Reformátusok Lapja, 1950 (50. évfolyam, 8-24. szám)
1950-06-15 / 12. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 5 original responsibilities of his office as Hungarian secretary of the Board. From October 1949, Rev. Árpád L. Bernáth was added to the one-man “force” of the paper as circulation manager, with the help of the Board of Business Management. The paper is a semi-monthly, except in July and August when it is a monthly. On its list of subscribers it carries about 2,000 names. Among the subscribers, we have a few congregations, where all the members receive the paper, for half of its regular subscription price which is $2.50 per year. On the other hand, there are congregations, where the people do not even seem to know that they have a religious Columbus and church paper of their own, edited and printed in their mother tongue. Such is the case everywhere where the importance of the church paper was never emphasized and the case of the REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA never properly presented. The Hungarian Secretary, when he visited the congregations, had to concentrate his appeals on the larger aims and duties and activities of the Church, and had to discuss the problems connected with apportionment, — many pastors simply did not want to permit him to present another, and much smaller, problem which also involved money. So the paper did not have even a chance to reach that first generation which is almost everywhere still the majority of the membership of our churches. During the fifty years of its existence, the paper oaly once had a full-time man working for the paper, and that was during the great depression time. The aims of the paper The paper clearly states its character right on the front, under this title: Church and Religious Paper for the People. It being written for the people, it is not a paper written for the ministers or for highly educated persons only. It is not a paper of theology, neither of politics or sciences or arts. It is not even a newspaper, although it carries news, but exclusively church news: from the congregations or any other parts of the Church. It is a paper of FAITH and of LIFE based upon the faith. It carries articles of devotional character, regular columns based upon the study of the Bible. Its interest covers every phase of the life of the Church, but mostly its missionary undertakings. Neither is it serving exclusively our own Church: tries to cover American pro- testantism and universal Christianity on oecumenical lines. It endeavors to stand for everything for which Christ would stand in our place and to oppose everything He would oppose. Theologically the paper stands on the same principles as our Church, happily echoing the spirit or even the letter of Heidelberg Catechism, which was the first creed adopted by the Reformed Church of Hungary also, four years after it was published in 1563. The paper does not carry local news items except if they are of universal importance. Neither does it carry local announcements. It does not invite people to events, it rather records the events, if they are worth recording. Neither does it carry any advertisements (with the sole exception of The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, a fraternal organization of our own). Our limited number of subscribers would not justify either national or local advertisements. The first we could not get anyhow until our edition will grow; the latter we refuse as we do not want to live on charity or to sell our independence. We need absolute freedom to be able to be the voice of conscience or discipline of the faith, whenever that is needed. Some interesting events in the life of the paper There were different undertakings started by this paper during the turbulent life time of the Reformed Hungarians in America. Fortunately, by the time the paper was started, the first great discussion was over: which is the truly and more “reformata ecclesia”: the Reformed or the Presbyterian? The contestants came to the final conclusion that both churches are acceptable. Then came a new fight, much more vehement and longer in duration. The Reformed Church of Hungary started missionary work here, among the Hungarians, who were expected to return to their old country (and in that first decade of the century many returned), therefore the aim was to keep them in the membership of the same Church even while they sojourn here. The formerly two camps of contestants grew now to three, but very differently grouped. By the time the first, later the second Classis was formed by the Reformed Church of Hungary, our own Reformed Church in the U. S. kept only nine congregations, which remained faithful even during this period of fifteen years. The REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA steadfastly sustained the same policy, standing by the American denominations. Events justified the REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA means, translated, PAPER OF REFORMEDS East Chicago
