Calvin Synod Herald, 1976 (76. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1976-01-01 / 1-2. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 7 by a variety of employers and is mandatory upon the employers without waiting periods for qualification. 5. A form of investing in which participation is voluntary is subject to certain serious drawbacks for all persons, and especially for ministers who are often underpaid. Financial emergencies occur regularly in life and sufficient selfdiscipline for regular investment over a lifetime is difficult. Once a minister is enrolled in Social Security, the annual collection is up to the Internal Revenue Service. The Pension Boards’ experience shows the value of Social Security; without it several thousand of our retired ministers and surviving spouses of ministers would be in serious trouble. 6. Four basic benefits of Social Security have value. a. Retirement Benefits b. Survivor Benefits for surviving spouses and dependent children. These can be considered the equivalent of a substantial life insurance policy. c. Long-term disability benefits. These also may be considered the equivalent of a substantial disability policy. Social Security is exceedingly helpful to disabled ministers. The Pension Board’s own Family Protection Plan is designed to be supplementary to Social Security and would not by itself produce adequate benefits for the ministers unless the cost were substantially increased. 7. Some persons have suggested that the same amount of money might produce greater benefits if invested privately than if invested in Social Security. In some circumstances this might be true, but the performance of a private investment plan requires frequent review and depends on the national economy. Today, certain plans that appear highly profitable might be highly unprofitable five years from now or even one year from now. The past two years have seen great fluctuation in the value of common stock, for example, as well as in interest rates. Generalizations on earnings are dangerous. However, another factor is involved in Social Security. Even though the earnings may not be so great as they might conceivably be in some private investment plan, Congress has consistently increased the payout of Social Security as the value of the dollar has changed. Many persons are receiving benefits considerably greater than were contemplated when they enrolled in Social Security. The nature of the political process suggests that continued increases are likely in the future. Such increases do not occur through private plans. 8. Many ministers feel that as “self-employed” persons they are paying a higher rate than if they were ordinary employees. Actually, the total rate paid by self-employed persons is about three-fourths of what the total rate is for employees. While there might be a momentary advantage in having the employing church pay 50% of the normal rate and the minister pay 50% of the normal rate instead of the minister paying 75% of the normal rate, as at present, the funds come out of the church budget in the long run. If the church were paying an amount equal to 50% of the total tax, it would have that much less money available for salary increases. The extra 25% would have to be found somewhere. Some churches have worked out a solution of sorts by paying the minister a supplement to his salary which he can then use for payment of the Social Security tax. Whether a minister with a salary plus a supplement is better off than a minister with a slightly larger salary seems doubtful. In any case, the supplement is part of his or her taxable income. For many years it was not possible to have the church withhold either the minister’s income tax or his Social Security tax. It is now possible, inaccordance with IRS regulations, for voluntary withholding and payment by the church. For the minister who has trouble saving the money necessary to pay the tax quarterly, such a withholding and payment by the church could be helpful. The church treasurer needs to be conscientious in caring for the matter promptly. HUNGARIAN PROTESTANTS TO COMMEMORATE GALLEY SLAVE PREACHERS Debrecen — Six days of celebrations and special meetings will mark the 300th anniversary of the liberation of 26 Hungarian Protestant ministers from galley slavery. The commemoration is being organized February 9-14 by the Reformed Church in Hungary, and will centre on the Doctoral College of the Debrecen Theological Academy. It was on February 11, 1676 that the Dutch Admiral Michiel Adriaansz de Ruyter liberated the 26 surviving Hungarian preachers who had been sentenced to be sold as galley slaves for their refusal to renounce their Protestant faith and be converted to Roman Catholicism. RPS, 76 Jan.---------o--------Allegations by the Hungarian Reformed Church of America about repressive legislation by the Romanian government against Hungarian-speaking minorities in Romania have been rejected by Bishop László Papp of the Reformed Church of Romania, (see RPS, No. 131, Sept. 1975). Dr. Papp in a recent statement, which was also signed by two Romanian Lutheran churchmen—one Hungarian-, the other German-speaking — has denied that proselytism is practised by the Romanian Orthodox Church and that “Romanization” of religious minorities is attempted by the government. The three church-leaders also draw attention to the active life and witness of their churches and to the contribution made by Protestants to the nation’s spiritual and material well-being, and make special mention of the distribution of thousands of bibles in recent years through the mediation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Hungarian Protestant minorities, the statement says, “enjoy full religious freedom . . . and are enabled to lead a normal life”. RPS, 76 Jan. A new Hungarian translation of the Bible left the press just before the end of 1975. Commissioned by the Hungarian Bible Society, the new Bible is published by the press department of the Reformed Church of Hungary in a first edition of 30,000 copies. It has taken an ecumenical team of translators and biblical scholars more than 25 years to complete this translation into contemporary Hungarian. RPS, 76 Jan. “THE HUNGARIAN BIBLE” a booklet published by Francis Vitéz deals with Hungarian Bible translations. The booklet is available for $1.00 from the author.
