Magyar Egyház, 1998 (77. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1998 / 3. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11. oldal to help out for the greater upbuilding of our church in Hungary. The Association also heard a short report on the ecumenical affairs of the Reformed Church in Hungary, presented by the Secretary, Rev, Bertalan Tamas. His comments were also followed by many questions and comments. During the afternoon Rev. Bertalan Tamás, the Chief Officer of the External Affairs of the Hungarian Synod following the presentations of our invited guests from Hungary, the American Hungarian Church community held a special meeting on the closer cooperation of the churches such as student exchanges, seminary students and future pastors arriving to fill vacant pulpits in the United States and Canada. The first day meeting was concluded with a tribute at the grave of the late Rev. Geza Soos on the 40th anniversary of his passing in a wreath laying ceremony in a Ligonier Cemetery with Bishop Bolcskei and pastors, and elders of the American Canadian Church community. The evening was filled with a special reception held in honor of our invited guests and members of the clergy hosted the two Bishops of the Calvin Synod and Hungarian Reformed Church of America at the Ramada Inn hotel where all attendants of the meeting stayed. The second day of the meeting opened with a devotional offered by the Rev. Barnabas Roczey. The morning lecture was preceded by many announcements. Among those by the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church of Vancouver, BC, who announced plans for the construction of a new church building by their congregation and requested assistance from our congregations. Also, the Rev. Arpad Dobosh Sr. spoke about the plans of the return of the School in Budapest known simply as Lonyai School, and requested assistance. The Ministerial Association also requested Miss Priscilla Hunyady to give us an up-to-date report on the Annual Church Youth Camp, held jointly between the two main denominations. Miss Hunyady in her report opened the eyes of our clergy to some of the difficult subjects dealing with the problems of our youth, and it was decided that at next year’s conference we shall seek professional help to tackle this subject. The morning main topic was the presentation of another quest from Hungary, the Rev. Lenke Nagy, editor of the Reformátusok Lapja, a weekly publication of the Reformed Church of Hungary. She stressed the importance of cooperation between the old and new world’s news to provide a more balanced publication for our reformed people wherever they may live. The presentation was well received and the Ministerial Association appointed the Rev. Peter Toth to coordinate our efforts of closer cooperation. The Association also expressed thanks to her and all her efforts. The hours of the day has been flying by quickly. In the afternoon of our second day, our third presentation was made by the newly installed pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church of South Norwalk, CT, who as it was announced, will be married on September 19, 1998. First, the Association expressed its congratulations on both of these occasions. The Rev. Judith Mayer’s presentation focused on the “Relationship of Pastor to his/her fellow pastor”. The subject was well placed on the agenda and we have established that our relationship lacks substance when it comes to our dealing with each other both in a personal as well as professional level. Many comments, both personal and individual regrets, were expressed by pastors to each other and the lecture opened us up to the opportunities before us for more lovingly and spiritually upbuilding ourselves in the service for which we have been called. The Association spent some time on the subject of the visit of a Choir from Komarom, now Slovakia to visit us next early spring. A special committee was formed to work out the details. The afternoon just seemed to slip away from us. In the concluding moments of the meeting we paid special tributes to our fallen fellow servants as well as our elders. With our spiritual batteries recharged by the opportunity of our fellowship we sadly said good-by to each other and slowly headed to our separate ways returning to our stations of our service. PHOTOCREDIT: Balogh Bálint and Éva M. Nemes-Szabó------4
