are 4 youngsters in the Confirmation class. Donations of the Church’s Organizations: The Ladies Club $400, the Social Committee $7,500. We paid $3,566 above the regular payments to reduce our mortgage. Treasury Report for 1962: Total income (includes all organizations) $29,318.26, expenses: $23,993.03 Balance: $5,325.23. CARTERET From the 1962 Annual Report: 13 baptisms, 4 weddings, 9 funerals, 7 confirmations, 367 names on the list of voters. During 1962 10 members moved away and were given certificates of transfer to other churches; 8 new members joined the congregation in addition to the newly confirmed; 2 members were dropped from the membership-list on account of pledging their children to be baptized in other churches. The 1962 financial statement includes $26,932.50 receipts, $32,037.45 with the 1961 carry-over; $25,884.13 expenditures giving a balance of $6,153.32 for 1963, about $1,000 more than the previous year. Various benevolent donations, including General Fund, Mission Fund, Orphanage and the like amounted to $3,787.58. We had especially good attendance during the Christmas holidays. 278 participated in the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Elements were donated this time by Mrs. Balazs Biri, William Chabena, Mrs. Louis W .Fabian, Julius Furjesz, Sr., Stephen Pallagi and Mrs. Francis Ullersberger. On Christmas Day we dedicated a new communion set with individual silver chalices (148 altogether) in memory of John Nagy, donated by his children and their families: Mr. & Mrs. John Nagy, Jr., Mr. & Mrs. Steve Nagy, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Paul, Mr. & Mrs. William Kowalczyk, Mr. & Mrs. Anthony De Stefano. A Tower-Chime-System was dedicated on Christmas Eve in memory of Helen Pokol. Its cost was bom partly by the “Helen Pokol Memorial Fund” set up for this purpose, partly by the family. The completion of the church’s P.A.-System was donated by Mr. & Mrs. Elvin Nettles in memory of Addie and Marshall Nettles. Mr. & Mrs. John K. Balogh were greeted by the Pastor and many of the church members on occasion of their golden anniversary. They were married in the Carteret church on November 28, 1912. Baptism: Steve Jr., son of Steve Kulcsár and his wife, Anna Fulöp; godparents: Lester Balog and Mary Vascsinec. Funerals: John Cselle, 77, on January 2; Frank Csizmadia, Sr., a former elder of the congregation, 59, on January 10, and Zoltán (Walter) Varga, 40, on January 18. As we went to press we received the sad news about the untimely death of Joseph Cinege, an elder of our congregation who died in his home of a heart attack on January 22nd. May the Lord comfort his bereaved family. DETROIT Our Christmas holiday season was abundantly blest by the Lord. 880 communicants took the Lord’s Supper and our total offering for the holidays was $6800. The Golden Circle Club, the Dorcas Guild, the Christian Youth Fellowship all held their usual holiday parties. Taking advantage of the wintry weather the Youth Fellowship enjoyed a very successful tobogganing excursion. The Annual Congregational Dinner will be held on February 2. DUQUESNE The Report for 1962 shows that an average of forty per cent of membership attended the Sunday morning worship services (50 in Hungarian and 110 in English) and sixty-five per cent of confirmed members participated in the Lord’s Supper or an average of 217 per occasion (a total of 1519 souls). The spirit of stewardship is noteworthy in spite of the fact that one-third of the congregation barely meet the requirements. The family average of contributions was $118.14 and the confirmed individual average was $62 based on the total of contributions ($21,265.00) and not on the year’s income ($25,945.00). For benevolence and mission work of the Church we gave $2,360. while we are still indebted in the amount of $48,000. The annual congregational meeting was held on two Sundays, on the first (Jan. 20) the Pastor’s Report was given and on the second (Jan. 27) the election and installation of the officers and councilmen took place during the Fellowship Dinner. The list of the leaders will appear in the next issue. The membership of the congregation: 449 souls, among them 343 confirmed members. PERTH AMBOY Statistics for 1962: 15 children were baptized, 10 boys and 5 girls; 15 young people were confirmed, 12 girls, and 3 boys; — 11 members died, 5 men and 6 women; 7 couples were married; 17 new members were received; 2 members were transferred to other churches, one married contrary to our law. The church has 506 persons on the voting list, who are members in good standing. Altogether 4,016 persons participated in Holy Communion during the past year. The highest number at one time was on Easter with a total of 597. Out of $100,000. mortgage on our new center, $73,704.94 was paid back to The Perth Amboy Savings Institution in 3 V2 years. Still payable are the interest free loans from church members amounting to $15,500. By the help of God and the cooperation of all members it would be wonderful to bum our mortgage papers at the 60th An-
