Fraternity-Testvériség, 1993 (71. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1993-04-01 / 2. szám
Page 6 TESTVÉRISÉG consistories" in Homestead, Rankin, Braddock and Duquesne. He was entrusted by the Board of Home Missions to secure new missionaries from Hungary. He welcomed the Revs. Kalassay, Demeter and Harsányi at New York harbor and introduced them to their missions in Mount Carmel, New York, and Cleveland. He conducted the ministerial examination of Rev. Gábor Dókus who was the first minister of South Norwalk. He was a true leader of ministers and lay members alike. It was his vision fully adopted by the Mission Board that the American-Hungarian church life should be organized in six major centers: Bridgeport, New York, Trenton, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago. Each center having a pastor and a church should have mission stations around it, which will later develop into congregations with their own ministers. And he always emphasized that the Slovak Reformed people who joined our churches everywhere should be served as well, possibly in their language. But he wanted to care for his people not only by preaching, serving communion, and baptizing children. He knew that tragedy struck too many times: widows and children needed protection both here and in the old country. The first church registry book of the Pittsburgh Church tells the story. In the records of deaths and funerals in the year 1890-94, 19 year old, 24 year old, 26 year old men died in industrial accidents very frequently. He developed very close friendship with the Slovak Lutheran pastor of Braddock, Pennsylvania who was the secretary of the Slovak Seniorate and fraternal organization since 1893. The Rev. John Kvacala told him about the very successful Slovak Lutheran experience with fratemalism. Rev. Ferenczy shared the information with his elders and by January, 1895 under his leadership the Pittsburgh and Vicinity Hungarian Reformed Sick Benefit Society was launched. By the end of the year it had branches in the surrounding towns and was financially solvent to pay five dollars a week to the injured members and fifty dollars for the funeral expenses of a member. In January of 1896, Rev. Ferenczy initiated a meeting of all the Hungarian missionaries in the old Pittsburgh parsonage at Bates Street. Present were: Harsányi of Cleveland, Kalassay of Mount Carmel, Demeter of New York and Jurányi of Trenton. Rev. Ferenczy proposed that a Hungarian Classis should be formed to protect the health and welfare of our people "a fraternal organization should be organized nationwide wherever Hungarian Reformed people live in the United States." These were the beginnings. The existing documentary evidence demonstrates clearly that the foundation of our Hungarian Reformed Federation of America was first conceived, proclaimed (and also tested in the already existing Pittsburgh Hungarian Reformed fraternal organization) by the Rev. Ferenc Ferenczy. Aladar Komjáthy (To be continued: "The Meeting in Trenton and its Aftermath.") FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY We in the Underwriting and Claims Departments would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those agents who helped in recruiting new members. This is the most important business of our Federation, and our future depends on new membership enrollment. I invite all our local branch officers and members to become involved in the enrollment of new members into our society. Every branch should be concerned with recruiting new members at their branch meetings. We are also making an appeal to all directors to assist us in recruiting new agents in all areas. We need more people to knock on doors and promote our Federation. The District Meetings have been concluded for the 1993 year, and a Field Force Meeting was held in Ligonier, PA. Attendance was high and informative instructions were given to the groups by the respective national officers. Our utmost fraternal greetings are extended to new agents Barry Alderette, Maria Berei, Genevive Bihary, Bela Csikesz, Joseph Fabri, and new branch managers Rev. Joseph Posta (#207) and Joanne Simon (#150). The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, for almost 100 years, has assisted its members in time of need, supported the aged, the orphans, churches, social clubs and students. The Federation also sends support to our motherland, Hungary, and to Erdély by helping to
