Fraternity-Testvériség, 1959 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1959-07-01 / 7. szám

F RATERN ITY

ÁAAAAA

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF HUNGARIAN REF. FEDERATION OF AMERICA

Editor-in-Chief: George E. K. Borshy. — Managing Editor:

Joseph Kecskemethy. — Associate Editors: Emery Király and László L. Eszenyi. — Chief Contributor: Alexander Daroczy. Published monthly. — Subscription for non-members in the U. S. A. and Canada $2.00, elsewhere $3.00 a year.

Office of Publication: Expert Printing Co., 4627 Irvine St., Pittsburgh 7, Pa. Editorial Office: Kossuth House, 1801 “P” St., N. W., Washington 6, D. C.

Volume XXXVII JULY 1959 Number 7

BELA BACHKAI:

THE CHAPEL OF THE FOUR CHAPLAINS

For the sixth consecutive Decoration Day, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Hungarian Federation, sponsors the interdenominational service commemorating the four chaplains (two Protestant, one Roman Catholic and one Jewish) who gave their lives by surrendering their seats in the lifeboats of the U. S. S. cruiser “Dorchester” when it was torpedoed in World War II.

This year the speaker was Béla Báchkai, National Secretary of the American Hungarian Federation in Washington, D. C.

This is, indeed, hallowed ground for us all. For in our eyes it represents the highest measure of human sacrifice, and the actual carrying out of self-denial and brotherly love. What has been mankind’s dream for milleniums, in this instance was turned into a shining reality.

Consequently, it is fitting that such a magnificent demonstration by four ministers of that many faiths should have such a classic chapel in the City of Brotherly Love, thus honoring those brave men who not only lived, but died, according to the Gospel.

This brings to mind a pioneer representative of a people in a distant land, a people not known so much for their great number, yet rather for their individual striving to make themselves valued members of the human family. We refer to a missionary from Hungary, bent on preaching to heathens of this New Continent. Stephen Parmenius, of old Buda town, never reached these American shores, vet his religious zeal drove him over the