| ←Previous | Bahá’í News Issue 215 |
Next→ |
 Proofread onceReturn to PDF view
|
| BAHÁ’Í |  |
NEWS |
| No. 215 | JANUARY, 1949 | YEAR 105 | BAHA’I ERA |
|
ECONOMY This issue of Bahá’í News carries no pictures and is limited to eight pages. The Editorial Committee hopes the friends will understand that this is a way of saving money. Let your Bahá’í News serve as a reminder that we must all save in every possible way in order to fulfill our Guardian’s wish and complete the Temple interior on time. |
The National Convention will be held in Temple Foundation Hall, Wilmette, April 28, 29 and 30, and May 1, 1949. Those wishing to make advance reservations for living quarters can write the Convention Committee in care of the National Bahá’í Office.
Will the friends please bear in mind the fact that only enrolled Bahá’ís can attend the business sessions of the Convention. The Agenda provides for one public meeting open to all.
To every voting believer in the United States is being mailed a ballot and general instructions for voting at the State Elections being held on February 6.
The instructions list for each voter the place and the hour of the day for his own State Convention, and
| From the Guardian
“Dedicated to the Memory of the Convey to believers the joyful news of the safe delivery on Mt. Carmel of a consignment of thirty-two granite monolith columns, part of the initial shipment of material ordered for construction of the arcade of the Báb’s Sepulchre, designed as an envelope to preserve the sacred previous structure reared by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Building operations are soon starting notwithstanding the difficulties of the present situation. I am supplicating the Almighty’s guidance and sustaining grace for successive stages of an enterprise envisaged sixty years ago by Bahá’u’lláh, initiated by the Center of His Covenant, designed to culminate as contemplated by Him in erection of a superstructure to be crowned by a golden dome marking the consummation at the heart of the Mountain of God of the momentous undertaking born through the generating influence of the Will of the Founder of our beloved Faith, so dear to the heart of His blessed Son, and dedicated to the memory of the Martyr-Prophet, the immortal Herald of the Bahá’í Dispensation. SHOGHI RABBANI
Cablegram received December 13, 1948 Non-Interference in Politics “Regarding your question about politics and the Master’s Will: the attitude of the Bahá’ís must be two-fold, complete obedience to the government of the country they reside in, and no interference whatsoever in political matters or questions. What the Master’s statement really means is obedience to a duly constituted government, whatever that government may be in form. We are not the ones, as individual Bahá’ís, to judge our government as just or unjust—for each believer would be sure to hold a different viewpoint, and within our own Bahá’í fold a hotbed of dissension would spring up and destroy our unity. We must build up our Bahá’í system, and leave the faulty systems of the world to go their way. We cannot change them through becoming involved in them; on the contrary, they will destroy us. —From a letter to the National Teaching Committee for Central America dated July 3, 1948. |
the number of delegates assigned to his State or Electoral District for the National Convention.
A list of the voters of his State or Electoral District is also being sent. Correction of the voting list can be made at the State Election, so that every qualified voter resident in that State or Electoral District can cast a ballot.
Finally, an Agenda is provided for consultation on important matters. A number of the National Committees have been asked to prepare a message which the NSA will send each Convention Committee in advance.
These elections call for the participation of every adult Bahá’í. On them depend the choice of the 171 delegates who will be called upon to consult at the National Convention and elect the National Spiritual Assembly for the year 1949-1950.
|
Bahá’í News is published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as the official news-letter of the Bahá’í Community. Edited for the National Spiritual Assembly by Bahá’í News Editorial Committee: Mrs. Roberta Christian, chairman, Miss Margaret Yeutter, Mr. Gordon A. Fraser. Editorial office: Mrs. Roberta Christian, 1001 West Genesee St., Lansing, Mich. Please report changes of address and other matters pertaining to distribution to the Bahá’í National Office, 536 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, Illinois. |
The Time of the Dawn-Breakers Returns[edit]
Beloved Friends:
You who have read The Dawn-Breakers, and who have reverently and prayerfully read the history of the Bábí and Bahá’í martyrdoms given by the Guardian in God Passes By—you are well aware of the sacrifices rendered for the Faith of God in its Heroic Age.
Those days return for the Bahá’ís of America, not in physical martyrdom, but in sacrifice of personality, time, energy, spirit and property to assure the fulfilment of our mandate as trustees appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Considerations of convenience and self-preservation do not found the new order of Bahá’u’lláh in Latin America and Europe. They do not spread the Message to new souls in America. They do not and can not transform the shell of the House of Worship into an arena for the mention of the Name of God.
Now is the hour to stop, individually and by communities, and measure the immensity of our task. Up to five hundred and fifty thousand dollars, as you have been informed, will be needed for the Temple alone in the next two years. In addition we are to provide the budgets needed for the work in Latin America and Western Europe, and maintain the truly essential work in the United States.
Without determination to sacrifice the task would be impossible. That is why only Bahá’ís are given the sacred privilege to extend the Community of the Greatest Name and provide in the heart of North America a Temple which can conduct worship dedicated to the God of all mankind. We are like those who build a refuge before the extent of the public catastrophe has become generally realized.
The determination to sacrifice! What does this mean? Surely it means, first, a reorganization of our personal affairs so that every possible non-essential item is eliminated, and everything left headed toward contribution of effort and funds. Until this is done, the element of sacrifice is not attained.
Next, a reorganization of community and committee plans which likewise eliminates non-essentials, and seeks to serve the Faith by spiritual means produced within the souls and not merely by material instruments. Every community and group, as well as every individual believer, must look to the ultimate aim of the Faith and realize that what is spared to build the Temple will return to it a thousandfold when the Temple is completed and the Master’s assurances concerning its public influence are fulfilled.
Foreseeing these conditions of test under tremendous responsibility, the Guardian gave us in The Advent of Divine Justice the way to reinforce our inner lives. Today it is not too late to seek that reinforcement in the words of Bahá’u’lláh which the Guardian cited for daily reading. Today it is not too late, but the beginning of the years of decision has overtaken the American Bahá’ís.
“Beloved friends!” the Guardian wrote (page 63), “I can do no better, eager as I am to extend to every one of you any assistance in my power that may enable you to discharge more effectively your divinely-appointed, continually multiplying duties, than to direct your special attention, at this decisive hour, to these immortal passages,” which “cannot fail to produce on the minds and hearts of any one of its members, who approaches them with befitting humility and detachment, such powerful reactions as to illumine his entire being and intensify tremendously his daily exertions.”
Correction[edit]
In October, we reported erroneously that the Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly had witnessed the marriage of Mr. Firuz Kazemzadeh and Miss Rakhshandeh Behbehani of Tehran, Persia. This marriage took place in San Francisco on August 28. We are sorry.
Calendar[edit]
- Feasts: Feb. 7—Mulk—Dominion
- Intercalary Days—Feb. 26, 27, 28, Mar. 1
- NSA Meeting: Feb. 11-13
Marriages[edit]
Providence, R.I. Mary Elizabeth Bower and Everett William Warfield, Nov. 18, 1948.
“No Lonely Ones” in Europe[edit]
As impressive as is the ever-growing number of new believers in the goal countries of Europe (there are now 132 newly declared Bahá’ís) the spirit that exists amongst them is truly wonderful. This is exemplified in the following quotation from a recent letter written by one of the Danish pioneers: “We are all ages from 60 years down to 23 years and there are no lonely ones sitting apart. “60” and “23” talk together as easily and as warmly as if they were good and old friends.
“Then the spiritual part of the Feast—one of the young Danish believers acted as Chairman. Everyone had something to read and no scurrying around to find places, etc. All done with reverence and very quietly. We are doing ‘Esslemont’ ... each person reads a section and all the rest of us follow in our own books. Then we discuss it....
“From the youngest to the oldest they will say ‘I talked with so and so, he or she seem to be sitting alone. We must not leave anyone out.’ It is truly magnificent when you think that none of these people were great friends before meeting the Cause and most of them did not know each other at all.”
The E.T.C. receives many such heartening letters but lack of space prevents our quoting more of them.
The following interesting report has just been received from the Oslo Community: “A young Norwegian lad has recently returned from the States where he studied for two years at the University of Chicago. He gave three public Travel-Talks with color slides, among them some of the Bahá’í Temple. After his first lecture some of our friends who heard him told us about it with the result that I got in touch with him and invited him to our public meeting in November. He was delighted to know that Bahá’ís were here in Oslo. He was much impressed with the attitude and service of the Bahá’ís.... At his next two lectures, one given at the University, he gave quite an extensive talk on the Temple and announced the fact that the Bahá’ís had a Community in Oslo and that they had a teaching program and gave the time and place of the classes.”
We are happy to report that Doris and Don Corbin of the Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan Community recently
[Page 3]
sailed for Stockholm to be our
resident pioneers there. This dedicated Bahá’í couple will greatly reinforce the teaching work in Sweden.
Louhelen Plans Summer 1949[edit]
DATES: June 26 through Sept. 5.
ADULT SESSIONS include: a two-weeks intensive Teacher’s Training course, sponsored by the National Programming Committee, June 26 through July 8. Courses are; 1. Contact and Publicity, 2. Public Campaigns, 3. Seminar Teaching, 4. Fireside Teaching.
FOUR ADULT SESSIONS planned are: “Community Life”, July 17-22, with Mrs. Mamie Seto teaching ‘The Bahá’í Way of Life,’; “Fellowship Week”, July 31-August 5; “International Week”, August 7-12; and a short Teacher’s Training course, August 14-19, with Terah Smith teaching Effective Speech. Other teachers and courses for these sessions will be announced later.
