Fraternity-Testvériség, 2010 (88. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2010-10-01 / 4. szám
Winter 2010 Pastor Appreciation Day Kathy A. Megyeri Rev. Alexander Jalso H onor Your Clergyman Day” is celebrated on the second Sunday in October; this year it was recognized on October 10th. The origins of this event are most interesting. As recently as in 1992, layperson Jerry Frear Jr.,a graduate of the Lancaster Bible College, was brainstorming with his church colleagues in Pennsylvania about how they might be of help to their minister. Jerry offhandedly glanced at a calendar and noticed that it was almost Groundhog Day. He recalls, “I thought that if they have a day for groundhogs, there ought to be a day for the 375,000 clergy people in the U.S.” Thus, for the last eight years, the second Sunday in October has been set aside to show appreciation for our nation’s clergy. The irony is that shortly thereafter, the same Jerry Frear Jr. went to prison for defrauding investors in his dot.com startup company in Montoursville. Now, Jerry writes, speaks and trains church personnel on mission building, and as a former pastor of a church in the Middlebury Center in Tioga County, he is now based outside Philadelphia. Thanks to Jerry’s idea, the Hallmark Card Company, Kansas City, in 2002 issued its first cards to “uplift and encourage pastors, missionaries, and religious workers.” Such cards and tokens of gratitude sell because, according to the Barna Research Group, as of2005,47% of Americans attend church on a typical weekend, not including weddings and funerals. Astonishingly, 84% of all Americans describe themselves as Christians. But again, ironically, more suggestions exist on ways to show appreciation for a minister’s wife than on ideas to honor the pastor himself. The following are often printed in church bulletins and on websites to give parishioners ways to say “thanks” to the minister’s wife, at least recognizing the difficulty inherent in this position and thanking her for the countless hours of support this unsung hero of any congregation makes: * Offer to babysit so she can have a date-night with her husband or have her children over for a play-day with yours. *Mow her lawn so her husband can take a day off with her instead of doing chores. *Wash their car and clean the inside. Then, leave a note of thanks in the glove compartment. *Love her husband and treat him well, and be especially nice to their children. *Write a letter of testimony for the church bulletin about a time when both your minister and his wife went out of their way to help you in some appreciated way. And while most of these suggestions would apply to the husband as well, celebrating Clergyman’s Day is more widespread in some areas than in others, but it hasn’t really caught on nationwide within the Hungarian Reformed community. As one pastor’s wife wrote, “It’s not really a ‘Hungarian thing’.” But we asked the clergy associated with HRFA to give us feedback on ways they’ve been honored or what they would most appreciate on their special day, and we were surprised at the honesty with which HRFA-affiliated pastors answered our queries. We share a few replies with our readers: Rt. Rev. Stefan István M. Torok of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Woodbridge, NJ admits that he has been treated with tomatoes, Hungarian peppers, baked goods and dinners delivered on special occasions, but he particularly remembers being honored on the 20th anniversary of his ordination with tickets and a dinner to Broadway to see “Phantom of the Opera.” On another Clergy Appreciation Day that corresponded with an anniversary, he and his wife Cindy were treated to a ski trip to a place of their choosing, in this case, Lake Tahoe and Heavenly Ski area, over a Valentine’s Day weekend. Sadly enough, that excursion followed a few days after the tragic ski accident of singer Sonny Bono at the same ski slope. The Toroks also recall being honored by the Women’s Guild that celebrated every birthday/anniversary/ Christmas with a monetary gift so Clergy Appreciation Day is an ongoing affair in some congregations who are very generous to their pastors. The best way, in the Toroks’ opinion, that a congregation could treat its minister is to not call the pastor during dinner hours. First Flungarian Reformed Church of Flomestead Rev. and Mrs. Stefan Torok 6
