Hungary
The estimated population of 15 million Roma people is disbursed worldwide. For several hundred years the Roma have lived as tenants without having a country of their own. The roughly six hundred Roma people living in a village in north-eastern Hungary live in fear that vengeance will be taken on them. About a year ago a teacher was murdered by a Roma man who thought the teacher had killed an eleven-year-old family member with his car. The name of the village has become a symbol of senseless violence, hatred of the Roma, and prejudices related to them.
The investigation has not been closed. Eight Roma — teenaged boys and middle-aged men — are being held. One of them is a twenty-one-year-old with three children. He says that prison has changed him a lot. At home he never read. Now he has finished reading “Romeo and Juliet” and a novel. Although he says reading is difficult, he returns to books because he learns from them.
The Rev. BertalanTamás, ecumenical officer of the Reformed Church in Hungary, sent this story and observed that 2007 was the “Year of the Bible” among Christian communities in Hungary. He wonders what would have happened if this young man had received a Bible in prison or if he had received it before the tragic act. Perhaps he would have read it and told his family, “Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.”
PC(USA) People in Mission
Reformed Church in Hungary: Joseph Angi, team ministry,
Rev. Kathleen Angi, facilitator for psycho-social and refugee work
Partners/Ministries
Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH): Rev. Gustáv Bölcskei, presiding bishop, Rev. Zoltan Tarr, general secretary, Rev. Bertalan Tamás, ecumenical officer, Ms. Zita P. Toth, head of department of missions and evangelism, Rev. Iren Buzas-Greguss, Roma mission, District of Debrecen, Rev. Emese Zavodi, diaconal year program
Balatonszarszo Conference Center
Central and Eastern European Institute for Mission Studies
Church of Scottish Mission in Budapest: Rev. Aaron Stevens
Hungarian Interchurch Aid: Lazlo Lehel, director
Bethesda Children’s Hospital
Immanuel Home
Iranian Evangelical Fellowship of Budapest
Presbytery Partnerships: Missouri Union Presbytery and Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area with the RCH
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Elder Karen Krum, FDN
Joseph Krupa, BOP
Rebecca Kueber, GAMC
We pray for those who feel that they lost their dignity and respect because they are victims of racial violence. Help us to play our part in the struggle for justice and to care for all who suffer. May we be identified with the law of your kingdom.In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Ps. 56, 149 Ps. 118, 111
1 Sam. 9:15–10:1
Acts 7:30–43; Luke 22:39–5
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