The Reformed Church in Hungary has called for prayers for and solidarity with the Transylvanian Reformed Church District (Romania) over issues of property rights.

A recent court ruling sets a dangerous legal precedent which could lead to other instances of the re-nationalization of church properties that were returned to their original owners after the fall of communism.

“Our loyalty and belief in the rule-of-law, which we nurtured toward the Romanian state in the past years was seriously offended,” says a statement of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District.

A letter sent by Gusztáv Bölcskei, the presiding bishop of the Reformed Church in Hungary, reads in part:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On behalf of the community of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District (Romania) I would like to draw your kind attention to deliberate violations of fundamental rights in Romania and to politically motivated court case which affects badly the life, integrity and the property itself of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District.

On 26 November 2014 in its sentence, the court of appeals in Ploiesti upheld part of an earlier ruling under which the Reformed Church would be stripped of the ownership of the restituted property of the Székely Mikó Reformed High School in Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfântu Gheorghe). In addition, the court decision sentenced three members of the Special Committee on Church Property Restitution (SCCPR) for three years of suspended prison just for implementing the Law on restitution and returned the above property to its rightful owner, the Transylvanian Reformed Church District.

The Assembly of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District is deeply shocked and distressed following the above decision of the Romanian court as the verdict denies the legitimate owner, the Transylvanian Reformed Church District, of its real estate, and questions the rightful restitution of a building which was naturalized in the Communist regime.

I respectfully ask you to put into effect your influence, in order to constrain the Romanian authorities to immediately drop all charges against the three members of the Special Committee on Church Property Restitution.

I also kindly ask you to take time to read the summary and the statement posted on our website and express your solidarity with the Reformed community in Romania at the following address: kisstibor@reformatus.ro

Please join us in support of our sisters and brothers in Romania during this time.