Magyar News, 1996. szeptember-1997. augusztus (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1997-05-01 / 9. szám

Reverend Judit Mayer christening

T think that many of us have experienced the truth of the above sentence, but my life is definitely proof of that. I becoming Reformed happened by "mistake". My father is Roman Catholic, and my mother is Reformed. None of them were practicing their religions, but the grandmother of my father was very religious, devoted Catholic, and she had asked my parents before I was bom to have me baptized Roman Catholic. My parents agreed, and since it was my father’s religion^,he went to talk to the priest in Mohäckf my home town. The priest asked whether my parents had been married in a RomarriCatholic church, and if my father had been paying church tax - as it was called then. The answer to both questions was “no” so the priest refused to baptize lie. My father became angry and said that I should be baptized by the pastor of the Refonned Church in Mohács. So it happened, and ever since I have been a Refonned.

My mother and our relatives on her side said that since, I was Reformed, I should go to confirmation class and take confirmation. I agreed, and at the age of 14 I was confirmed. At that time religion or God for me was something that I became acquainted with due to my obligation to the family. I did not really understand what I was citing, and I did not like the idea of going to youtH group meetings, either. In 1979, right after my confirmation, the pressure of the Communist government eased a bit on churches. Due to that factor, the vacant parsonage in a village next to Mohács was transformed into a conference center. So, that year I went to summer camp for the first time in my life.

In that camp, the experience was shocking. I met young people whose parents were ministers, pastors. 1 met young people who went to “Refi”, Reformed Secondary Grammar School in Debrecen, the only Protestant high school in Central and Eastern Europe at that time. And these youngsters were not kneeling the whole day but laughing, acting just like the other kids, except they were somewhat different from the others. They seemed to be more caring and more loving. There was something special about them. I did not know what it was. What I wanted to get more -8 it. I wanted to learn what it was, but I wanted to get more of it. I wanted to learn what it was.

The following summer 1 went to this camp again, and decided to tell my parents that 1 wanted to go to high school in Debrecen. One can hardly find any other city more distant from Mohács than Debrecen. My parents were shocked. They did not under- Page 4

stand what was wrong with me. They did not see why I wanted to go away from home. My grades in high school were good, I was a talented piano student, and my parents were hoping that I would become a concert pianist one day. It was okay with me, yet I fought through the entire summer with them, and finally, they agreed to let me go. My dad warned me: “You can go to a different high school now. It’s Okay. But let me tell you there won’t be a next one. You will graduate from ‘Refi’.” I packed my things, and my parents drove me to Debrecen. (5 hours of driving) I had never been there before. The huge building and all the strange faces scared me to death. But, then I could not say a word; I just had to take whatever was to come. There was no way back. My dad had made that very clear. The next shocking experience was the room I was assigned to share it with eleven other girls. For me, being an only child, it was anything but funny. Slowly I became used to all the strange things, I got to know my class mates, and soon I became Miss Trouble. I was one of the least disciplined students in the whole school, leading my classmates in all kinds of things we were not supposed to do. Only my good grades saved my from being expelled from school.

My teacher of Religious Studies was the most surprised when I told him I wanted to

go to Seminary. (In Hungary one does not have to go to college first and then to graduate school. One can start right away with Seminary, but it takes six years till graduation.) Nevertheless, I graduated first in my class and took a successful entry-exam to Seminary. The main reason for going to Seminary was that I did not understand many things about religion, faith, God. I thought that going to Seminary would help understand. Although I did learn many important things, the most important information I received was that reason and understanding in theology do not survive without faith. There are certain things about religion or God, Jesus Christ that can not be grasped by reason, but only by faith. After my second year in seminary, I was offered a scholarship by on of the workers at the Embassy of the United States in Budapest. I gladly accepted and spent one year in Iowa, in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny town called Lamoni. The name of the college was Graceland, and it was financed and supervised by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Beware, they are not the Mormons but very similar to that. I studied English, theology, philosophy and music there. I had a very good time, I began to know quite a bit about this country, though I had visited the U. S. two previous times, for my grandmother lives in New Jersey.