YOUTH — A lively program has been planned for youth, to be divided into three separate sessions. JUNIOR YOUTH 1., ages 8-11, July 10 through 15 includes: Bahá’í History, Mrs. John Failey; Bahá’í Teachings, Mrs. Robert Love; Character Building and Nature Study, Mr. Sam Clark; Crafts, Mrs. George True. JUNIOR YOUTH 2., 11-15, July 24 through 29: History, Mr. Robert Gaines; Teachings, Mrs. Edith McLaren; Personal Development and Character Building, Mrs. Mildred Holmes; Recreation, including a course in Ballroom Dancing, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Bagley. SENIOR YOUTH, ages 15-20, Aug. 21 through 26, includes: Effective Speech, Terah Smith; Choir, Esther Wilson; Latin American Dancing, Mrs. Ida Bates; a teacher for Bahá’í History and Teachings will be announced later.
YOUNG ADULT SESSION, Aug. 28 through Sept. 2, includes: Islám and an easy ABC shorthand system, Mrs. Marzieh Gail; Administration and the Covenant, Mr. Borah Kavelin; Bahá’í Way of Life, Mrs. Emeric Sala; World Current Events and the Bahá’í Faith, Mr. Sala.
AND DONT FORGET THE ANNUAL LOUHELEN HOMECOMING, Sept. 4-5. This event is already being planned. This year’s committee includes Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Bagley, Mr. Sam Clark, and the Detroit Area Youth.
Convention Echoes[edit]
THE SEED-BED OF FUTURE CIVILIZATION[edit]
HORACE HOLLEY
In the central eastern part of this country there is an area which has in recent years been set aside as a national park. It is a very distinctive area from the point of view of geology and natural history. I refer to the Smokies.
A government scientist, speaking in the lobby of a hotel a few years ago told a group of us who happened to be there that evening that during the Ice Age, the Smokies were raised above the level of the ice and thus preserved the grasses, the herbs, the shrubs and the trees which later, with the recession of the ice, were spread across the continent. The Smokies, according to this conception, were the seed-bed of our humanly inhabited North America.
Now, today, we have another Ice Age. It is an Ice Age of the spirit. That is to say, humanity, in its condition of unbelief, lies under the oppression of this freezing cold; its hopes are inert; it is unable to live in the spiritual realm; and the Bahá’í community is the seed-bed of the great continent of the new mankind.
Now, if this is our function, if it has been given to us to be alive above the level of the desolation that lies so heavy on mankind, if we are the seed-bed of the future because we stand in the sunlight of the Holy Spirit, we have a responsibility to the world which exceeds our capacity to express.
The individual believer coordinates his teaching work because he has the faculty of sanity, and sanity is that element in man which results when we coordinate our faculties and powers for a spiritual purpose, and my understanding of the Teachings is that when there is no coordination for a spiritual purpose, the quality of sanity begins to recede from the human personality.
Now let us take the individual believer as he carries the seeds of the new life to those he encounters from day to day. He picks this person or that person; he gives them knowledge of the existence of the Faith; he makes a contact with their inner life by stressing some principle or teaching which he thinks might be especially sympathetic; endeavors to bring about an attitude of reverence for something that has come into the world from a Higher Power, and eventually, if the soul is quickened, confirmation takes place and a new believer is enrolled.
Now, the process divides itself into several stages, but the individual believer coordinates because his intention is fixed and he modifies his methods so as to deal in the most effective manner with different types of individual human being. But responsibility is more than individual in the Bahá’í Faith. There is the responsibility of the institutions and the communities.
Now, let us step up this process from the individual to the first dawning-point of authority and responsibility for the community in the body of nine members of a local Assembly and, to make it as simple as possible, let us think of a Spiritual Assembly where there are only nine Bahá’ís in the city. They are the community as well as the Assembly, and they think of all the committee functions that larger communities have, they read the list of national committees and they are rather overwhelmed, because, after all, they are the Assembly and the community, and they can’t reach out and raise up the 50 or 60 people they need to carry out these functions. So perhaps they form two committees, one committee that has to be responsible for all the activities of the Faith in relationship to other people and the other committee maintaining the Bahá’í Feasts and anniversaries and the intimate experiences of the Bahá’ís themselves.
Now, under that simple condition, it is easy to maintain this process, beginning out in the public and bringing people, stage by stage, to the point of confirmation and enrollment.
But, now, step up the problem to a large community that might have fifteen or twenty committees and here you have a great number of personalities, you have attitudes that have been fixed in relationship to committee functions over many years, and the sense of the process begins to be complicated unless the Spiritual Assembly keeps it firmly
[Page 4]
in mind and makes the committees
conform to the needs of the process
in its varied stages; and if there is
this clarity of vision and an impersonal attitude on the part of the
administrators, there is no reason
why the principle of action which
animates the individual or the small
group cannot be multiplied thousands of times, because, after all,
the job of the believer is to spread
the seed of Faith and bring people
fully informed, spiritually conscious,
into the Bahá’í community, so that
as this ice recedes, the new humanity will find prepared the institutions
of a world civilization.
