Jean Crichton - Partner Church

Jean Crichton

From early days at Beacon, Partner Church activities became my primary interest. I was attracted by a poster in the lobby, publicizing a trip to the Transylvania area of Romania in that summer of 2002. We would be visiting the town of Barót, meeting Unitarians there and learning about Transylvanian Unitarianism, which, to my surprise, began in 1568. We were certainly not missionaries. We would be forming friendships and partnerships with fellow Unitarians in a part of the world I had never expected to visit. 

From the first encounters, I found the friendliest, most welcoming atmosphere possible, where the only problem was the language barrier. The Barót Unitarians speak Hungarian (a very difficult language to learn), so for the first few visits, we had to rely for translation on long-time minister Rev. Alpar Kiss, who speaks fluent English. More recently, many of Barót's youth have learned excellent English too, from language classes and from American TV. And some of us have learned a few words in Hungarian. (Jó reggelt! Good morning! Kösönem! Thank you!) We have formed close personal friendships and have had a lot of fun in getting to know our partners, through the 12 trips back and forth over 20 years.

In 2021, we learned about Unitarians in another part of the world, north east India. The Unitarian Church of Jowai India joined with us and Barót in an amazing Tri-Partnership. The Jowai members are now getting to know our Barót friends in our monthly three-continent Zoom calls. 

So what a terrible shock it was when war exploded in February in Ukraine. Until the bombs started falling, I never realized Ukraine bordered Romania. Who could have expected an outbreak of such violence so close to our friends in Barót? How will this affect them? In emails and Zoom meetings since, we have heard our partners express fears about their future and their determination to help the refugees, some of whom are Hungarian-speaking Ukrainians. Like us, they are sending money, medicines, clothing and prayers.

Beacon's unusual partnerships have shown me how small the world is and how intertwined our lives have grown. The UU Partner Church program was intended to "introduce people to one another." I have had an opportunity here at Beacon to participate in long-term, long-distance relationships I would never have found otherwise.

As many of you probably remember, the annual Partner Church Pancake Breakfast was our major fundraiser for Partner Church activities for many years. All-you-could-eat pancakes with pure Vermont maple syrup, sausage and bacon. Home-cured salmon gravlax, home-baked quiches and fresh fruit salad. And time to sit and chat with other Beacon members. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy this again, when the pandemic is finally over.

But for now, we want to live up to the commitment we made to grant scholarships of several hundred dollars a year to university students who grew up in the Barót Unitarian congregation. We are continuing to support nine students, four who will be entering their last year of studies this fall and five entering their third year. I've gotten to know most of them through emails several times during the school year.

This year, students are rejoicing that they are finally studying on their campuses. "I'm really glad we don't have to suffer online teaching any more," wrote Peter Orban, who is studying English with the goal of becoming an interpreter and translator. He will be volunteering at the huge Sziget rock festival in Budapest this August.

Agota Kovacs is studying international relations in English and spent the past year taking classes (still on-line) in Budapest, Hungary. Given the many psychological challenges posed by Covid, she joined a group of psychology, law, marketing and graphic design students in creating a campaign to draw attention to the effect of mental health problems on students. "We tried to be present on every social media platform...to try and break down the still very strong stigmas surrounding therapy." Speaking to us here in Summit, she says, "I'm beyond grateful for your support. It means a lot, not just financially but also morally and emotionally."  

Annet Gaal is studying psychology and education. She is now doing her units of student teaching with assignments that change every 6 months. She has also been visiting a nursing home as part of a voluntary aid project. "It's a wonderful feeling to help," she wrote. (Pictures)

Agnes Demeter is studying to become a Unitarian minister at the Protestant theological seminary in Kolozsvar. She will receive her bachelor's degree in theology and hopes eventually to serve "a wonderful village church." Agnes' father Zoltan, who visited Summit in 2019, is one of the leaders in the Unitarian Providence Charity, which has been taking medical and other supplies into Ukraine to help residents and soldiers.