Our Partner Church

The Partner Church Program

Information from Partner Church Council (UUPCC)

The UU Partner Church Council was founded in June 1993 to focus and coordinate the enormous grassroots energy of dozens of UU churches which had formed partnerships with Unitarian churches in Central Europe following the collapse of Communism in December 1989. The truly significant activities of the Partner Church program are carried on by hundreds of volunteers at the congregation and district levels.

Mission Statement: The Mission of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council is to foster and support partner church relationships between North American congregations and congregations in all other countries where partnering is sought and welcomed. This includes countries where partners are already active, such as Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, as well as other countries where new partnerships are now beginning, such as the Philippines, India, and Poland.

Our Partner Church

Note: Sovata and Szovata are 2 spellings for the same city. Sovata is used here for consistency.
Our partner church is the Unitarian Church of Sovata. The Unitarian community in Sovata came together in the 1950's. At the end of the 1980's they decided to build a church on land which they owned. In 1997 a competition for the plan for the church was held. A plan was accepted and in 1999 they applied for building permits. The first service in the new church was held on Thanksgiving, Sept. 2005. The rough brick exterior has now been stuccoed and a new front entrance has been built. (photo on UUCM bulletin board) UUCM makes a quarterly donation of $105 for the church and its minister, Levente Lazar.

Sovata is famous for its warm salt water lakes, which serve as a natural spa and are considered very healing for many conditions. The church hopes to build a small bed and breakfast type hotel to go with the new church. Membership in the church is largely passed down by heredity. There are about 400 listed members. Many members of the congregation were relocated to Sovata after their village was flooded by Ceausecau in his move to destroy a place where several religions coexisted peacefully.

This emblem, the "Címer"  is popular in Hungarian and Transylvanian Unitarian churches and the device of Unitarian denominations in both areas. It depicts a dove encircled by a serpent - "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16, NRSV), and often bears, or is accompanied by, the motto

Egy az Isten
("Edge uzh Eesh'ten")

[God is One]

Sovata church staff

Levente Lazar is the minister. His wife is Erika; they have a son, Levente Jr. born in August 1999 and a daughter Reka, born in February 2003. Levente is the minister for 2 churches and his wife is also a Unitarian minister and has 3 churches.

Orbán Pál and Fazakas János are the Co-presidents.
Orbán Pál is in his 40s. He is from Zsákod, a small village. His wife is Marika. Both of them are wood industry engineers. Pal works at a wood industry company and his wife teaches at the high school. They have 2 sons in college, Szilamér and Csongor. They have a small business also.

Fazakas János is in his 60s and married to Maria Magdalena. They have two sons Zoltan and Mihaly. Both sons are veterinary doctors. Janos presently runs an herbal tea factory.

Crown for the pulpit of the new church which was designed and built by Pal Orban, lay president of our partner Szovata church.

Interior of the Szovata church with new crown over the pulpit.

Strengthening Ties With Our Partner Church

We can maintain ties with our partner church through e-mail. The following individuals would love to hear from you:
Levente Lazar: minister of our partner church in Sovata;
Orbán Pál: lay president of the congregation;
Fazakas János : lay president of the congregation.
Reminder when e-mailing: Be patient regarding responses. Most people do not have computers in their homes, but rather are using Internet cafes in big cities. Pal and Fazakas probably have office computers, though. Sometimes their servers go down for long periods. We have to remember that Romania's telephone system is unstable, as is all their technological infrastructure.

We are presently exchanging information with our partner church including parts of our newsletter. We hope to have the Religious Education program become involved by being pen pals with the youth. We are also hoping to have the minister come visit UUCM some day.

In 1998 we made a banner (on the photos page) to give to them. It was taken there by Cathleen Cox Burneo (formerly McCarroll), former chair of UUCM's partner church committee, on a trip to Transylvania sponsored by Project Harvest Hope. They visited Budapest, the Polish Castle, Dracula's Castle, the "drowned village", numerous Unitarian churches including Sovata.
In 2001 Cecilia Kingman Miller (our former UUCM intern) led a trip for Project Harvest Hope and visited our partner church. The Sovata church gave us a beautiful banner. This was presented to our congregation on Feb. 3, 2002. View photos of all trips.
In 2004 we raised $1870 to help pay for a car for our partner church.

In September 2005, 2 UUCM members (Scott and Terry Merrick) visited Transylvania on a Thanksgiving trip sponsored by UUPCC Pilgrimage Service. They stayed with our partner church minister and one of the lay presidents. They attended the Thanksgiving service in the new but not yet completed church. View photos from their trip and read a summary by Terry Merrick.

September 20, 2008 may be the inauguration of the Sovata church building. It will be a gala affair.

Besides the quarterly $105, we sent $300 for gas heaters for the new church in 2006 and $200 for a new pulpit in 2007.

In 2008 we arranged to ship a laptop computer for Levente's use.

If you want to visit Transylvania and spend time with our partner church, there are trips there every summer and fall sponsored by Project Harvest Hope or UUPCC Pilgrimage Service. You may stay with Levente, the minister, and meet many members of the congregation.

If you have questions about the UUPCC travel service or need more information about one of their tours, please contact John Dale.

Background on Sovata and maps