Now, there is just one element in this process which changes when we reach the national level and that is our responsibility to a public which numbers some 130,000,000 human beings. It is obvious that at our present stage of development we can bring into intimate fireside and teaching relationships only a comparatively few people at a time.
What then, should be our Bahá’í attitude toward the great masses of the people whom we cannot reach out and touch personally? It seems to me, that we might give a moment’s consideration to this fact, that the word of God compels a response for or against on the part of every human being. There is a great mass of indifference, a great body of people who are completely unaware of the Faith, but sooner or later their hour of decision will come, and we know that it has been clearly foretold by the Master and by the Guardian that, in the evolution of the American Bahá’í community, the time will come when we will have to encounter a supremely bitter, determined and well-conceived public attack. The lines are forming for that future event now. Even before people become aware of the Faith, they are inclining either toward peace or toward conflict; toward mercy or toward cruelty, and in my heart the feeling has come that we must win that future battle before the lines are drawn, that somehow or other we must find the ways and means of spreading some knowledge of the existence of the Faith and some understanding of its principal teachings to hundreds and thousands and millions of people years before we can reach out and make the personal contact, so that in the hour of the great division, there will be friends of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and that all the people, merely because they are not personally acquainted or have not read a Bahá’í book, need not be thrown into a mob to bring about a complete misunderstanding of the nature of the Faith and perhaps a time of bitter turmoil and oppression.
In summing up, I would stress again this sense of a continuous process which from stage to stage moves people from what we call the influence and Bahá’í association, and that whatever you call it, however you divide your budgets, whatever personalities are involved, coordination means a clear picture of each stage of the process and a concentration of the best available resources of the Faith to do each task at the moment it should be done. If we take any committee as the point of view, we do not arrive at coordination. We must take the point of view of the Spiritual Assembly, whose duty it is to make the most effective use of every Bahá’í worker at its command. And I would point out to you that when there is confusion, either in the local or the national community, it is the fault of the administrators, because every time a Spiritual Assembly works a program or a policy which has in it an element of confusion, the confusion is projected out and the workers find themselves not in coordination but sometimes at cross purposes, and I plead with you to share the conviction that that is not their personal or collective fault. We must have a clear concept of Bahá’í policy and methods and have the courage to carry it out step by step, even though we do it only on a very small scale.
Enrollments[edit]
Enrollments reported by Local Spiritual Assemblies:
El Monte Twp., Calif., 2; Shorewood, Wis., 1; San Francisco, Calif., 1; New York City, 1; Chicago, Ill., 1; Albuquerque, N.M., 2; Duluth, Minn., 3; St. Augustine, Fla., 1; Lansing, Mich., 3; Portland, Me. 2; YOUTH 4.
Enrollments reported by Regional Teaching Committees:
NORTHEASTERN STATES
- Me. N.H., 1
- New Jersey, 3
CENTRAL STATES
- Mich., 4
- Ohio, 4
WESTERN STATES
- Idaho, Utah, Mont., 1
- So. Calif., Ariz., 2
- Alaska, 2
Latin Committees Plan Congresses[edit]
The fourth annual Bahá’í Congresses of South and Central America will be held simultaneously January 21 thru 24 in Guatemala City and Sao Paulo, and each will be succeeded by School sessions lasting from the 26th through the 30th.
Each country of the Central American area has elected one delegate to attend the Congress. South America, on the other hand, is trying out this year a system of proportionate representation.
The two National Teaching Committees, under the guidance of the Inter-America Committee, have drawn up the Congress agendas and School curricula. Delegates will hear and discuss reports by the various national committees: Teaching, Publishing, Radio, Bulletin and Youth; and by the various Regional Committees; and will consider ways and means for strengthening and spreading the Faith in their territories, besides deciding upon goals to be reached by 1951. Both School sessions will include a course on Bahá’í Administration and the Bahá’í Life. Other courses scheduled for Sao Paulo are entitled: “Review of God Passes By,” “How to Present the Faith in Latin America,” and “The Use of Prayer;” and for Guatemala: “Relationship of the Bahá’í Teachings to Christianity and its Fundamental Doctrines,” and “Religion as the Basis of Civilization and Source of all Culture.”
The Chairman of the South American Teaching Committee, Esteban Canales, is continuing through Venezuela and Brazil on his round-the-continent tour of South America, and will arrive in Sao Paulo for the Congress. The secretary of the National Teaching Committee of Central America, Mrs. Natalia Chávez, left Mexico City early in November on a visit to all the Central American Bahá’í communities.
From Buenos Aires we learn that Shirley Warde was injured severely in an accident last November and is returning to New York, already much recovered. Shirley did office work during the day to earn a living and devoted her evenings and holidays to working tirelessly for the Faith. Her leaving will be a great loss to the Argentine Bahá’ís.
On the last of December another
[Page 5]
pioneer, Flora Hottes, is sailing for
Montevideo, Uruguay, to resume the
work she had to leave two years ago
when she returned home.
