Transylvanian Unitarians rebuilding after floods (minority, America, preach, churches)

[Green Gaia]

Read entire UUWorld article

One year after flash flood waters tore through the Nyikó Valley in the Transylvanian section of Romania, killing three people, destroying livestock, bridges, and hundreds of homes, signs of the physical damage are getting harder to see, thanks in part to the $337,000 raised by North American Unitarian Universalists. Much of the needed renovation and reconstruction of personal property is now complete, according to Unitarian Bishop Arpad Szabo. “We are now working on things in the public sphere,” he said.

The mountainous Transylvanian section in northwest Romania has been home to Unitarian congregations since Francis Davíd preached there in 1566. By the time of his death in 1579 there were 500 Unitarian churches there—one of his converts was King John Sigismund, who proclaimed a policy of religious tolerance in 1568. Unitarianism is still a dynamic force in this area, with churches playing a leading role in village life. The structure of the church there is more hierarchical than in the United States, with a Unitarian bishop presiding over the entire Transylvanian Unitarian church.

Transylvanians are ethnically Hungarian, and a minority in Romania who have suffered persecution over the years from the combined forces of fascism, Nazism, and Communism. Transylvanian Unitarians formed their first ties with North American Unitarian churches in the 1920s, according to Cordes. These ties were severed during the Communist regime and were reestablished in 1990 with the help of the UUA. The Council was formed as an independent organization in 1993 to support the partnerships.

The day after the flood, Cordes contacted UUA President William G. Sinkford. “I told him that if we don’t help the Unitarians, then who will?” she recalled. Sinkford responded immediately, she said, by combining forces with the Council to set up a relief fund. Within 24 hours, calls for donations for the Transylvanian Unitarians were posted on both the Council’s website at uupcc.org and the UUA’s website at uua.org.

How to make a donation to the UU Transylvania flood relief. (UUA.org)

Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council. Sets up relationships between North American UU churches and Unitarian congregations largely in Romania, but also in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, India, and the Philippines.(upcc.org)