Bethlen Naptár, 1950 (Ligonier)

Paul R. Pontius: Our neighbors in the Bethlen Home

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BETHLEN NAFTÁK

OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE BETHLEN HOME

By: Dr. Paul R. Pontius

When I first heard of the Bethlen Home at Ligonier, Pa., after assuming the pastorate of the Trinity Evangelical and Reformed Church at Greensburg, I thought it was named after the

town of our Lord’s nativity. I found I was mitaken, for instead of having the City of David in mind when the home was started, the founders intended to keep alive the name of an outstanding Magyar Protestnt. And I began to regret my colossal ignorance of Hungarian history.

But the Bethlen Home is what it is not primarily because of Bethlen-Gabor but because of its purpose and the people in it, especially those who are in charge. It is the spirit that makes on institution, and the spirit can be manifested only through persons. Founded in 1921 because of the plight of Hungarian people due to a mine disaster in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania, the Home has come to be not only a place where the young and the old can be cared for, but also the outstnding Hungarian center in the U. S. A., where gather Federation and Church groups to plan and do things for the Kingdom of God and from which radiate influences in the local community, extending to the surrounding territory and to far-away Europe and South America.

So I made it my business to visit the place in an endeavor to find out who’s who. The person who greeted us at the door was Mrs. Kecskemethy who showed us through the buildings. How agreeably surprised we were! Everything was as neat as a pin, and there was a system of management about the place so outstanding that any one could sense it. Later I met the Superintendent, the Reverend Joseph Kecskemethy. He soon saw that I had difficulty in pronouncing his name. He suggested that when attempting to pronounce it, I should say “catchcommittee”. In that way I learned how to twist my tongue so

Dr. Paul Pontius