Wonderful success seems to attend Gayle Woolson everywhere she goes. While in Haiti she visited the goal city of Saint Marc, and the Masons there invited her to speak in the town’s only theater. She offered to help pay for the rent of the theater, which represented a big expense to those people, but they would not accept it. Posters were put up all about the town and personal invitations were sent out, with the result that about 200 people came. They, received the Message enthusiastically.
|
Bahá’í Addresses
National Office:
Treasurer’s Office:
Bahá’í Publishing Committee:
Bahá’í News Editorial Office:
|
The Regional Committee of the Dominican Republic sends in a thrilling report of the meetings held there during Gayle’s visit to their island. Writes Elena Marsella, “She swept through like a conquering queen but worked like an unpaid serf. All doors opened miraculously.” Copious and comprehensive articles giving resumés of her talks appeared in the largest newspapers of the country.
Arrived in Puerto Rico, every door was opened for her by a believer there of only one week, Mr. Irizarry. He is manager of a radio station and knows many important local people; consequently, radio time and newspaper publicity were made available, and Gayle and the pioneers of Puerto Rico, Edris Rice-Wray and Margaret Swengel, were presented to the high officials of Masonry, Lions, Rotary and Elks, and given speaking engagements before all of them to explain the Bahá’í Teachings.
Another country has been added to those where incorporation of the Faith has been obtained — El Salvador, bringing the total to over half.
Bahá’í Public Relations[edit]
The Guardian, in his letter of November 8, 1948, stated: “The various agencies designed to carry the Message to the masses, and to present to them befittingly the teachings of its Founder, must, likewise be vigilantly preserved, supported and encouraged.”
Suggested Daily Readings for February, 1949
“O God! Familiarize us with the mysteries of life so that the mysteries of the Kingdom may be witnessed by us in the world of existence and that we may confess Thy oneness.” |
Feb.
|
This direction calls for more intensive thinking and planning through the period when budgets are adjusted to the paramount needs of Temple construction. Bahá’í Public Relations, endeavoring to meet the challenge, plans to devote its space in Bahá’í News to the presentation of definite suggestions for local projects and to new and interesting methods reported to the committee by Assemblies.
Taking quick advantage of Westbrook Pegler’s widely-circulated remarks about the Faith, Assemblies used various means to present a clear picture of the Bahá’í Faith in the newspapers. In Peoria, for example, the community prepared an attractive advertisement which featured the NSA letter to the columnist. In Miami, Fla., and Augusta, Ga., good publicity was gained through the “letter to the editor” departments. Clippings from Boise, Idaho, and Inglewood, Calif., papers indicate effective use of the release prepared by the committee. Public Relations devoted its December trade paper space to an ad featuring the Pegler incident — an ad which has drawn more letters from members of the press than any previous insertion. Copies of the NSA letter were also sent to influential magazines.
The first annual Winter Institute for Bahá’í Education, sponsored by the Phoenix, Ariz., Assembly has for its general theme this year, “What Modern Man Should Know About Religion.” The program issued for the four-day session makes an interesting and effective tie-up with the national PR campaign.
An interesting use of national Public Relations advertising has been made by the Indianapolis Assembly. Their program for a public meeting held in December reprinted in the introductory material the advertisement headed, “What Is a Bahá’í,” which the committee ran in national magazines a few months ago. Incidentally, Indianapolis is making a wire recording of their public meetings to take to a number of fireside meetings through the city.
How “but two of the 5,000-6,000 Bahá’ís scattered throughout all the states” can achieve publicity was amply illustrated when the Arvada, Colo., Enterprise devoted nearly two columns of its Harvest Festival edition to the story of the Bahá’í Faith.
A bulletin containing suggestions for a series of brief, local advertisements is now available to communities for their own adaptations. The ads, illustrated by the familiar nine-pointed designs featured on national advertisements, are comprised of short selections from the Writings. Included in the bulletin is a page of ads used successfully by local Assemblies to proclaim the Faith. Copies can be obtained at ten cents each by writing to the secretary, Bahá’í Public Relations, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois.
Around the Bahá’í World[edit]
India, Pakistan, and Burma[edit]
Urged by the Guardian’s call for pioneers for Siam and Indonesia, two friends of Calcutta volunteered to settle at these two places.
“The call to pioneer is principally a call to the spirit. It is not to satisfy any of the basic physical needs that one sets forth to pioneer. It is, in fact, a temporary upsetting of ordered life, a discarding of all that one has built up for decades, maybe. It is what the natural instincts caution one against.
“But yet we find men responding again and again to the call for pioneers. All types of men—answering the call of God! Pioneering may not allay our hunger or any other physical want. It does much more. It satisfies the hunger of the soul.... Constantly the thought presents itself: our Guardian has asked me to pioneer; how can I stay back?”
It is with this spirit that the Bahá’ís of India are responding to the Guardian’s call for outposts of the Faith to be established in Ceylon, Indonesia, and Siam.
