Bahá’í News/Inserts/Issue 203/Cable from Shoghi Effendi/Text

Cable from Shoghi Effendi The Gap in the Main Defenses

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"Deeply Concerned at Critical Stage of Task"

The Guardian's Last Minute Appeal

I am deeply concerned at critical stage of task confronting North American Teaching Committee, constituting at this juncture the paramount objective of present Plan. Owing to urgent, overriding importance of Committee's responsibility and to swiftly approaching time limit fixed for attainment of the goal of one hundred seventy-five Assemblies, emergency measures carefully, promptly devised by national representatives of the community and wholeheartedly supported by entire mass of the believers of the North American continent, designed to safeguard the existing Assemblies and rapidly multiply their number, are imperative. The placing of further contract for Temple, the reinforcement of basis of forthcoming Canadian National Spiritual Assembly, the additional consolidation of the institutions of the Faith in Latin America, the wider proclamation of its message to the masses, even the multiplication of pioneers in the European field, should be unhesitatingly subordinated to demands of the one disconcerting aspect of an otherwise successfully conducted Plan. I address this last minute appeal to every single member of the community, the champion warriors in the army of Bahá’u’lláh, which since launching the Plan formulated by the Center of His Covenant never succumbed to defeat nor was thwarted in its purpose, to arise resolutely, volunteer instantly to fill the gap in the main defenses of the home front and register total victory ere the termination of the second year of the Second Seven Year Plan. Fervently praying instantaneous, decisive response.

Cablegram received January 10, 1948.

(signed) SHOGHI

The Gap in the Main Defenses

Beloved friends:

The Guardian's unprecedented appeal is in your hands. Let it enter your mind and heart, for issues greater than we can comprehend have impelled the Guardian to direct it to us. How are we as individual Bahá’ís to "arise resolutely" and "volunteer instantly to fill the gap in the main defenses"?

Here are the definite ways in which we can respond, and it is a matter of individual conscience and individual devotion which way is chosen.

1. Increase our personal contribution to the National Fund in January, February, March and April.

2. Volunteer for full time or part time teaching work under the direction of the National Teaching Committee. There is urgent need of more teachers who can go to a selected city and work there during a campaign period, or go there on briefer projects, or make regular weekly or monthly weekend visits. If this is your way to respond—report immediately to Mrs. Margery McCormick, Secretary of NTC, 924 Judson Ave., Evanston, Ill., or to Mrs. Laura Davis, Secretary of Canadian NTC, 44 Chestnut Park Road, Toronto, Ont. (See lists of cities on other side). In reporting, explain exactly what you are in a position to do both as regards time, distance you can go, what part of the expense you can meet, and your experience in fireside teaching and public talks.

3. Volunteer to go to some goal city and settle there long enough to assure retention of Assembly status. The formation of a new Assembly on April 21 is not actually consummated unless the community has nine or more members assured thereafter. The same applies in reinforcing a small community whose numbers have become depleted through moving away, death, etc. Here too it is essential for the Teaching Committees to know whether you can be self-sustaining or can settle if temporary financial help is given. Report at once to the U.S. or Canadian Teaching Committee, at address given above. (See list of cities on other side).

4. There are weighty responsibilities also in relation to the groups and small communities needing emergency help. Every type of teaching campaign, large or small, must rest upon the firm basis of unity and cooperation among the friends. New friends are attracted and held only as they encounter evidences of the Spirit. Consultation, not personality, is to adopt teaching plans and select the local teacher best fitted for the work. Wholehearted cooperation can alone assure success for the work, whether the teacher is local or one sent by the NTC. [Page 2] 5. There should be a weekly study class in every community and group, large or small. Continuous discussion of the teachings can make every believer an effective teacher for one kind of work or another. We have a twofold obligation to study: to become a better Bahá’í; to become an instrument for the spread of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

6. All Assemblies and more than fifty groups in the U. S. and Canada have already received the Guardian’s cable and this NSA message in mimeographed form. Emergency conferences, immediate and frequent, should gather the friends together for facing the challenge and finding the way to meet it.

List of Cities

Here are the depleted Assemblies needing help to maintain their status beyond April 21, and the groups where Assemblies are to be formed. The number after each Assembly shows how many new believers must be enrolled or settlers transferred; after each group the number shows how many are there now.

United States—(Assemblies) Louisville, Ky., 3; Elmhurst, Ill., 3; Charleston, W. Va., 4; Duluth, Minn., 4; Pittsburgh, Pa., 4; Brattleboro, Vt., 2; Augusta, Ga., 1; South Bend, Ind., 4; Lansing, Mich., 1; Alexandria, Va., 1; Independence, Mo., 1; Red Bank, Dumont and Montclair, N. J., 2 each. (Groups) Calif., Knightsen, 5; Arcadia, 7; Bear Valley Township, 5; El Monte, 8; Elsinore Township, 2; Southgate, 8; El Monte, 10; Monrovia Township, 6; Pasadena Township, 5; San Marino, 6; Glendale Township, 6; Huntington Park, 5; Ariz., Tucson Township, 5; Conn., Greenwich, 5; Hartford, 6; West Haven, 7; Ill., Markham, 3; Phoenix, 5; LaGrange Park, 4; Park Ridge, 8; Melrose Township, 4; Winnetka, 8; Iowa, Waterloo, 4; Maine, Brewer, 5; Portland, 6; Mass., Brookline, 11; North Dak., Glenfield, 7; Mich., Dearborn Township, 5; Davison, 8; Grosse Pointe Farms, 5; Kalamazoo, 5; Marysville, 5; Niles Township, 3; Ohio, Mansfield, 5; Toledo, 15; New Jersey, Bergenfield, 6; Jersey City, 8; Newark, 5; Englewood, 11; N. Y., Hamburg, 4; ‎Penn Yann Penn Yan‎, 6; Geneva, 10; Seneca Township, 5; Syracuse, 6; Waterloo, 4; S. C., Columbia, 9; Tenn., Knoxville, 7; Texas, Dallas, 6; San Antonio, 7; Wisc., Green Bay, 5; Somers Township, 6; Whitefish Bay, 6; Wash., Bremerton, 6; Kirkland, 6.

Canada—Charlottetown, P. E. I., 8; Moncton, N. B., 1; Ottawa, Ont., 4; Scarboro, Ont., 1; North York, Ont., 6; St. Boniface, Man., 5; Vernon, B. C., 2; West Vancouver, B. C., 1; Victoria, B. C., 3. Total number needed: 31.

“Fervently praying instantaneous, decisive response,” the Guardian’s cable concludes. What will the National Assembly be able to tell him has been the response?

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY