By Amanda Duan, Belmont Voice contributor
Members of The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist traveled to Romania this summer to celebrate the congregation’s 35-year partnership with its sister church in Transylvania, a relationship that began in the 1990s and has grown into decades of fellowship — meals, music and faith shared between two communities an ocean apart.
Désfalva is a small village in the Transylvanian region of Romania, known for its deep Hungarian roots and centuries-old traditions. The Belmont church’s relationship with the Central European congregation began in 1990 through the denomination’s church partnership program, which connected churches after the fall of Communism.
Every January, the congregations hold a joint worship service via livestream. Belmont projects Désfalva’s sanctuary onto a large screen so members can see one another in real time as they worship.
“We’ll do a piece of music, and then they’ll do a piece of music, and then he’ll preach, and I’ll preach, live at the same time,” said the Rev. Chris Jablonski, senior minister at The First Church in Belmont.
Among the most meaningful symbols of their relationship is the Kopjafa, a traditional, hand-carved wooden commemorative pillar that stands outside both churches. In Désfalva, villagers carve the columns to commemorate a community that was flooded during Romania’s Communist era, destroying the homes of Unitarian, Greek, and Jewish families. Artisans in Désfalva crafted a kopjafa and shipped it to Belmont in 2013 to honor Hans de Muinck Keizer, the first Belmont member to visit the village in 1990. This year, the Romanian congregation continued the tradition with a brass plaque honoring Sherry Jones, a Belmont community leader and founding supporter of the partnership, who died Nov. 15, 2024.
“One of the really inspiring things that I’ve learned from them is the importance in trying times to keep people connected, grounded, hopeful, and remembering that they’re part of something larger,” said Jablonski.
That sense of connection has deepened through decades of visits, projects, and friendships. Jeanne Mooney, a retired communications director at the Belmont church, first met visitors from Désfalva in 1997 when the church hosted the Transylvanian minister and his wife. In the intervening years, she said, cooking meals together, eating around tables, and going out to people’s homes has evolved into lasting friendships and connections.
Jablonski joined members of his congregation on the visit to Désfalva this summer to dedicate a refurbished church organ, meet students who receive scholarships funded by the Belmont congregation, and enjoy traditional gatherings, including a horse-drawn wagon ride through the countryside.
The 19th-century organ had been left in disrepair for decades after Romania’s Communist regime, when many church properties were seized and damaged.
“Their organ basically looked like it was destroyed on purpose,” said Livia Racz, chair of the denomination’s partner church committee. “This person who rebuilt it really just wanted to right this wrong that had been done.”
Racz said a craftsman charged the church 10,000 euros (about $11,600), which for a year of work and all new parts, was considered a bargain. The restoration typically would have cost 10 times more.
The Belmont congregation helps fund scholarships for 12 to 15 students each year from Désfalva and the nearby village of Haranglab, according to Racz. The money allows students to attend Hungarian-language high schools, since local Romanian schools prohibit speaking Hungarian in class.
“They could go to a Romanian school, but they’re not allowed to speak Hungarian,” Racz said. “If they want to keep their heritage, they have to travel really far. So, we have a scholarship fund that supports those who want to go to a Hungarian high school.”
Jablonski said meeting the students was one of the most moving parts of his trip.
“We heard from all of the current scholarship kids,” he said. “It’s been a very inspiring experience. Getting to know our friends in the village, hearing their stories of what they went through, and seeing the community still so connected.”
Meals with host families were another highlight.
“They had chickens and pigs and goats, and so I would milk the goats, and then we had that goat milk for breakfast,” Jablonski said. “Everything was there. The jam from berries and plums, bacon from their pigs, eggs from their chicken.”
Mooney described the visit as an “intergenerational connection” between the two congregations, with families on both sides staying in touch for decades. Over the last quarter century, she said she has watched her Transylvanian friends’ children grow up and their church welcome a new generation of ministers.
“It’s really a fun time to meet people after you’ve been [separated by] such a long, long distance,” Mooney said.
