Magyar Egyház, 1993 (72. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1993-12-01 / 5. szám
8. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ gust Molnár, President of the American Hungarian Foundation, received our congregation’s gift of $2,500.00 in support of their program. Our former Chief Elder John Nemish came from Florida to share good memories. Grace for the dinner was asked by Rev. Bela Poznan of New York. I echo the hope of most of the speakers when I add that my own hope is that the last ninety years will be a solid foundation upon which to build a worthy future, flowering in this good soil. In conclusion, I would like to express our church’s gratitude to Pearl Hatten for her many hours of dedicated work toward the success of our fine celebration. Rev. Peter L. Toth 90TH ANNIVERSARY IN PERTH AMBOY November 21st, 1993 marked the 90th Anniversary in the life of the Magyar Reformed Church of Perth Amboy. On this glorious day the members, church families, friends and congregations in the area gathered to recall the goodness of the Lord toward his people in building, upholding and leading His congregation through the years. 90 years is a tremendous long time in the life of and individual, but in the Lord’s sight it is but like a day that has past. The celebration has been prepared for a long time, but we honestly can say, that we have never anticipated the turnout of our people which was a great surprise for us. The Church was filled to capacity that together with the Clergy, we may present ourselves in the presence of the Lord, that we may express our Thanksgiving unto Him, by whose guidance, grace and love this congregation was established, upheld, and existed for 90 years. The Divine Service of Thanksgiving was held in the Church beginning at 11:00 a.m. Those participating in the Service were: Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, Bishop of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America where this congregation belongs as a Denomination, in fact where this Church was a charter congregation when the denomination was established in 1924. Dr. Harsanyi preached God’s Word on the text of Ephesians 3:14-17. The Hungarian sermon was offered by Dr. Dezső Abraham, Bishop Emeritus and former pastor of this congregation from 1954 to 1974, therefore for Him this service was a homecoming. Also participating in the service was Rev. Ollie Benko Hall, newly ordained pastor from the congregation and Rev. Stefan Torok, Pastor of the congregation over the last 20 years. During the worship service the congregation enjoyed the presentation of a newly formed Church Choir under the leadership of our church organist Mrs. Lillian Banyacski, who served in this capacity for over 40 years. The service has been video-taped thus preserved for the future, when succeeding generations will be able to see the dedication, happiness and service of their parents and grandparents to this church. Following the Divine Service of Thanksgiving our celebration continued in our Church Center, where the Thanksgiving Banquet was served, for the first time in the history of the congregation by a catering service offering the opportunity to our ladies to be seated enjoying the festivities. The Banquet started with the singing of our National Anthem, and an Invocation offered by our Pastor. A delicious Traditional Thanksgiving Meal was offered with the following program: First to extend a greeting to the gathered crowd, by the way which numbered around 300 was the Honorable Joseph Vas Mayor of the City of Perth Amboy, who made a presentation of a ’’PROCLAMATION” proclaiming this day, November 21th 1993 as “Magyar Reformed Church Day” in the city of Perth Amboy. During the next few minutes greetings were extended by Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, Bishop, D.Dr. Dezső Abraham former Pastor and Bishop Emeritus, Dr. Francis Vitéz, pastor of our sister Church in Perth Amboy and Bishop of the Calvin Synod United Church of Christ, Ft. István Skinta Pastor of the St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church, Rev. Peter Toth Pastor of the Carteret sister Church and their Chief Elder Mr. L. Sendelsky, Rev. Ambrus Batiz Pastor of the Linden Magyar Reformed Church, Rev. Zoltán Korda, Pastor from Transylvania studying at Princeton. We were happy to greet representatives from the area congregations as well. Mr. Anthony C. Beke former Chief-Elder of the Synod extended greetings from the Trenton Congregation, and also from William Penn Association. During the afternoon the program included a time for remembrances compiled and shared by Mrs. Priscilla Jenkins and Mrs. Judith Quinn-Vincze, daughter of our well beloved former pastor Dr. Charles Vincze. These remembrances have been printed and distributed to our members. For our 90th Anniversary a “Church Directory” was printed including the pictures of our active members, church activities and life of the congregation, which to our regret due to unforeseen delivery problems did not arrive on time for our celebration. It is our hope that we will receive it soon. Seating for the occasion was conducted by Mr. & Mrs. Andrew C. Lovász. During our program we also took time to introduce our church organizations which are a part of our church’s life; among them, the Women’s Guild, President of the Guild Mrs. Arlene Sabo in behalf of the Guild made a presentation of $5000 gift on the occasion of the Anniversary. Our Pastor also shared with the audience the “Church’s Charter” and was very happy to recognize one of the families of our Charter Member Mr.
