The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1983-04-01 / 4. szám
Page 3 THE EIGHTH HUNGARIAN TRIBE April, 1983 THE EDITOR’S CORNER . . . “Some of the Hungarian Parents are concerned with their Childen’s religious and national origin education.” The above statement appeared in one of the Hungarian Reformed Church’* Sunday Bulletins and was sent to this editor. This is not new — the same question has been discussed over and over again for over 40 years. In the 1930-s a decision was made to publish an additional publication besides the church papers. This new one’s task was to inform the new born generations of Hungarian parents of their national heritage. The three religious papers, the Reformátusok Lapja, the Magyar Egyház and the Katolikusok Vasárnapja (a semi-religious, semi-political publication) were given the responsibility to prepare the younger generation in their religious heritage. Dr. Endre Sebestyén pastor of the Duquesne, Pa. church and A. Fiók, of Pittsburgh, Pa. printer volunteered to publish the new- magazine. Even then the Hungarian Americans were called the Eighth Tribe, a name given to them by Bishop Dezső Baltazár of Debrecen, Hungary on his visit to the U.S. Since then, many prominent Hungarians reaffirmed that designation, including Cardinal József Mindszenty. So the new publication took the name -— but their effort failed, when it came down to support by the people. Maybe if the pastors and lay-leaders of our Hungarian Churches would have seen to it that every family in their congregation received the paper and at the same time the religious papers equally doing their respective, duties, today we would have living, prosperous, high membership churches, instead of a slowly dying church for which many pastors have written their eulogies. Presently we see the Magyar Egyház and the Reformátusok Lapja losing their readership because lack of interest in the contents of the paper. The Calvin Synod, publisher of the Reformátusok Lapja, has over 20,000 members, but publishes less than 1,000 copies; the Hungarian Reformed Church in America, the publisher of the Magyar Egyház, with over 15,000 members, has a higher circulation, mostly because the churches pay for it, (we learned that this practice will be stopped by some of the churches). The Katolikus Magyarok Vasárnapja, with 3,000 subscriptions, is also struggling because of the high cost of publication. I have no explanation why did the Bethlen Home establish the Bethlen Freedom Press, unless it was directed by a higher authority, and after publishing Bishop László Ravasz’s new translation of the New Testament (which would have never been accomplished otherwise) give the Press up. In 1974, a small group of Hungarians purchased the Press; continued its operation as the Bethlen Pres* and brought the Eighth Tribe magazine back to life. The myth that the Press and the Magazine are in the hands of ‘Reformátusok’, and the paper is a ‘Reformed paper’ is false. In the ownership and the editorialship it is equally divided. As for the readers, 1,000 subscribers are equally divided; in some places the Catholics, in some places the Reformed readership is larger. Take the Cleveland area, where we send 6 mail bags of the Fraternity magazine of the Hungarian Reformed Federation. It is supposed to have one of the greatest concentrations of Hungarians, with many Catholic and Protestant churches. The Eighth Tribe has only 41 readers. None of the 5 Protestant ministers ever subscribed, or became members of the Hungarian Eighth Tribe Foundation. At the same time, we see two Catholic pastors on the rolL Also we find that the readership is mostly from the Catholic sector. In the Detroit, Michigan area, the 24 readers are mostly from the Detroit-Alien Park Reformed Church, presently the largest Hungarian Reformed Church in the U.S. This church should furnish over a 1,000 readers to the Magyar Egyház and the Eighth Tribe individually, but it fails to do so. The large Hungarian population of the East Coast — Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania should provide thousands of subscriptions to ALL publications, but it is not so. We could cover the whole United States, and come up with the same sorry statistics. For the last nine years this magazine has survived because of the sacrifice of this editor, his brother and several individuals from the Pittsburgh area: Dr. István S. Tuba, Dr. Steven B. Várdy, Dr. William Biró, Louis Biró, Dr. Joseph Vietorisz, Michael Kerékgyártó and Theodore Truszka. Last year the total income from subscriptions was $8,140.00, which averages to about $660.00 per month, one sixth of the production cost — not counting all the hours the editor’s family spends helping. Taking all the years into consideration many thousand dollars worth of time and materials were spent to keep this magazine alive by this small dedicated group of people. When the consolidation between the William Penn Association and the Hungarian Reformed Federation was under consideration, a letter was circulated by some one asking: where will the Bethlen Press fit into the picture, will it be abandoned? I was very much impressed, but it was also tragic, for the Bethlen Press was really deserted by the churches many years ago. In regard to the Hungarian Reformed Federation, although once the Bethlen Press did all their printing needs, for the last few years only the Fraternity magazine was done by the Press, for which we are grateful. Sadly, we have to inform you that we are considering the sale of the quipment of the Bethlen Press, mainly due to the fact that the editor is facing an other eye-operation, which the doctor advised should be done soon. We shall continue the operation on a limited scale — concentrating on this magazine and other publications concerning our responsibilities to Hungarian Americans. It will not be easy, for the expenses to bring you this magazine will be much higher. We have to pay for ALL the expenses. The estimated cost for a year will be around forty to fifty thousand dollars. Those who know printing know that the preparation for one copy or a thousand is the same. The answer lies in the increase of readership, at least to 5,000 subscribers and a few thousand membership in the Foundation. There are many who know about our situation. When I told them their suggestions was to inform you, the readers, and through you, all the Hungarian Americans. So we appeal to you, the readers, the members of the Foundation, be a voice for this magazine in your churches, in your Hungarian clubs, amongst your Hungarian friends and relatives. The 1980 Census showed 1.6 million Hungarian Americans (the real number is much higher) — but we cannot find 25,000 to stand together, to support their own Heritage, I
