Reformátusok Lapja, 1971 (71. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1971-04-01 / 4. szám

14

REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

HUNGARIAN CHURCH LEADER IN HIROSHIMA

Hiroshima — Dr. Tibor Bartha, presiding bishop of the Reformed Church of Hungary, was among the speakers at a conference organized here from Nov. 28—Dec. 2. The conference, organized by the Center of Peace and Culture, was held to commemorate the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 25 years ago.

Main theme of the conference, which was attended by many scientists, political and church leaders, was “Conditions for peace in a nuclear age.”

Bishop Bartha, who was accompanied by another Hungarian Reformed churchman, Dr. Karoly Toth, spoke on “The nuclear age and man”, one of the conference’s sub-topics. RPPS

FRENCH PASTOR NOT ALLOWED

TO RETURN TO MADAGASCAR

Marcel Henriet, formerly a minister of the Reformed Church of France, has been refused an entry visa to Madagascar. This will prevent him from returning to his job as university chaplain at Tananarive, when he completes his home leave in France. Mr. Henriet, who is a correspondent of the Alliance quarterly “Reformed and Presbyterian World” has been working with the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar since 1967. RPPS

DR. GYULA DAVID,

principal of the united theological seminary in Cluj, Romania, has been awarded the honorary degree of doctor of theology by the theological faculty of Basel University. RPPS

NEW DEAN OF COMENIUS FACULTY

Prof. Dr. F.M. Dobias of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, who has been appointed Dean of the Co- menius theological faculty in Prague took office on Dec. 4. The theme of his inaugural lecture was “the concept of authority in the Tábori te Confession.”

Dr. Dobias is a permanent representative of the Alliance in the European Lutheran-Reformed conversations.

One of the oldest churches of the Church of Scotland, Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, celebrated its 350th anniversary on Christmasday. Rev. Stuart Louden, minister of the Church recalled that it was also on Christmasday 1620 that the Pilgrim Fathers started building their first homes in New England. RPPS

ECUMENICAL ASSEMBLY April 22-25, 1971

At a time when a general air of retrenchment seems to have enveloped much of life, 2,000 Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic women will meet in Wichita, Kansas in an ecumenical asembly called by Church Women United to make plans for the 70’s. Over a hundred women from overseas countries will also be present, including representatives from regional and national ecumenical groups of women from every continent.

Mrs. James M. Dolbey, president of Church Women United, will preside over the Assembly meeting at Century II, the convention center of Wichita, April 22 through 25. With the assistance of a team of theologians and a team of futurists the church women will explore together their claim that God through Christ made a radical breakthrough in history and its implications in the modern breakthroughs in technology and rapidly changing social patterns.

Among those taking part in the Wichita Assembly are: Jean Houston, director of the Foundation for Mind Research, New York City, and associate professor of philosophy at Mary- mount College; Rustum Roy, professor of applied chemistry and director of Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University; Alice Mary Hilton, president of the Institute for Cybercultural Research, Inc., New York City; William N. Hubbard, Jr., M.D., vice president and general manager of the pharmaceutical division of the Upjohn Company; the Reverend T. Paul Verghese, principal of the Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala, India; the Reverend Catherine L. Gunsalus, associate professor of historical theology, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary; the Reverend Randolph Nugent, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Sister Katherine Hargrove, associate professor of religion at Man- hattanville College; and members of the American Baroque Dance Theatre of Kansas City. The assembly planners are making use of multi-media devices and the arts in order to make this an experience-oriented occasion.

The assembly will have before it recommendations from special committees on participation of women in the shaping of future society. On the closing afternoon they will work in planning sessions designed by Harriet Naylor, director of Volunteer Services,

New York State and other leaders in adult education. The assembly participants are expected to make plans for carrying their goals into the life of their constituency. New officers and a board of managers of 125 women will also be elected for the coming triennium.

Church Women United is a national movement through which Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox women may express the ecumenical dimensions of their faith and work. Units of the national movement are organized in every state of the union and in 2,300 local communities. Participation is open to all Christian women who wish to manifest their unity through fellowship, study and cooperative action.

Church IK omen United

COUNCIL FOR CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ACTION ON WOMEN

In its statement on “The Status of Women in Church and Society,” the Council pointed to the church as one of the worst offenders in discrimination against women.

Women have been victims of “discrimination in employment in the society in general,” the Council said, “and in the church in particular.”

While women make up “half the population of the world and more than half the membership of our churches,” it said, “they are underrepresented on church boards, in church pulpits, and on the staffs of the denomination’s national and judicatory structures.”

The Council called for the “elimination of discrimination in employment and compensation on the basis of sex wherever it exists in our society.” K.Y.P.

173 NEW CHURCH BUILDINGS

have been erected by the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands over the past ten years. Total cost amounted to some 125 million guilders. Another 41 existing buildings have been modernized or enlarged, according to a report published by the Church extension foundation. The report states that the foundation will have to occupy itself increasingly with “background” inquiries, and that it is presently engaged in research into the shortage of pastors, which in some areas in the Netherlands has reached “emergency proportions”.

RPPS