Japan[edit]
A three-day religious conference was held in Tokyo in September. All the religions of Japan presented their teachings. Mr. Horioka was invited to speak for an hour and a half on the last day of this conference on the Bahá’í Faith. This meeting was widely publicized in the newspapers and on the air.
On Sept. 26 a public Bahá’í meeting was held in Tokyo. Thirty-five persons attended, including the vice-chairman of UNESCO in Japan and the editor of the Yomiuri press.
Some of the University students regularly attend a discussion group, which uses the Bahá’í Writings and pamphlets published by the NSA of the United States as textbooks. There is thorough discussion of the Faith from all view points, which interest them, such as economic, literary, or agricultural.
Australia[edit]
Australia and New Zealand)
“Summer School will be held Friday, Dec. 31, 1948, to Sunday, Jan. 10, 1949. An interesting and instructive programme is being planned.”
The Australian NSA is following the policy of consulting with local Assemblies on plans and suggestions for furthering the Faith, as well as teaching methods and administration. Such meetings have been held with the Melbourne and Caringbah Assemblies. It is felt that both Assemblies gain much from these meetings.
The Home Front[edit]
Marysville, Washington[edit]
The weekend of Nov. 13 and 14 a Regional Teaching Conference and public meeting were held here. Methods of teaching were demonstrated by cleverly done skits of a fireside, a public meeting, and a study class. About a hundred people sat down to a pot-luck dinner afterwards. In the evening, Reginald King held the eager attention of an audience of 135 persons as he spoke on the “Dawn of a New Civilization”. At least 80 were friends and contacts and kept him busy with questions, particularly on the Temple, for another hour. Paid advertisements as well as news articles appeared in the local paper and in nearby Everett, besides the sending of invitations to all telephone subscribers of Marysville. A special point was made of housing visiting Bahá’ís in other than Bahá’í homes, which, coupled with the spirit of Bahá’í fellowship evidenced in public places, aroused interested comment from the local residents.
Elmhurst, Illinois[edit]
On October 23 the Bahá’ís of Elmhurst sponsored a Smörgasbörd Supper and a meeting, the theme of which was, “A Mature Society Requires a Mature Religion”, and was attended by 50 people, a third of whom were not yet Bahá’ís.
The variety of foods was immensely enjoyed as was the harp music and community singing done in the light of tiny candle favors. Marvin Newport and Dr. Katherine True gave short Bahá’í talks related to the theme, concluding with a question and answer period.
Anchorage, Alaska[edit]
A new radio program twice a week over station KENI, sponsored by the Anchorage Assembly, consists of readings from the creative writings of Bahá’u’lláh against a background of organ music by Simeon Oliver, noted Eskimo artist, whose wife is a Bahá’í.
To reach more people, advertising is being placed in Jessen’s Weekly, published in Fairbanks, but which reaches all sections of Alaska, even in the very far north.
Mattoon, Illinois[edit]
These are some things being done by a Bahá’í “group” of two:
“We are running the Bahá’í dramatized transcriptions on the air every Sunday morning over station WLHB at 9:15... a number of people have said they have been listening. We have run spot announcements also on the air and a front page reader, on the broadcast, in the local paper Friday evenings.” ...
These friends attended a conference in Peoria where there were 67 adults present and as a result Springfield asked for a talk on “The Progress of Human Rights”, Danville asked them for some time, “plus other invitations”. One of them spoke to a Club for the blind, taking some Bahá’í books in Braille with him and was asked for, and gave, some literature... These active friends take care of all of their own expenses in teaching. Their service is an example.
Los Angeles, California.[edit]
At an RTC Conference held Oct. 30, an unusual statement was made that new believers tend to give the message more often than old members. It was agreed that the more we give the message the more we are able to give it, and the more desire we have to tell every one. It is a habit which should be developed. We are urged to take advantage of casual opportunities as well as planned ones, using leading questions, such as headline news, world affairs, etc.
