Szervusztok (Hello!)

As your new Partner Church Chair I’m seeking to renew UUCB’s relationship with our Partner Church in Homoródújfalu as we go forward with our ministerial transitions. As I was reminded on a recent teleconference, we offer parity with, not charity to, our partners as we seek to serve, not merely help them. AND they do need help sometimes! A devastating fire on March 15th destroyed 3 families’ barns, animals, hay, and equipment. Please be generous in helping them recover by making a donation today.

We have covenanted with our partner church in Homoródύjfalu to help the young people of the village further their education at the secondary and college level. Our current needs are to support 21 students at $400 per year, and we‘re falling way short of the $8,400 goal. Did you know that you can make ongoing donations to our Partner Church online through the UUCB website? Visit https://uucb.org/our-community/donate-online.html to contribute one time or to set up a monthly donation. Will you become a monthly donor at $10 or more to help meet this challenge?

What are other ways that more of us can be connected with our friends in Homoródύjfalu? You can connect whether you have traveled to the village in the past, you wish to go in the future, or even if you are a local pilgrim who supports our partnership through activities at UUCB. As Unitarian Universalists, we are deeply committed to social justice. Well, there are a lot of social, economic, environmental, and even immigration justice issues that impact the village and most of the ethnic Hungarian population of Transylvania.

Ministerial transitions take place both here and in our partner churches. We will be informing Rev. Arpad Ilkei of Barbara and Bill’s retirement. We hope to engage him and his congregation in our farewell to them as well as welcoming our future minister(s) when that time comes. As you know, members of UUCB will be assembling an information packet about our congregation that will inform prospective ministers about who we are. Our partnership with Homoródύjfalu is a significant part of who we are, so there will definitely be a section about the partner church in that congregational packet. Then we will look forward to establishing a personal relationship between the ministers that will strengthen our partnership.

Köszönöm (Thank you!)

Stephanie Ann Blythe
Chair, Transylvanian Partner Church Committee