Rev. Előd Szabó
The purpose of the Balázs Scholars Program is to invite and support a Transylvanian or other international Unitarian minister for an academic year of study at Starr King School for the Ministry to enhance ministerial skills and religious leadership and to both broaden and deepen the minister’s calling to serve in a changing and global world. The Balázs Scholars Program has brought a Transylvanian Unitarian Minister to study at Starr King School for the Ministry and the GTU almost every year since 1994. This year we welcome Rev. Előd Szabó from Kolozsvár (Cluj), Transylvania, Romania. Előd served as an assistant minister in the little town of Székelyudvarhely. In 2007 he moved to Ürmös to serve the Unitarian Church there.
The Program is named for Francis Balázs, a young Transylvanian Unitarian minister who graduated from seminary in Kolozsvár, then studied in the late 1920’s at Oxford and at what is now called Starr King School for the Ministry, before returning to Transylvania.
Starr King School provides fund-raising and administrative assistance as well as waiving tuition for the Balázs scholar. The volunteer Balázs Scholars Program Coordinating Committee provides hospitality and support for the scholar and family, and schedules preaching engagements and transportation. The Committee is made up of representatives from the school, the Starr King community, the host churches and a liaison to the Partner Church Council. The host church for the scholar rotates between the Unitarian Universalist churches in San Francisco, Oakland, Walnut Creek and Berkeley (Kensington).
The Balázs Scholars Program is funded by donations from individuals, money from the Partner Church Council, and from honoraria, donations and Sunday service collections from the churches where the Balázs scholar preaches. We appreciate your help to sustain this important program. Donations can be made via the form below. Checks for donations should be made out to Starr King School for the Ministry, with Balázs on the notation line, and put in Owais Qureshi’s box at Starr King.