In Memoriam[edit]
- Mr. George Worthington—Fort Wayne, Ind.—11-12-48
- Dr. Conrad Baker—Windham Center, Conn.—11-13-48
- Miss L. M. Holroyd—Los Angeles, Calif.—12-2-48
- Miss E. Hazel Haugse—Ada County, Idaho—date unreported
Suggested Feast Program[edit]
Suggested Feast Program for the Feast of Loftiness, March 2nd
DEVOTIONAL PERIOD
A Musical Prelude
B Worship
| Prayers & Meditations | 127 “Praised be Thou, O Lord my God...” |
| Bahá’í Prayers | 29 (2) “Praise be to Thee...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 9 “Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 65 “My God, my Fire and my Light...” |
| Bahá’í Prayers | 31 “Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God...” |
C READINGS FOR THE CONSULTATION PERIOD
For the Feast of Splendor—Naw-Rúz, March 21st
DEVOTIONAL PERIOD
A Musical Prelude
B Worship
| Prayers & Meditations | 199 “Glory be to Thee, O my God...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 240 “I give praise to Thee...” |
| Bahá’í Prayers | 69 (1) “O Thou Incomparable God...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 48 “Lauded be Thy name, ... to |
| 52 “...set themselves towards Him.” |
C READING FOR THE CONSULTATION PERIOD
For the Feast of Glory, April 9th
DEVOTIONAL PERIOD
A Musical Prelude
B Worship
| Prayers & Meditations | 3 “Glorified art Thou...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 4 “Unto Thee be praise, O Lord my God...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 214 “All praise be to Thee...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 130 “All glory be to Thee, O Lord, my God...” |
C READING FOR THE CONSULTATION PERIOD
For the Feast of Beauty, April 28th
DEVOTIONAL PERIOD
A Musical Prelude
B Worship
| Bahá’í Prayers | 20 “O my Lord! Make Thy beauty to be my food...” |
| Bahá’í Prayers | 19 (1) “I beg of Thee, O my God...” |
| Bahá’í Prayers | 56 (2) “My God, My God...” |
| Prayers & Meditations | 87 “Praise be to Thee, to Whom...to |
| 90 “... Thine all-embracing sovereignty ...” | |
| Prayers & Meditations | 90 “Behold me, then, O my God ...” to end. |
C READING FOR THE CONSULTATION PERIOD
New Publication[edit]
The Covenant, an outline for study prepared by the Study Aids Committee. This outline brings together some of the most striking passages and references from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi on the subject of the Covenant. The material is arranged under the following sectional headings: “God and Man”, “The Manifestations of God,” “God’s Covenant with Man,” “The Center of the Covenant,” “The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” and “The Believers—Party of the Covenant.” Questions for review and discussion, and additional references are given. Mimeographed, 28 pages. Per copy, postpaid, $.60.
Assemblies Contributing to Fund, November, 1948[edit]
Alaska—Anchorage. Arizona—North Phoenix, Phoenix, Tucson. Arkansas—Eureka Springs, Little Rock. California—Alhambra, Arcadia, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Burlingame, Carmel, Geyserville, El Monte Twp., Escondido Twp., Fresno, Glendale, Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Monrovia, Monrovia Twp., Oakland, Oceanside, Palo Alto, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Marino, Santa Barbara.
Colorado—Colorado Springs, Denver. Connecticut—New Haven, Greenwich. Dist. of Columbia—Washington. Florida—Miami. Georgia—Atlanta, Augusta. Hawaii—Honolulu, Maui. Idaho—Boise. Illinois— Batavia, Champaign, Chicago, Danville, Elmhurst, Evanston, Limestone Twp., Maywood, Oak Park, Peoria, Springfield, Urbana, Waukegan, Wilmette, Winnetka. Indiana—Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend. Iowa—Cedar Rapids, Waterloo. Kansas—Topeka. Kentucky—Louisville. Louisiana—New Orleans.
Maine—Portland. Maryland—Baltimore. Massachusetts—Beverly Boston, Brookline, Springfield, Worcester. Michigan—Ann Arbor, Davison Twp., Dearborn Twp., Battle Creek, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe Farms, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Muskegon, Roseville. Minnesota—Duluth, Minneapolis. Missouri—Independence, Kansas City, St. Louis. Montana— Butte. Nebraska—Macy, Omaha. Nevada—Reno.
New Jersey— Bergenfield, Dumont, East Orange, Englewood, Jersey City, Red Bank, Newark, Ridgewood, Teaneck. New Mexico—Albuquerque, Albuquerque N. 10. New York—Binghamton, Geneva, Jamestown, Rochester, Waterloo, Yonkers. North Carolina—Greensboro. Ohio—Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Lima, Mansfield, Toledo. Oregon—Portland. Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton. Rhode Island—Providence.
South Carolina—Columbia, Greenville. South Dakota—Sioux Falls. Tennessee—Memphis. Texas—Houston, San Antonio. Utah—Salt Lake City. Vermont—Brattleboro.
Virginia—Alexandria, Arlington. Washington—Kirkland, Marysville, Monroe, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma. Wisconsin—Kenosha, Racine, Madison, Milwaukee, Shorewood, Somers Twp., Wauwatosa, Whitefish Bay. Wyoming—Laramie.
Total number of Assemblies | 179 |
Assemblies contributing—Nov. | 147 |
Assemblies not contributing—Nov. | 32 |
Individuals contributing—Nov. | 116 |
Groups contributing—Nov. | 45 |
The Meaning of Sacrifice[edit]
“By the glory of Thy might, O Thou my Well-Beloved! To have sacrificed my life for the Manifestations of Thy Self, to have offered up my soul in the path of the Revealers of Thy wondrous Beauty, is to have sacrificed my spirit for Thy Spirit, my being for Thy Being, my glory for Thy glory. It is as if I had offered up all these things for Thy sake, and for the sake of Thy loved ones ............ I am but a poor creature. O my Lord! .... Were I to render thanksgiving unto Thee, through the whole continuance of Thy kingdom and the duration of the heaven of Thine omnipotence, I would still have failed to repay Thy manifold bestowals.
