Bethlen Almanac 2000 (Ligonier)

Az amerikai egyháztestekben - In other denominations

Creating and sustaining that spirit has never been easy. From its establishment in 1896 down to the present, the Federation has represented an ambitious dream. This is the most striking lesson that emerges from reading the beautiful 100th anniversary album published in 1996. The challenges facing the Federation today are significant and substantial. But the Federation has been able to enter its second century because of ambitious dreamers who have, again and again, faced challenges with a generous, practical, and visionary spirit.

In a way, this is not surprising, since the story of the Federation mirrors the larger story of the immigrants who created it. It was ambitious dreams that brought Hungarians to America - dreams of freedom, of dignity, opportunity, and prosperity, of a better life for their families. America has been a land of dreams for so many, for the Hungarians who arrived in the 1910s, the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1970s, just as it is today for the Chinese, Mexicans, Cubans, Guatemalans, and so many others seeking a freer, better life. These dreams are about individual and family well-being, but also about creating beautiful communities, communities rich in music, poetry, dance, worship, food and fellowship and willing to sustain one another in lean times.

The Federation was just such a daring undertaking. It took ambitious dreamers to imagine an institution that would bind together and support the material, spiritual, and cultural well-being of widely scattered, itinerant Hungarian immigrants working in mines and factories in over half a dozen states, many of them not intending, at the time, to stay in the United States permanently. The organization began somewhat inauspiciously, with only 320 members (instead of the 500 the founders had set as their initial goal) and assets totalling $272.15. And things didn’t get much easier over time. Within its first two decades, the Federation was faced with the challenge of completely restructuring itself in order to modernize and professionalize its operations. By 1927, its convention was grappling with the question of whether or not to merge with another fraternal organization and change its name, and whether or not to close the financially strapped Orphan’s Home. And by 1939, the problem of the new generation of making the Federation relevant to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation American-Hungarians topped the organization’s agenda. These are familiar, recurring, and very real challenges. But if we examine the Federation’s history we can see that, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of its imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated. Such reports have emerged, more or less

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