Magyar Egyház, 1988 (67. évfolyam, 2-4. szám)
1988-03-01 / 2. szám
8. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ FUND FOR A SICK HUNGARIAN GIRL In the last issue of the Magyar Church we informed our readers of a young firl 20 years old, who is suffering from Bone Marrow Cancer. Since our last publication Beata Hopp has arrived with her mother to the United States, and by the assistance of a good Hungarian doctor Dr. István Somogyi in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Beata was accepted into the Sloan Hospital in New York City which is one of the most known hospital for cancer in the United States. Beata’s sickness is in remission, and the treatment at this time is a good possibility. One of the doctors in the hospital knowing the situation has offered his services free of charge. Even with this offer, the medical treatments, and daily stay in the hospital amounts up to a $1,000.00 a day. The Fund established to defray Beata’s medical cost by the Perth Amboy Magyar Reformed Church will only be successful if we all take our best efforts and help. So far donations from all around the United States and Canada have been slowly coming in, but more can be done. We appeal to you, and through you to your friends, please help Beata. Beata’s mother who assisted her in her travel since Good Friday had to return to Hungary, and she is staying with friends. We are doing so much, but much more is needed. Would you please help us. All donations can be mailed to “Beata Hopp Fund” with the address of the Magyar Reformed Church, 331 Kirkland Place, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861. We extend our thanks in behalf of Beata for all who can help. HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCHES IN THE CARPATHO-UKRAINE In the course of the “dismemberment” of historic Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 parts of the counties of Bereg, Ung, Ugocsa and Maramaros were attached to Czechoslovakia. In 1939 the area was returned to Hungary, then, after World War II, it became part of the Soviet-Ukraine as an autonomous region. It has a mostly ethnic composition consisting of Ruthenians, some Slovaks, Germans, Russians and, in the South-Western belt, Hungarians. According to the bishop of the Reformed Churches in this area Dr. Pal Forgon with whom this writer had a chance to talk at the re-dedication of the Raday College last October in Budapest, there are 81 operating churches, served by 13 pastors, 4 assistant pastors and 4 students. Since 1978 new pastors have been ordained after having completed a six year course of study in the parishes, a kind of “in-service-training” there had been no possibility of seminary education for clergy either inside the Soviet Union or abroad. Ten of the present parish pastors are over the age of 70. As a breakthrough, however, two candidates for the ministry from this Transcarpathian Church have been selected to start theological studies at the Theological Academy of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Budapest according to reports of Reformátusok Lapja, the weekly of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Bishop Forgon also told that during the last ten years he had dedicated 44 renovated church buildings. The cost of these renovations just as all the expenses of church life are borne by the congregations; there are no state subsidiés at all. Total church membership is somewhere between 60- 70,000. Bishop Forgon is the pastor of the large congregation of Beregszász, just a few miles North of the Hungarian- Soviet border. Besides the Reformed Hungarians also Roman Catholic Hungarian church people are living in this region. Keston News Service quotes from the Hungarian Roman Catholic weekly Uj ember that only ten Roman Catholic priests serve among the round 60,000 Hungarian Roman Catholics in the Carpatho-Ukraine. Among the 10 priests only one is under 70 years old. Uj ember says that the shortage of Roman Catholic clergymen is more severe in this region than in the Reformed Church as the Reformed Church is permitted to conduct in-service training of pastors. Nevertheless two new Roman Catholic churches had been opened last year. Andrew Harsanyi CHURCH NEWS FROM HUNGARY New General Director of the Raday College Pastor István Thuroczy was named General Director of the Raday College in Budapest. He succeeds Dr. József Adorján who resigned for health reasons. Pastor Thuroczy is an alumnus of the Theological Academy of Debrecen; he studied in Utrecht, Holland, on a two-year scholarship and was last deputy head of the foreign affairs department of the Synodical Office. Staff appointment at the National Council of Reformed Church Libraries Dr. Sándor Tenke was appointed deputy president of the National Council of Reformed Church Libraries Archives and Museums. Dr. Tenke will continue as managing editor of the Reformed quarterly Confessio. Appointments in Debrecen Dr. Botond Gaal was appointed Director General of the Reformed College of Debrecen. In this capacity he succeeds Bishop Elemer Kocsis. Dr. Gaal was also elected professor of Systematic Theology at the Theological Academy of Debrecen. Dr. Gaal was formerly principal of the “gimnázium” (secondary school, corresponding to grades 9 to 12 in the American high school system); the new principal is László Kiss. Dr. Karoly Fekete, senior (dean) of the Nyírség Seniorate, was elected full professor of Practical Theology at the Theological Academy. Pastor Gusztáv Bolcskey was elected assistant professor of Sociology at the Academy.
