Magyar News, 1996. szeptember-1997. augusztus (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1996-09-01 / 1. szám
Reverend Thomas Karla A NEW VOICE IN OUR COMMUNITY I was bom in Paris, France on November the 10th, 1963. 1 pursued my theological studies at the Raday Kollegium, the Reformed Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in Hungary in Budapest. In our family a number of Reformed ministers have served, and it was —in pursuit of this legacy as well as upon divine inspiration and with my mother’s spiritual support to whom I owe much that I made the determination to become a pastor. 1 completed the five-year study period in 1988, and immediately afterwards was awarded a scholarship to the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches m Bossey, Switzerland where I studied and wrote a theological paper on the theme “Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation” in the English language. Upon my return to Hungary, I worked in the field of ecumenism at the Ecumenical Department of the Synodal Office of the Reformed Church in Hungary. On May the 5th this year, I was elected pastor of the United Church of Christ in Bridgeport. Both I and my mother are glad to be here and serve God’s cause as well as that of the Hungarians. Asked about his philosophy this is what Reverend Karla said: “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called”- this is how in I Corinthians 7, 20 the Apostle Paul exhorts his disciples in the city of Corinth as well as the subsequent Chnsuan generations of whom we are a part. This imperative by the apostolé clearly implies that everyone has a Godassigned calling in this world. Neither our creation, nor our destination is accidental, rather, we are placed in a universe of reason and meaning. In view of the above, the life journey of Hungarians is not an exception from the rule. We as Hungarians are created to serve a particular purpose. God works not only in the lives of individuals but in those of nations as well. Accordingly, 19th century Hungarian poet Ferenc Kölcsey, author of the “Himnusz” (Hungarian Anthem) rightly wrote that “őseinket felhozad Kárpát szent bercere”, “You have brought up our ancestors to the Carpathians’ sacred ridge”. God has a special plan with Hungarians both in the Carpathian Basin and in the rest of our earth. My personal vocation is to serve and promote the American Hungarian Reformed cause as the new pastor of the United Church of Christ in Bridgeport. Part of this pastoral service is also keeping the memories of the old country alive, also to cherish the great deeds of our American Hungarian community. To this end, I reinstituted the Hungarian worship services at our church, at the comer of North and Laurel Avenues, Hungarian Sunday services will be held twice every month at 11.15 a.m. I am happy that a good number of people have thus far attended these hours of worship and praised God in their native Hungarian language. We experience an ever-accelerating pace of changes around us with new traditions replacing old ones. In the face of this enormous challenge, in the light of the apostolic encouragement quoted, we are invited to preserve our own tradition with its values and assets. This preservation is my assignment, too. May our Lord grant strength and determination to all our congregational members, to our Hungarian community, as well as to myself, the new pastor of the church for our common cause. Soli Deo Gloria! Glory be to God alone! Hungarian Music in Alaska On our recent trip to Alaska aboard the Holland American Cruise Ship we were pleasantly surprised to hear Hungarian music on our first night while having dinner. Later while visiting one of several lounges we found a four man ensemble playing Hungarian music. In my half Hungarian and half English I asked where they were from? They said Budapest. They in turn asked if I was Hungarian. I told them yes as both parents came from Hungary. The violinist was outstanding. I noticed that this Hungarian music was enjoyed by all. We made several stops in Alaska. First was Ketehican where most of the homes are built on pilings. The city has the largest collection of Totem Poles and the Misty Fjords are close by. We also visited the city of Juneau. We were able to see whales and sea lions on rocks near land and seals near the ship. You are not allowed to throw anything overboard to feed the animals. We saw the famous endonhall Glacier as we continued our trip to the Glacier Bay, we were fortunate to see a Glacier Calf fall into the Bay. It was approximately the size of a house. Next we saw the city of Sitka, founded by the Russians in 1800. The main street is seventeen miles long and they have only one traffic light, but there are flowers all over. Here you can see bald eagles by the hundreds. The mountains are covered with ice and trees are forever green. The sun sets around 10:30 at night and rises at 4:30 AM. We also visited Seattle, Washington,Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. I was impressed with the beauty of the flowers everywhere and also the clean streets and magnificent buildings like the impressive Parliament and the Empress Hotel. Though it rains about 275 days out of the year, but we were fortunate to have beautiful sunny weather. We enjoyed every moment of the cruise, specially that it was topped with Hungarian music. Irene Willey Page 3
