Magyar Egyház, 1965 (44. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1965-10-01 / 10. szám
14 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ THE BUDAPEST CHILDREN’S CHOIR — 35 boys and girls under the age of 12 who begin their musical schooling at six — are on a two month concert tour in the United States. Their New York recital in Carnegie Hall on October 10 is under the sponsorship of the Hungarian Reformed Radio Service. LOUIS NAGY From The Bishop’s Notebook Letter to our young people Fifteen years have passed since I began to serve in the Hungarian Reformed Church in America but I have not met with the youth of our denomination very often, ft was always my duty during these September conference days to stand guard over the interests of our denomination until other ministers from the East arrived. It was my duty to be on hand to protect or attack — whichever was necessary. Thank God, that such times are past and we live very peacefully together “as becometh brethren”. During these times I missed much and I omitted the great opportunities of being with our young people. As your first but humble servant of our denomination I have been given the privilege of greeting you at our 26th National B. Y. F. conference in Akron. It was a wonderful experience to stand there and look into your shining faces. I have asked myself the question many times: “Is our struggle meaningful?” If our first and second generation passes away will we have a Hungarian Reformed Church in America? At the Akron conference my burning question found an answer. You will carry our church on even after we are gone. My heart is full of gratitude toward God that you love the faith of our fathers and you are ready to make sacrifices for it. I thank you sincerely for attending the conference. I thank your parents, too, for permitting you to come and I am very grateful to the advisers who took time out to care for you and advise you. I am grateful to Mrs. Helen Nemish, Rev. Kalman Adorján, Rev. Stephen Kovács, Rev. Stephen Szőke, Mr. and Mrs. John Lazar, Mrs. Baka, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Margaret Kramer, Mrs. Elizabeth Dudich, Mr. John Nemish, Mr. Eugene Csepke, Mrs. Theresa Martin, Miss Grace Tarr, Miss Elizabeth Marton, Mrs. Elizabeth Kish, Miss Elizabeth Angelet, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Nagy, Mr. Robert Szepessy, Mr. Paul Olcsváry, Mr. Alex Sabo. Last but not least Mr. John Farkas, the Akron Youth and the ladies of the Akron Church for their tireless efforts in behalf of the conference. I am very grateful to Dr. Zoltán Beky, and to the Rev. Joseph Kecskeméthy, the president and the secretary of the Hungarian Reformed Federation for listening to your request and coming to our conference. According to their promise the camp at Ligonier will be built. I am grateful to Mr. John Nemish for representing your request; I am proud of him for his speech in Ligonier. May I say that with a Youth Camp we will begin a new era in our American Hungarian Reformed life because we shall meet with people whom we otherwise will never have met even though they are our brethren. Let us record for our church history that the Rt. Rev. Árpád George, president of Calvin Synod, and the Rev. Wililam Furgess (my beloved English professor) the representative of the Hungarian Presbyterian Conference and myself as bishop of our denomination unanimously demanded and voted for this camp. Thank God all the responsible leaders of our American Hungarian Reformed life were in agreement on this matter. This was true cooperation! The camp will be ready by 1966 or at the latest by 1967. The proof that our conference was a great success is in the fact that it is still not ended. I preached on September 12th in Detroit and to my great surprise I saw Richard and Danny boy sitting in church by accident with girls who had been at the conference. I smiled to myself and in my heart I prayed God’s blessing upon them and upon all of you my dear young people wherever you are. Next year there will be many more of us together and until then, keep on, keeping on. Report From Akron Highlights Of The 26th Annual B. Y. F. Conference This, our 4th camp conference again was very successful. Our young but capable people conducted the evening vespers; also the prayers before meals. Our first keynote lecture was given on Saturday morning by William S. Parry, President of the Council of Churches of Greater Akron on The Layman’s Role in the Church Life. Quoting from several sources and from personal experience, Mr. Parry tried to show the importance of Christian witness in our everyday contacts and routine endeavors. He stated that there is a great amount of potential strength within the youth of today. This strength can be used in an effective way only if it is based on a sound knowledge of God’s Word and the acceptance of His will for their lives. Youth must accept their responsibilities in today’s world and with the help of God take action to correct the evils of our society by going out into the world and winning souls to Christ. The business meeting was a busy one this year with several amendments to the By-Laws. The most important discusion was concerning the permanent campsite. Everyone was in favor of this project. Bishop Nagy greeted the youg people and told them how proud he was to have such a big group (200) which has been growing in leaps and bounds each year. He too was in favor of the permanent campsite and promised to bring the Secretary of the Hungarian Reformed Federation to the conference Sunday afternoon, which he did. Rev. Kecskeméthy made the
