Magyar Egyház, 1982 (61. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1982-09-01 / 9-10. szám

MAGYAR GGYftflZ

8. oldal

MAGYAR

CHURCH

OTTAWA 1982

In the family of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches throughout the whole world, this title “Ottawa 1982” became a well-known slogan, if I can judge by the badge worn even by Bishop Abraham. Otherwise it is an extremely dull phrase, as Ottawa, the capital of Canada is an extremely dull place to live. But the fact remains that the General Council of the World Alliance of the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches was held at the University of Ottawa between August 17 and 27, 1982. As a veteran of several previous meetings of the World Alliance I got involved in this one, first of all as a chauffeur transporting East European church leaders from the Montreal International Airport to Ottawa, and secondly as a free lance reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, international service.

The Ottawa story begins at Mirabel Airport in Montreal, that was the place where all the overseas delegates from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia arrived. That was the place where I picked up my passengers from Hungary: Bishop Kürti, Bishop Kovách and Professor Pásztor to take them to Ottawa. Everything went smoothly, we made the two-hundred kilometers journey in very good time, but after finding the right exit and reached the campus of the University of Ottawa there were the unavoidable detours, and road construction signs, and we were lost for a few minutes. It seems traditional that the General Council of the World Alliance takes place in the context of road construction, detours, and the sound of bulldozers, cementmixers and huge trucks provide the background music for the theological discussions of the fathers and brethren from five continents, just as it had been the same in Frankfort in 1964 and in Nairobi in 1971.

Since the founding of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1877, there had been two previous General Council meetings in Canada. The first Canadian meeting took place in the city of Toronto in 1892. That General Council was held in Cooke Presbyterian church and lasted for three days. There had been about fifty delegates, with two or three exceptions all English speaking, representing 14 North American, 9 European, 4 African and 4 Asian churches. The Toronto General Council was a totally WASP meeting: white, Anglosaxon and Presbyterian. The local Toronto newspapers called it a “Pan-Presbyterian Council”.

Forty-five years later, the General Council was again held in Canada. This time, however, it was held in the most exciting Canadian city, in Montreal. The World Alliance of Reformed churches became more aware of the continent of Europe in 1937. Out of the 100 delegates attending about fifteen arrived from Europe and there were a few from Latin America, too. By 1937, the membership of the World Alliance grew into a more

realistic international organization: 36 churches from Europe, 10 churches from Great Britain, 14 churches from Africa, 14 churches from Asia, 14 churches from North America, and a few churches from Latin America and Australia. The Montreal meeting lasted for four days. While there had been no Hungarians attending the Toronto meeting in 1892, there was one delegate from the Reformed Church of Hungary at the Montreal meeting, and the local Hungarian minister, Dr. Mihály Fehér represented the Reformed church of Transylvania. This general council had to deal with some serious matters: the persecution of the Hungarian Reformed church of Transylvania by the Romanian state, and the persecution of the German “Confessing Church” by Nazi Germany, whose delegates were not permitted to attend the Motreal meeting. The Montreal meeting was held at the fashionable St. Andrew and St. Paul Presbyterian Church and it was also a more or less WASP general council: white, mainly Anglosaxon and Presbyterian with a little European favor.

Up to the Montreal General Council in 1937 all such meetings had been held in English speaking countries. It was decided in Montreal that the next general council will be convened in Geneva, Switzerland, which had been historically speaking the capital of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, since it was the city of John Calvin.

The Second World War interrupted the plans, and the first post-war general council could not be held until 1948, which indeed took place in Geneva, Switzerland, which city became the site of the headquarters of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches ever since with a permanent secretariate, our own — very Puritanical — Vatican.

During the past forty-five years the meetings of the general council were held in Geneva, Switzerland, Princeton, New Jersey, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Frankfort, Germany and Nairobi, Kenya. And again after forty-five years in Canada, this time in Ottawa.

It was, however, a totally changed World Alliance of Reformed Churches! Half of the three-hundred and fifty delegates were Black. 48 Asian, 40 African and 18 Latin American churches represented the Third World. Representatives of ten European churches came from Communist countries. Only eleven North American churches were represented and 26 West European churches sent delegates. Ottawa 1982 was very far from being a WASP meeting as its two previous Canadian predecessors had been: it was a true representation of our Reformed Church of all races, nationalities and colors. As the most Calvinistic of our hymns, the Old Hundredth expresses it so beautifully: “All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful