Magyar Református Egyház

Archive for the ‘Hungarian Culture’ Category

Warsaw, Poland (ENInews). Local government officials in Hungary are handing state-owned schools over to churches, unable to afford their upkeep during the economic recession, according to church sources.

“Churches are entitled to run schools in Hungary as public service providers, receiving the same taxpayers’ money as public sponsors,” said Balazs Odor, ecumenical officer of Hungary’s Reformed Church, in an interview with ENInews.

“The school system has its own problems here, which affect church-run schools as well. However, it’s generally true that the wellbeing of church schools is better looked after since each has a community behind it,” he added.

Hungary’s Heti Valasz weekly newspaper reported this summer that local councils had been forced to abandon schools in the face of shrinking state subsidies, heavy municipal debts and a decreasing number of children, adding that more than 60 had been given to religious associations in recent months.

Odor told ENInews that the church’s governing Synod Council had issued guidelines in February, requiring local congregations to “study each case carefully” and obtain approval for school acquisitions from church leaders. “There’ve been discussions with the state, where our church committed itself to be cautious and reserved in its approach,” he told ENInews.

Full Story

Here is their announcement:

The Hungarian American Coalition was founded 20 years ago, on August 20, 1991. As part of our continuing anniversary celebration, we look back at our activities during each month of the year. During the month of June, the Coalition honored Victims of Communism and focused on protecting human rights for Hungarians living outside the borders of Hungary through a variety of initiatives. For additional details on these projects and more, please consult our webpage.

Presidential Greetings on HAC 20th Anniversary

23rd weekly media review of hungarian communities abroad:

-Trianon anniversary – Day of National Cohesion
-Centre and Research Institution
-The Government is committed to the cause of national minorities in Hungary
-Keep calm and carry on
-Electronic census closed
-Collective minority rights at no circumstance
-Diplomatic Note for Hungary
-Kiev: dual citizenship does not constitute a problem’
-Conference on scientific cooperation
-Hungarian Identity conference in Canada

22nd Weekly Media Review For Hungarian Communities Abroad

The following media summary was provided by the official Secretariat for Hungarian Communities Abroad.

Tenders published for organizations of Hungarians living abroad

The deputy state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad Zsuzsanna Répás announced on Friday that the Bethlen Gábor Fund published the open tenders for Hungarian culture and education. Organizations of Hungarians living abroad may apply for HUF1,2 billion (roughly €4 615 380). During the last month, the Fund has carried through calling for tenders in an amount of nearly HUF7 billion (€26 923 000). Répás said that new principles featured the new subvention policy that meant a comprehensive and transparent criteria system worked out by the Hungarian Standing Conference.Organizations of greater national interest and with a wider background are expected not to apply for these open tenders, since they will likely receive normative support based on the established criteria. Member organizations of the Standing Conference are entitled to propose institutions and organizations for the normative support. The Borderless!program managed by the Apáczai Csere Public Foundation was announced on 30 April. Within this program, HUF500 million (€19 230) is available for two components. The government wishes to provide study excursions for seventh grade elementary school students. Within the other component, the co-operation of technical colleges is facilitated and promoted by creating twin relations. The deadlines are rather tight in all tenders, for the Borderless! program they are: 3 June for the first component and, 17 June for the second one. The desired aim of the government is to enable students to experience the
lives and birthplaces of Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin at least once during their studies.

3-day Jamboree in Debrecen

The youth organization of the Christian-democratic People’s Party (IKSZ) held a 3-day jamboree in Debrecen in the topic of policy for Hungarians living abroad. The youth president Bence Stágel underlined the uniqueness of this initiative in its institutionalized Hungarian-Hungarian relation-building goal. The South-Slovak Via Nova, the youth organization of the Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Transcarpathia, the Hungarian Youth Conference and the Hungarian Youth Council from Transylvania and the Fidelitas (Fidesz Youth Organization) attended the meeting, where they were encouraged to voice their interest and ideas toward the Hungarian government. Among the invited guests, deputy state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad Zsuzsanna Répás recalled the words of the late prime minister József Antall, who wished to be a prime minister of 15 million Hungarians in soul. Répás referred to the Status Law, the simplified naturalization and the autonomy aspirations in the Carpathian Basin. Whereas, Vajdaság/Vojvodina has the means of cultural autonomy, “Slovakia is still trapped in the policy of the former nationalist government” – said Répás.

Martonyi-Baconschi Duo

Foreign minister Teodor Baconschi was on an official visit to Budapest last Thursday at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart János Martonyi. During the visit, Baconschi was set to meet president Pál Schmitt and deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén. Talks were
to focus on ways of developing Romanian-Hungarian cooperation in the context of the two countries’ strategic partnership, but also on matters of mutual interest on the European, regional and international agenda. Baconschi told reporters that the adoption of the Minority Act was part of the primary goals of the current coalition. The minister referred to the debate over the teaching of History and Geography in minority languages and argued that “they act upon European values”. Romania is eminent in aspirations that wish to enable multilingual education – said Baconschi. Contrary to this, the Chamber of Deputies tacitly adopted a proposal sponsored by Deputy Mircia Giurgiu (independent), removing the provisions from the Education Law on the obligation to teach History and Geography in national minorities’ languages in elementary and secondary education. The initiative was tacitly adopted because the deadline set for the debate and the final vote (1 May 2011) had been missed. The Education Committee proposed the rejection of the draft law and the government had no position in the matter. The Chamber of Deputies is the first chamber discussing the bill, the Senate has the last say. Social-democratic senators
pre-voted for the mother-tongue based education in the special committee, so the chance is given for objecting the draft. The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) is threatening with split of the coalition, if things turn bad in this regard.

Prince Charles: Romania’s best export product is Transylvania

The Prince of Wales, on a private visit to Transylvania, visited the St. John Church in the village of Csíkdelne/Delnita in Hargita County, dating from the 13th century. The heir to the throne, whose great grandfather’s cousin Marie married the crown prince of Romania and went on to rule the country with her husband after WWI, visited villages in the Transylvanian region several times in the last ten years. HRH expressed many times his link to Transylvania. In 2008, he said that “Transylvania is in my blood”. He bought several properties in a 12th-century Saxon village, 250km north of Bucharest. Prince Charles had an unofficial meeting, at his home in Zalánpatak/Valea Zalanului, with the local authorities in Kovászna, voicing his interest in local traditions and products, as well as in genuine German (Saxon) villages. On this occasion, the local officials presented the Prince of Wales with a bottle painted by disabled children, a mirror decorated with traditional Saxon motifs and a book on Kovászna County. “The fact that the heir to the British throne bought a house in Zalánpatak sends an important message to the world. It is an important message for Zalánpatak, as well as for Kovászna County and the Szeklers’ Land,” – stated the head of the Kovászna County Council Tamás Sándor. The heir to the British Crown is also involved in several ecological farming projects. Prince Charles called for the protection of Transylvania’s cultural and natural heritage during an interview broadcast late Wednesday by Romanian national TV channel: “There is still much more to do in Transylvania and throughout Romania with its rich multi-ethnic heritage to ensure that these unique cultural and natural treasures are not lost”. He added that “if these places do disappear, it would not only be a tragedy for the people of Transylvania, but a loss for the whole of humanity and a terrible indictment of a world that has truly lost its soul”. An ardent protector of the region’s Saxon villages for many years, he also praised the “intimate” link between their residents and the landscape “in the way they farm the land and build houses, tell their stories and conduct their seasonal activities”.

SNS-proposed Resolution against Hungary voted down

The wording of a resolution proposed by a group of Slovak National Party (SNS) MPs on the activities of the Hungarian government and parliament vis-a-vis Slovakia does not correspond to the current state of bilateral relations, said the Slovak government on Wednesday, voting down the declaration. At the same time, the declaration does not correspond to Slovakia’s efforts aimed at leading a standard dialogue between two neighbouring countries that are also both members of the EU and NATO, noted the Slovak cabinet. The SNS MPs in the declaration protested against what they described as a series of anti-Slovak activities carried out by the Hungarian government and the adoption of extraterritorial legislation by Budapest. The MPs also vocally protested against repeated inappropriate statements by Hungarian officials aimed against Slovakia, rejected historical revisionism and called for international post-war treaties and the Fundamental Treaty on Good Neighbourly and Friendly Relations between Slovakia and Hungary to be observed. “The Slovak government has succeeded in restoring official top-level communications [with Hungary] thanks to which it is possible to express our attitudes openly, including on issues in which our opinions differ” – said the foreign affairs ministry in response to the text. “We view expressing irritable and emotional statements as a disservice in terms of Slovakia’s national and state interests” – added the ministry.

Memorial erection at Csurog

A memorial erection was held at Csurog/?urug for the honour of those hundreds of Hungarians who were innocently executed in the autumn of 1944. This is the seventeenth erection in the past, because unknown perpetrators break the crosses and the marble plaques each year. Relatives, representatives of the Hungarian parties in Vojvodina, civil organizations, representatives of the Hungarian parliament, the Hungarian Consulate General in Szabadka/Subotica, and the 1944-1945 Vajdaság/Vojvodina Martyrdom Foundation attended the ceremony. The deputy secretary for Hungarian communities abroad Zsuzsanna Répás said that the Hungarian victims of Vajdaság are the victims of the whole Hungarian nation.

The Serbian police men will learn Hungarian

Serbia and Hungary applied for an EU cross-border co-operation tender, which supports the training of the police. The Police Academy at Kamanc/Sremska Kamenica received €151 000, while the secondary police school in Szeged received €121 000 for this purpose. Each partner will organize language courses for the police: the Serb police men will learn Hungarian, and the Hungarians will learn Serbian.

Dual benchmark in dual citizenship

Harassment of Hungarians living in Transcarpathia may ascribed to the Ukrainian civil secret service, said foreign state secretary Zsolt Németh after the closed meeting of the parliamentary National Cohesion Committee. According to Németh, the incidents violate not only Ukrainian laws but also international law. The foreign state secretary is to travel to Kiev in May claiming explanations for the interrogation of assumed applicants of Hungarian citizenship. He expressed his hope for positive change as after the Hungarian position in the issue was made public by deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén no further claims came in. According to opposition MP of the Ukrainian parliament Gennagyij Moszkal, dual citizenship is already an existing reality in Ukraine and therefore there is no point in forbidding dual citizenship. Indeed, he admitted that the Ukrainian embassy of the Republic of Moldova issued about 7000 Ukrainian citizenships for persons living in Moldova between 2007 and 2011. Despite this, no one supposed that Ukraine would wage military action against Moldova in the defence of Ukrainian citizens.

WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES CALLS HUNGARY’S PRO-LIFE/PRO-MARRIAGE CONSTITUTION – A TRIUMPH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FAMILY

World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs called Hungary’s new Constitution “a triumph for human rights and the family.”

The Constitution, signed by Hungarian President Pal Schmitt late last month, states in Article 2 that “The life of the fetus will be protected from conception.” It also defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Jacobs noted: “The Constitution’s drafters were right to invoke St. Stephen, Hungary’s patron saint. As King Stephen, it was he who firmly established Christianity in the nation This Constitution reflects the Judeo-Christian principles on which Western civilization is based, including the sanctity of life and the natural family.”

The WCF Managing Director further observed that Hungary’s new Constitution is in keeping with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which dictates that “the family in the fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State” and gives men and women “the right to marry and found a family.”

With a fertility rate of only 1.4 (average number of children per woman) – and a rate of 2.1 needed just to replace current population — it’s clearly in Hungary’s national interest to protect the lives of all of its citizens, including unborn children. Every abortion brings Hungary that much closer to national extinction.

Jacobs urged the people of Hungary to “stand firm in their commitment to life and the family, in what’s sure to be a relentless onslaught from the anti-family left – European Union and United Nations bureaucrats, as well as the organized pro-abortion and homosexual ‘rights’ movements.” Jacobs told the Hungarian people, “Justice, history and natural law are on your side.”

World Congress of Families is sponsoring the first international conference to deal with the worldwide decline in birthrates, the “Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind,” June 29-30. Click here (www.worldcongress.ru) for more information.

To learn more about World Congress of Families, click here: www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs contact Don Feder at dfeder@rcn.com or call 508-405-1337.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois. To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois. To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.

Encouraging ministry news from Ars Longa’s ministry in Hungary! May 2011

Ars Longa May 2011

Under Communist rule, abortion in Hungary was easily available and decimated the indigenous Hungarian population.
This represents a trend seen in former Communist nations of renouncing past influences and returning to policies more consistent with the nation’s past history of a Christian nation.

From LifeSiteNews.com

BUDAPEST, December 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The recently elected government of Hungary has put forward a draft document for a new constitution that would guarantee the right to life from conception, and protect the natural family, the holy crown and the place of Christianity in Hungary’s 1000-year history.

The new constitution would include clauses defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Should these constitutional changes be adopted, they would create a complete about-face for Hungary, which currently has one of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe.

Read the entire report…

Exhibition on persecution of churches under communism

An exhibition of photos and documents depicting persecution of priests and believers in Hungary’s Kadar era (1956-1988) opened in Budapest on Friday.

The display at the cultural centre of the Jesuit Order was organised by the Hungarian Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran churches, member of the organising team Gabor Tabajdi told reporters.The exhibition and its accompanying conference were designed to present the ways and mechanisms the one-time party-state applied to blackmail members of religious communities to spy on their fellow-believers, Tabajdi said.

From Caboodle.hu

Events in the Perth Amboy Magyar Reformed Church

Christ’s Hungarian Pilgrims – Film Premiere

Last fall the directors and film crew from the Debrecen Television (DTV) spent a month filming on the East Coast, as well as in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. The purpose of their visit was to find and record for posterity those Hungarian Reformed churches, which, for whatever reason, have ceased to exist.

From the more than 300 hours of filming, seven 35-minute segments have been prepared. With this 7-part series, it is hoped that those pastors and congregations who faithfully served in each location will be remembered and not forgotten.

Our church will premiere parts of this series on November 1st at 5:00 PM, after the Community Reformation Service. There will not be sufficient time to view the entire series, but it will be available for sale. The President of DTV, Tamás Széles, and film director, Ferenc Vojtkó, will be present for the local premiere.

The series will also be shown in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 30 and in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, on November 2.

Invite your friends and neighbors to this event, which will be followed by dinner.

Community Reformation Sunday Service

The American Hungarian Reformed Ministerial Association – Eastern Classis will conduct a joint Community Reformation Service on November 1. The tri-state area pastors and congregations will give thanks for the Reformers’ faith and devotion. But most of all we will thank the Lord for keeping our Reformed congregations even through the strongest storms of challenges of our faith.

The worship service will begin at 4:00 pm here in Perth Amboy Hungarian Reformed Church. Following the worship service, the series “Christ’s Hungarian Pilgrims” will be premiered (see article below). Supper will also be served.

Come and invite others to this special occasion!

John Calvin Sunday

We are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great reformer, John Calvin, this year. The Hungarian Reformed Church in America’s celebration began last October with the successful performance of the choir of the Great Church of Debrecen in New York City. The American Hungarian Reformed Ministerial Association and the Presbyters’ Association have encouraged each congregation to remember Calvin during this year in some form. In earlier issues of the Newsletter, we have printed articles about Calvin, but we are now preparing a special event for October 25th.

At both of our worship services on this day, we will introduce you to the Reformer’s life and works. Selections of his writings will also be read.

We cordially invite you to attend these extraordinary worship services. Looking forward to seeing all of you.