Magyar Egyház, 2001 (80. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2001 / 3. szám
12. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ HUNGARIAN AMERICANS WORTH REMEMBERING _____jjü ryU- Á U/-M/yH-C-V ’7^» 0 1 Hungarian-American leaders all share a bittersweet destiny. Success and failure are constant companions in their trek to find their place in history. The life and career of Barnabas (“Barna”) Dienes is typical of this dualism of achievement and failure. Barna Dienes’ foremost objective in life was to unify all factions of the Hungarian Reformed Church in the Unites States. This lifelong pursuit led him to the peak of his own career in 1939, just sixty years ago, when he became President of the newly established Magyar Synod of Hungarian Reformed Churches belonging to the Evangelical and Reformed Church denomination in the United States. As head of the special committee that attempted - and temporarily succeeded - in overcoming the church fragmentation, he was also deeply involved in keeping contact with the Mother Church in Hungary. However, just at the moment when it looked as if his goal was finally achieved in the Historic Agreement of Ligonier (Pennsylvania), the start of World War II undermined the unification process. Who was Barnabás Dienes? Who was this leader who would attempt the impossible? His role as the first President of the Hungarian Reformed churches governed by the Magyar Synod indicates that his fellow church leaders recognized his organizational ability, power of intellect, and commitment to Hungarian interests at all times. But his preparation for this role can be traced back to pre- Word War I Hungary. He was born in Debrecen, the “Calvinist Rome” in 1895. His father was the director of the Tisza (river) Regulating Company and formerly a judge. For his formal education, Barna attended and graduated from the famous College of Debrecen. He then continued his studies at the University of Budapest, intent on becoming a teacher of the Hungarian and French languages. However, World War I intervened and he could only take his examinations after the end of the war, after a number of miserable years as a prisoner of war. Following the war, he moved to Budapest as a teacher, but during the peace-negotiations, he was hired as a French translator by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Shortly thereafter, in 1920, he married Ilona Révész, the daughter of Mihály Révész, the minister of Nagybajom. But the political despair and economic misery of the 1920s combined with the personal tragedy of loosing their first child convinced him to emigrate with his wife, to the United States. The Dienes family first settled in New York City where Barna became the leader of community work for the Hungarian Church on 116th Street in Manhattan. From there he went to Bloomfield, NJ, to receive his pastoral diploma and then his BD. While he was continuing his studies, he was in the service of the Caldwell, NJ congregation. From there, he was called to the mining town of Himlerville, Kentucky-West Virginia, to organize a Hungarian church. However, the Hungarian mining enterprise was not successful and its members scattered in all directions. Next, he went to Brownsville where he served for three years. Then in 1929, he was called by the Hungarian Calvinists to Homestead, PA to be their pastor. The church of Homestead was already one of the strongest, but under the leadership of Barna Dienes, it become an active center of religious and cultural life. Under Barna’s direction, it freed itself from a debt of twelve thousand dollars. The church community’s inner social cultural life also progressed considerably: three choirs, two boy scout troops, three groups of Christian Endeavor, a working women’s association, a Young Women’s Circle, a beautiful Sunday school, a Saturday school, a summer school - all were signs of the never failing zeal and untiring industry of their pastor. Furthermore, the vicinity of Pittsburgh provided a favorable setting to continue his education: he acquired an MA at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He also became increasingly involved in the national affairs of American Hungarian Protestant life where he was an important leader pushing for organizational unity. Although Word War II had killed efforts to unify the fragmented church life of American Hungarian Calvinists, it simply led to a reorientation of Barna Dienes’ work. He became more and more involved in education, in Hungarian Studies, and in charitable work and assistance to Hungarian refugees who had been displaced by the war. Barna Dienes did not limit his work to the church life of the American Hungarian Calvinists, but was also busy in other Hungarian areas. The largest association of the American Hungarians, the Verhovay Sickbenefit Association of forty thousand members passed a resolution at its directors meeting, that the youth born and raised in the United States must be better acquainted with the national history, literature and culture of Hungary. With this aim, they launched courses throughout the country. They asked Barna Dienes to lead the first of these courses. He enjoyed speaking to young people about the thousand years’ history of the
