Magyar Egyház, 1981 (60. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1981-03-01 / 3-4. szám

MAGYAR GGYhÁ.Z

13. oldal

MEETING OF THE EASTERN CLASSIS

Beke, Treasurer Andrew C. Lovász, Miss Priscilla Hunyady (on Youth Conference) and Robert Üveges, president of the Elders’ Association.

Among the resolutions and recommendations of the assembly are the following. The assembly

* placed the Rev. Paul Ferenczy on the roll of ministers',

* took Louis Medgyesi, a student at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, under the care of the Classis as a candidate for the gospel ministry;

* voted to keep the Rev. Dr. Andrew Harsanyi and the Rev. Stephen Kovács on the roll of the Classis ministers after their retirement;

* urged all congregations to generously support our denominational causes, the work of our missionaries, and to meet the quotas of denominational obligations;

* urged the congregations to support our Hungarian religious radio program;

* encouraged the congregations to support the work of the Kdroli Gáspár Seminary in Akron;

* voted that the congregations

consider women as pastors if available;

* voted to call upon the Bishop’s Council to review the salary scale of pastors, updated it and include costof-living allowances;

* urges the congregations to review their ministers' salaries to allow for cost-of-living increases;

* encouraged members of the congregations to join, to participate and to support the Eastern Area Presbyters Association, the American Hungarian Reformed Presbyters Association, the United Church Women, and the Eastern Area Youth Federation;

* encouraged the congregations to actively participate in the work of their local and state councils of churches;

* gave the Rev. Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, in recognition of his faithful services over the past sixteen years, the title of Honorary Dean of the Eastern Classis, upon his retirement;

* voted gifts to the Magyar Egyház, the Committee on Human Rights in Romania, and to the prospective students at the Akron Seminary.

t i

Religious Freedom" in Eastern Europe

The Eastern Classis of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America held its annual assembly on Sunday, March 29 in the Perth Amboy church under the dual chairmanship of Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, dean, and Anthony C. Beke, chief elder. The assembly was very well attended; in addition to the officers and official delegates of the congregations some 40 elders were present.

Among the guests who honored the assembly with their presence were our own Bishop, Dezső Ábrahám, John Nemish, chief elder of the Synod, and the Rev. Dr. Francis Vitéz, dean of the Eastern Classis of the Calvin Synod, United Church of Christ.

An extensive report on the state and problems of the classis was given by Dean Dr. Harsanyi. Statistics show 32 baptisms, 23 confirmations, 21 weddings and 74 funerals in 1980; total constituency including children is an estimated 2,320 in the eight congregations. There is a gradual erosion of membership and there are alarmingly few children. On the other hand there are still many unchurched people of Hungarian Reformed background within the areas of the congregations which could and should be reached. Although the per capita giving of our members is below the average of the mainline American Protestant churches the financial situation of our congregations is generally good; some have very sizeable balances in their treasuries. Yet benevolence and missionary giving is very low — “as if we wouldn’t care for others.” The greatest problem facing our congregations is the critical shortage in bilingual ministers. There will be vacancies in two or maybe three churches in our classis within the next few months with little hope for adequate replacement. Because our salary scale is disproportionately lower than in Hungarian churches of other denominations we cannot attract ministers from there. These and other items of the Dean’s report were dealt with by the resolutions and recommendations of the assembly.

Report were given by Chief Elder

Flexibility implies concessions — but not any kind of concession. The limits of the concessions the Vatican is prepared to make in order to improve relations with Communist-run states have been clearly defined in a recent article by Franz Cardinal Koenig, archbishop of Vienna. Writing in the Paris daily Le Monde, Cardinal Koenig recalled that in his first encyclical, Redemtio hominis, Pope John Paul II called for the respect of religious freedom which is an integral part of human rights. “From a strictly human point of view, ” Cardinal Koenig wrote, “it is difficult to concede that in states where atheism dominates public and social life the faithful should just be tolerated or relegated to the status of second class citizens. ” In support of this point of view, the cardinal then cited the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki agreements which affirm the

citizens’ right to follow their own consciences and to practice, individually or collectively, the rites of their religion. In that connection the cardinal noted that in spite of international agreements and constitutional guarantees the Communist states respect human rights only when this promotes their own interests. To illustrate his point the cardinal then cited the violation of human and religious rights in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and, to a lesser degree, in Hungary.

In the introductory paragraphs of his article Cardinal Koenig recalls that the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Agreements all affirm freedom of conscience and a citizen’s right to practice, individually or collectively, the rites of their religion. The Cardinal notes that the Soviet Union has not only subscribed to those documents but has reaffirmed, in the