Partner Church First Contact

Here is the “first contact” letter sent by Paul Ratzlaff in 1993 to the new minister of the Sinfalva congregation. 

September 13, 1993

Parohia Unitariana Cornesti 3352 Cornesti O.P. Turda, Jedtal Cluj, Romania

Letter in Hungarian

To the Minister of the Sinfalva Unitarian Church –

Last year in November I wrote a letter to Minister Sandor Buzogany expressing the hope that we, the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, could create a “Partner Church” relationship with the Sinfalva Unitarian Church. Since we got no reply I don’t know whether our letter arrived or whether Minster Buzogany was too ill to reply. This letter will be hand-carried by Ruth Vogler, a member of a neighboring congregation. Thus I hope it will reach you.

Our congregation remains interested in entering into a “Partner Church” relationship. We hope that this is of interest to your congregation too. 

Our active congregation consists of about 300 adults and 160 children. An interesting aspect of our congregation is that the Minister-led service alternates with a lay-led service every second Sunday. The Sunday program doesn’t follow a specific pattern but rather depends on the theme each week. Since ourcongregation consists of many members who were raised in other religions, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, atheist, etc. we do not subscribe to any specific doctrine, but rather respect the truths contained in a variety of religions. The central theme is usually how to make our lives on Earth more meaningful.

Our congregation is involved in many activities. We help feed the hungry woth other local churches and synagogues. We help to operate a shelter for homeless people. We work to protect and improve the environment. In addition many among us work to improve relations between Americans of color and white Americans, for example by organizing a chorus with diverse membership. We are also involved with efforts to provide low-cost housing together with other congregations serving people of color. (In fact one of the biggest problems of our congregation is that the high cost of housing prevents low-income and retired people from living in the area.)

We generally hold two worship services since our Meeting Room is not large enough to accommodate all of the adult congregants at once. This year we also started to provide two sessions of religious education each Sunday. We have noticed that an increasing number of families with children are attending the Sunday services and we wanted to make room for them all. Our congregation’s youth is progressing well. This year a group of youth and adults traveled to South Carolina, about 750 km away, to help build low-income housing. We were very proud of their accomplishments.

Many of the adults on our congregation also meet in small groups outside of the Sunday services, to learn more about our religion, or for parents to exchange and discuss ideas about parenting, or simply friendly get-togethers to socialize. It is primarily through these small groups that our members support and care for each other each other extensively. Another factor is that many of our members have moved here from far away and in the absence of nearby relatives, the congregation is a sort of substitute family. 

Morristown is about 50km west of New York. It is a hilly, wooded region with many small lakes, and is beautiful despite being densely populated. 

I hope that I was able to paint a picture of our congregation. I would be very pleased to hear about your church and congregation, so that we could get to know one another better. 

Please let me know if you are interested in entering into a “Partner Church” relationship with us. 

Respectfully, Paul Ratzlaff Minister