Hungarian Church Carries On Despite Repeat Arson Attacks

The congregation has dwindled from 150, before the attacks began, to about 40.

The mysterious and persistent arsonist has torched the sanctuary, office and minister’s residence of Grace Hungarian Reformed Church in Reseda, inflicting more than $500,000 in damage.

But those faithful who remain--many of them church elders who fled Hungary in 1956 following the Soviet invasion--are determined not to be frightened away.

“We cannot leave. This is our place and we don’t want to leave,” said the Rev. Balint Nagy, pastor of the church. “We have to establish ourselves strongly, because if we leave it makes us look weaker.”

Defying their unknown attacker, the church board of directors has tentatively decided to rebuild the church on the same property. Congregation members will make the final decision in coming weeks.

The church, which is one of three Hungarian Reform churches in the area, is important not only as a religious center, but as a means of “carrying on our cultural heritage, as well as meeting people socially,” said church elder Charles Bene.

“We have been through so many things, this looks like just another way of life to us,” he added. “First 1945, then the 1956 revolution, and now, who knows what else?”

Members call the arson attacks hate crimes.

But baffled fire investigators have no evidence that the arsons were spurred by ethnic hatred.

“Actually, at the present time we really don’t have any good solid leads,” said Battalion Chief Dean Cathey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The pattern of attacks began in February of last year when church elders discovered money and checks had been stolen from the office, according to Nagy.

A few months later, on May 5, the church office was destroyed by an early morning fire that caused an estimated $130,000 damage. Cathey said firefighters thought at first that the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit, and they still aren’t convinced it wasn’t accidental, but Nagy believes the fire had been set.

A month later, what firefighters called a suspicious fire in the early morning destroyed a house on the property, causing $90,000 in damage.

Then, on Dec. 13, a third early morning fire ripped through the only section of the original church still standing--the sanctuary. Cathey said firefighters now believe both the house fire and the sanctuary fire, which caused an estimated $300,000 damage, were arson.

The latest incident in what Nagy calls systematic attacks on the church occurred in January, when intruders broke into a temporary office on the church property and smashed a typewriter and phones, he said.

The Council of Hungarian Organizations estimates about 115,000 people of Hungarian descent live in Southern California, many of whom came during World War II or during the turmoil of the 1956 revolutions.

Hungarian community leaders have petitioned private donors and Los Angeles city, county and state officials for help. They have secured donations totaling $45,000 for an award fund to aid in capture of a suspect--to which Gov. Pete Wilson added $10,000 this week--and have solicited donations of books and furniture from other churches.

Most recently, supporters have produced a music video featuring a Christian rock group whose members are teen-age members of the church, which they hope will aid in fund-raising efforts. Church elder Steven L. Suli said the church expects to receive $275,000 from insurance on the burned building, but needs about $500,000 to rebuild the complex.

Gyongyver Sovago, producer of the video and a member of the Southern California Council of Hungarian Organizations, said she hopes to market the video--which contains scenes of the band playing on burned instruments inside the blackened sanctuary--to television networks and MTV.