Partner Church Committee

Our Partner Church in Tordátfalva, Romania

Overview

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames has a partner church in Tordátfalva, Romania, led by the Rev. Lajos Lõrinczi. He and his wife, Tünde, visited Ames in 2002, and delegations from our Fellowship visited Romania in 2004 and 2007. We anticipate that a group from our congregation will again be traveling to the village in 2011. (This trip has been postponed from 2010.)

About 100 adults live in the village, down from as many as 600 in 1910. Most are older, but families with young children provide hope for the village's future. Tordátfalva's church was built in 1823 on the foundation of a 13th-century church.

After years of crushing oppression under one of the harshest of communist regimes, the Unitarians of Tordátfalva are struggling to reclaim their land, history, language, culture and religion. By partnering with them in that struggle, we show support and respect for their worth and dignity as individuals and as a group of Unitarians. This is something they do not take for granted.

We show support for their freedom to be Unitarians in a country largely Romanian Orthodox, and we may learn from them how to survive in difficult times. Through shared friendship and fellowship, we can learn from each other the values of the spirit and learn how to see ourselves more clearly as Americans and as Unitarians through their eyes.