20 Year Partnership Anniversary

The UU Congregation of Princeton in 1998 established a partnership with Unitarians who call themselves “The Millennial Church.” The name reflects that this is the first Unitarian church in Transylvania to be completed in the 21st century. The Millennial Church is located in the village of Feheregyhaza. Our Partner Church Committee has an ongoing relationship with the congregation, the minister, Jakab Benedek, his wife, Eniko, and their son, Csongor. In fact, the beige and red hymnal covers were gifts from our partner church congregants.

Through funds raised at Partner Church brunches throughout the year and our Denominational Outreach program, our congregation has supported the Feheregyhaza congregation with completing their church building, constructing and furnishing a guest house, and building a funeral chapel.

We have had a visit to Princeton from Jakab and his family and our members have visited Feheregyhaza. In September 2017 two of our congregants, Carol Weiss and Harriet Scooler, celebrated the Unitarians’ Thanksgiving holiday in Feheregyhaza. Having also stayed in the guest house there, Harriet and Carol traveled via a Transylvania pilgrimage organized by the UU Partner Church Council.

You may wonder why our partners are in Transylvania. That is because “Unitarianism traces its religious roots back nearly 450 years to 16th century Transylvania. There, the theologian Francis David (who in true UU fashion was first a Catholic, then a Lutheran, and later a Calvinist before becoming a Unitarian) converted John Sigismund in 1568 and much of the population to become Unitarians. King John also outlawed religious intolerance for the first time in history.

For its time, Unitarianism was a radical theology — a theology that espoused the oneness of God and the humanity of Jesus, and that held up reason and tolerance as the pillars of its faith. Today, despite centuries of persecution, there are still some 50,000 Hungarian Unitarians living in the Transylvania region of Romania.” (adapted from uupcc.org, January 22, 2018)

Get involved with the Partner Church program. Just contact Dell Gerster or Candus Hedberg.

See more beautiful pictures of the 2017 pilgrimage of Carol Weiss and Harriet Scooler.

Read more about our religious history

Read more about the UU Partner Church Council.