Fraternity-Testvériség, 1968 (46. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1968-12-01 / 12. szám
The MAN of the MONTH Dr. Tibor Chikes Dr. Tibor Chikes was named the Man of the Month by one of the leading religious Magazines “The Pastoral Psychology”. We are happy to reprint some of the highlights of the article which appeared in the November issue. Chikes is an outstanding member of our Federation. Congratulations and best wishes. (Editor) In 1939, a young minister returned to his native Hungary, having completed two years as student pastor in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He returned to share the desperate uncertainty of his native country as it was being swept into the second World War. Born on April 22, 1913, Dr. Chikes could he called “a child of his century.” His education and family life have spanned two continents. After completing his high school and theological training in Hungary, where he was ordained in 1935, Tibor Chikes spent a year in France as a scholarship student at the School of Theology, University of Strasbourgh. The Th.M. degree was earned in 1937. A scholarship to the Westminster Theological Seminary of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, brought this young student to that city in 1937. A second year of theological study followed at the Episcopal Divinity School. A student pastorate in Phoenixville completed Tibor’s first American experience. The war years were spent in Hungary, first as associate minister of the Hungarian Reformed Congregation of Kisújszállás, Hungary (1939-1941). The degrees of M.R.Ed. in 1940 and Th.D in 1941 were added to a growing academic record. Maria Vadai Chikes has shared Tibor’s life and work since 1943, and two sons, Csaba (Tom) and Peter, were born in 1944 and 1946. Tibor became the sixty- third minister in Maria’s family in the four hundred years since the Reformation. Tibor Chikes and his young wife had decided to leave Hungary for the United states. In 1947, the Hungarian Evangelical and Reformed Church of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, welcomed back its former student minister, his wife, and their two small sons. The ensuing years found Tibor Chikes working in an area that continues to hold his interest—as chairman of Christian Social Action in the Philadelphia Synod. Increasingly, however, Dr. Chikes was being drawn to the problems of troubled individuals and families. Additional therapeutic skills were needed, so Dr. Chikes enrolled at the Marriage Council of Philadelphia as a “trainee” in 1955 and remained as a part-time staff member until 1958. Dr. Chikes did marriage counseling in Haddonfield, New Jersey, for local Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. This experience culminated in an article published in Pastoral Psychology in 1961. He also lectured during this period at the University of Pennsylvania on History of Religious Thought, in the Department of Religion. While starting his new career in pastoral care, marriage, and family counseling, Tibor and Maria ventured a “second” family. Gabriel and Benjamin were born in 1955 and 1957. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 sent a new wave of refugees to the United States. Through Dr. Chikes’ wide community of contacts, his devoted friends and associates in his congregation these families were helped through the difficult adjustments by their enormously energetic and dedicated countryman. Upon completing his training and work with Marriage Council, Dr. Chikes left for Pittsburgh to become Minister of Counseling and Director of the Community Counseling Clinic of the Baldwin Community Methodist Church. Having guided this program into high gear, Tibor Chikes could not resist the challenge for further service that came from the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Since 1960, Dr. Chikes has lived in the nation’s capital, working as Professor of Pastoral Care at the Seminary, and as marriage and family counselor for the Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Church. Coming from a city that was known as the “Cal- vinistic Rome” in Central Europe, and being a graduate of a 400-year-old Reformed College, Dr. Chikes is a man of solid convictions and an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ. In 1966, he became a member of the Board of Advisors at De Sales Hall, School of Theology, a Roman Catholic school for the training of priests. This is ecumenicity in living testimony. Our country has been greatly enriched by ths talents and dedication of this outstanding religious man and his family. This exuberant man lectures extensively, organizes conferences, and publishes numerous articles on the subjects of religion, psychology, counseling, youth, marriage, and education. His hooks are Psychology of Adolescents and That I May See, Lord. Those of us who have been privileged to know and work with Tibor Chikes are refreshed by his humor and his zest for living and are inspired by his integrity, serenity, strength, his warm friendliness, and his constant love for his fellowman. —Emily H. Mudd 13
