Magyar Egyház, 1956 (35. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1956-03-01 / 3. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 A PRIEST'S OWN STORY Review of Emmett McLoughlin’s autobiography, “People’s Padre” REV. CHARLES A. DAROCY Mr. Emmett MeLoughlin is superitendent of the Memorial Hospital of Phoenix, Arizona. He lives the kind of life that most of us do. He is well liked in many circles of Phoenix’s society. He is hated by many of his former associates and friends. They can never forgive him for what he did. For Mr. MeLoughlin is a former Roman Catholic priest! Why would a man leave the priesthood? Why would a man give up the security of so powerful an organization, the adulation of so many people, the power that only a priest can have within his parish and the community at large? Emmett MeLoughlin tells all this in his life story. He minces no words. He follows the traditional method of illustrating the difference between Biblical faith and Romanist practice. He breaks through the “purple curtain” that separates so many millions of people from personal religious experience by means of an all-powerful religious hierarchy. In short, he questions the very basis of religious authority that substitutes a Roman Pontiff for a Galilean Saviour and a set of laws for a simple statement: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “In worship, in doctrine, and in morals the Protestant keynote is love. In Roman Catholicism it is fear. The hierarchy, of course, denies this. A good test would be the abolition of the penalty of sin for non-attendance at Sunday mass.” This quotation is taken from page 273. It restates what so many of you already know, that worship for many Americans has become an act of duty rather than an act of devotion and love for God. It is interesting to note that Mr. MeLoughlin traveled the same spiritual road as Martin Luther. Both first attacked the obvious contradictions. They soon discovered that the real problem was not what was so evident. It was the basic cleavage of the Roman Church from Biblical faith. The substitution of the rules of fallible humans who had the effrontery to claim that they spoke and acted in the place of God Almighty. The limitation of lay participation in religious life to mere echoing of pronouncements and endless tasks of menial nature. No one is as appreciative of the values of evangelical Christianity as one who never enjoyed them. We of the Reformed tradition have consistently attempted to present the contrasts between the life of the free believer and the religious serf. It is tremendously interesting to relate that this former priest discovered that the strength of the Protestant Churches is greater than we ever thought. For we have tended to minimize our strong points: love of fellowship, solid Biblical preaching, individual devotional practices, freedom! There is nothing in Roman Catholicism to compare with the type of religious experience that God’s people enjoy. There is no Roman Catholic priest who can work together as an equal of his fellow Christians who are laymen. His system forbids it. Ours welcomes and appreciates it. Where can you buy this book? Many bookstores are afraid to carry anything like it. They call it “controversial!” They really mean that they fear the pressure of neighboring priests and their followers. WOMEN'S GUILD . . . by Mrs. Peter Dudich With a very successful year behind us and the hope of an even better one to come, we would like to share our past experiences with our sister church organizations. We hope in turn to read of their activities and thus benefit from each others experiences. Our success was both spiritual, and material, the goal of all church groups. Under the able leadership of our officers, Mrs. Elizabeth Novak, pres., Mrs. Margaret Silagyi, vice-pres., Mrs. Elizabeth Kish, sec., and Mrs. Elizabeth Lazok, treas., and with the full cooperation of the membership we grew stronger in faith an fellowship. Our program for the year included monthly cake sales, our annual Valentine and Grape Festival, Bazaar, as well as social evenings with the Senior Women’s Club, Inter Church Guilds, our Husband’s Nite and the Children’s Christmas Party. As had been our custom since the Guild was organized nine years ago, the members of the Guild participate in corporate Holy Communion commemorating our anniversary in March of each year. Although in the past our Mother’s Day Dinner was a small affair in honor of our own Mothers, last year we honored all Mothers of the Church with corsages and at a family congregational dinner which proved so successful we hope to make it an annual affair. The year of 1955 saw the formation of the Building Fund Committee with the hope of realizing our dream of a new Educational and Social Center in the near future. In conjunction with this effort the Guild sponsored a Radio Quiz Show and a special Hungarian Day of the Building Fund together with the Men’s Club. Because of the success of these and other activities, we were thus able to donate $2,500.00 to the Building Fund with hopes of exceeding this amount each year. As our men are members of the towns Protestant Laymen’s Association it was our pleasure to serve as hostesses at a dinner held in our auditorium. Our members participated in the Annual World Day of Prayer services held at one of the local Protestant Churches. Working together in the Community in this manner, we hope to broaden our Christian spirit to include more than just our own congregational endeavors. But not wishing to minimize these, we have aided in defraying the cost of relief packages sent to Europe, we have given financial aid to our own needy church families, donated to the orphan’s Home, the Magyar Egyház, the Mission Fund and various other civic charities. The Bible says: “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Proverbs: 31:30. Small town libraries in particular rarely carry such books, they stick to safe items like “Forever Amber.” You can order it from the publisher: Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts for $3.95. You owe it to yourself to rediscover the value of your religious heritage. It often takes a newcomer to remind us that what we take for granted is of immeasurable value to one who was kept from such an experience of faith and has now discovered it. For Emmett MeLoughlin truly became the “People’s Padre” when he became just Mister MeLoughlin.
