Magyar Egyház, 1990 (69. évfolyam, 3-6. szám)
1990-07-01 / 4. szám
6. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MEETING OF THE BISHOP'S COUNCIL The Bishop’s Council of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America held its Annual meeting in Perth Amboy, on August 11th. The meeting was attended by the following official members: Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, Bishop; Mr. Anthony C. Beke, Chief-Elder; Miss Priscilla Hunyady, Treasurer; Mr. Stephen Szabó, Secretary; Rev. Torok, Dean and Mr. Balint Balogh, Chief-Elder from the Eastern Classis, Rev. Alexander Forro, Dean and Mr. Stephen Szabó, Chief-Elder from the New York Classis; Rev. Andor Demeter, Dean and Mr. Zoltán Kun, Chief-Elder from the Western Classis. The Bishop’s Council remembered in prayer the Rev. Dr. Dezső Trombitás, Ecclesiastical Secretary who passed away since our last meeting. In advisory capacity present at the meeting were Dezső Abraham, Bishop Emeirtus, Gabor Csordás, chairman of the Ministerial Examination Committee. As guests, Stephen Kovács, retired pastor and Mr. Andrew Schilling, elder of the Poughkeepsie church, and wives of the delegates. Following the official count of the representatives of the Bishop’s Council, the meeting was officially opened with scripture reading, prayer and the singing of the hymn “A Sionnak hegyén Űr Isten.” Before the official act of the meeting was to open, Dr. Harsanyi introduced Mr. Julius (Szucs) Furrier attorney, who at the request of the Bishop prepared the papers for our church as a “corporation” and requested the signatures of all official delegates. The meeting continued with the reading of the minutes, which was prepared by Mr. Stephen Szabó. The minutes were accepted with some minor corrections. The next item on the agenda was the report of the Treasurer Miss Priscilla Hunyady, which report was accepted. Our meeting continued with the reports of the Deans from each classis, touching upon the sore point of congregational lives, and vacant churches. Just before the lunch in short reports were offered on the Reformed Schools in Hungary. Dr. Harsanyi informing us that each school has an official bank account and our assistance can be sent directly through our treasurer to these schools. A short informative report was given on the car accident of Bishop László Tokes in Hungary, who is in hospital in Miskolc, and on the installation of Erdély’s other Bishop Csiha. We expressed our sadness toward Bishop Tokes and our congratulation toward Bishop Csiha. Following our lunch brake we lunched ourselves into the completion of the nominations for the upcoming elections within the Synod. Dr. Harsanyi and Mr. Anthony Beke relinquished their chair for the duration of the nominations to Dean Torok, who explaining the procedure requested the members of the Bishop’s council to make nominations for the office of the Bishop. The Bishop’s Council unanimously renominated Dr. Andrew Harsanyi for the office of Bishop. Nomination for the office of Chief-Elder of the Synod was made by Mr. Zoltán Kun, seconded by Rev. Forro. Nominating Mr. Stephen Szabó. Mr. Szabó has accepted the nomination, and since no other nominations were made. Mr. Szabó was also unanimously declared a candidate to the position of Chief-Elder. Further the Bishop’s Council made nominations for the Judicial Commission of the Synod, which were the following: Eastern Classis Rev. Dezső Abraham, Balint Balogh; New York Classis Rev. Dr. Louis Nagy and Dr. Andrew Schilling and the Western Classis Rev. Pal Mezo and Joseph Szarka. As per our By-Laws and constitution others may be added to these names and the congregations have their rights to vote for anyone who fulfills the obligations by the law. Ecclesiastical Secretary, Lay Secretary and Treasurer shall be voted upon by the Synod representatives. The Bishop’s Council has decided to communicate the names of the nominees to the congregations by the end of September, which will be voted upon by the congregations and the voting results mailed to the Rev. Forro by November 30th. The opening of the ballotts shall be handled by a committee consisting of Rev. Stefan Torok, Mr. Anthony Beke, Miss Priscilla Hunyady and Chairman of the committee Rev. Alexander Forro. The proposed meeting of the Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America is planned for March 9, 1991 at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. In the following the Bishop’s Council established the voting rights of the congregations, twenty seven congregations were acknowledged as voting congregations, with the understanding that all those congregations which are behind with their Synod obligations will meet their responsibilities. In the remaining time the Bishop’s Council heard a short report on the preparations for the Hungarian Reformed World Alliance meeting to be held under the sponsorship of the Hungarian Reformed Ministerial Association of Hungary in 1991 in Hungary. Special time was spent on the possibility of reassingment or reapportionment of the Classis. To evaluate the possibility a committee was named with the following members: Rev. Gabor Csordás, Mr. Pal Toldalagi from California, and Mr. Edmund Vig from Allen Park. The committee is to make their report at the next Bishop’s Council Meeting, which is planned to be held before the Hungarian Reformed Church Assembly on March of 1991. The Bishop’s Council closed its meeting at 7:00 p.m., August 11th, 1990 with the benediction of Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, Bishop. NEW HOPE FOR HUNGARY by Blaise Lévai Dr. Lévai, a former Managing Editor of the ABS RECORD, recently returned to Hungary after 22 years, finding enormous changes. He is of Hungarian descent. For many of Hungary’s 11 million people 1990 will not only be the start of a new year — but the beginning of a new nation. “We are witnessing the birth of something new,” stated Dr. Karoly Toth, Bishop of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary. Times are changing. In a taped interview he likened these new religious, political and educational changes to a long-awaited miracle. The miracle occurred October 23, at 6 PM when the light in the Red Star on top of the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary’s capital, was turned off for the last time and Hungary was declared a Republic. Church bells throughout the land rang and enthusiastic speeches were made before crowds of 100,000 from the same balcony that Prime Minister Imre Nagy spoke from in 1956 when the uprising erupted. Bishop László Kürti of Miskolc comfirmed this extraordinary change, particularly in the system of education. Af