Convention for Bahá’ís Only[edit]
The believers are requested not to bring to the Convention any non-Bahá’ís, no matter how close to the Faith they may be. Only delegates and recognized enrolled believers will be admitted to the Convention session.
Delegates to the Annual Convention deal with issues and plans of far-reaching importance. The utmost concentration is required. This is the reason for limiting attendance at the sessions to Bahá’í only.
The Public Bahá’í Congress and the Naw-Rúz Feast are open to attendance by interested friends.
Positive Action[edit]
Sioux Falls responded to the Guardian’s appeal and to the subsequent letters from the NSA in the following manner:
A special meeting for consultation was called on Nov. 9 and another special meeting was held on Nov. 28. Out of a small community of 11 adults and three youth, nine adults and one youth attended both these meetings.
In response to the question as to what could “be done at once and continuously”, their conclusion was as follows:
- “Each start with himself and live the life better”
- “Increase public meetings to once a week”
- “Group prayers for attainment of goals of Second Seven Year Plan”
- “Speak to friends and neighbors of the Cause”
- “Re-dedicate ourselves, keep goals in mind”
- “Keep ourselves in line, apply our prayers”
- “Read words of Guardian more often.”
- “Find our place, learn to cooperate in group”
- “Improve Consultation of Feast”
Further resolutions were:
- “Learn to be definite and to the point”
- “Give out lists of contracts and assign specific tasks”
- “Contact people studying foreign languages and invite to meeting”
- “Use suggestions from National Programming Committee ...”
- “Make new friends for firesides”
- “Re-dedicate: ‘Every believer owes a debt to an unbeliever’ ”
Directory Additions and Changes[edit]
Local Spiritual Assembly Secretaries:
- MARYSVILLE, WASH.
- Mrs. Lorrol O. Jackson
- c/o Bahá’í Center
- 1417 2nd St.
- SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
- Mrs. Emily Gillette
- 98 Federal St., Zone 5
- MAUI, T.H.
- Mrs. Marian Macalister
- Box 388
- Kihei, Maui, T.H.
- PALO ALTO, CALIF.
- Miss Virginia Breaks
- Box 238
- AUGUSTA, GA.
- Mrs. J. P. Fulmer
- Bayvale Rd.
- MIAMI, FLA.
- Miss Ida Solomon
- 137 N.W. 11th Ave.
- DAYTON, OHIO
- Mrs. Kathryn Alio
- 204 Henry St., Zone 3
- FLINT, MICH.
- Mrs. Florence Bagley
- 155 E. Hamilton Ave., Zone 5
- BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.
- Mrs. Mille A. Hendricks
- Box 794
- GREENWICH, CONN.
- Mrs. Katherine McLaughlin
- 63 Maple Ave.
- RACINE, WIS.
- Mrs. Florence Hansen
- 921 Grand Ave.
- ARCADIA, CALIF.
- Mr. Stanley M. Blakeslee
- P.O. Box 795
- TACOMA, WASH.
- Mrs. Nettie Asberry
- 1219 So. 13th St.
Summer School Committees—1949 Season
- GEYSERVILLE
- Mrs. Louise Groger, Sec’y.
- 64 Agua Way, San Francisco 16, Calif.
- GREEN ACRE
- Mrs. Dorothy Fisher, Sec’y.
- 7153 Bryan St., Philadelphia 19, Pa.
- INTERNATIONAL
- Mrs. Harry E. Ford, Sec’y.
- Box 1003, Colorado Springs, Colo.
- LOUHELEN
- Mrs. Marguerite True, Sec’y.
- 132 Moran Rd., Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Regional Teaching Committees
- DELAWARE
- Miss Miriam Newman, Sec’y.
- 101 W. 8th St., Wilmington, Del.
- KY., TENN.
- Miss Mary Roche Watkins, Sec’y.
- 913 Grove Ave., Nashville, Tenn.
- ILL., IOWA
- Miss Pari Zia-Walrath, Sec’y.
- 4639 N. Beacon St., Chicago 40, Ill.
- ARK., OKLA.
- Miss Idabell Sine, Sec’y.
- 1109 N.E. 17th St., Oklahoma City, Okla.
- YOUTH
- CENTRAL STATES
- Miss Moneveh Weeks, Sec’y.
- Rm. 227, Susanna Wesley Hall, Albion College
- Albion, Mich.
- CENTRAL STATES
Programmers’ Corner[edit]
“God”, Bahá’u’lláh Himself has unmistakably revealed, “hath prescribed unto every one the duty of teaching His Cause.” “Say” He further has written, “Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá, for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.”
The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 38
Hints For Action:
Did you ever give a book review? Try your talents on This Earth One Country by Emeric Sala. Your club or group of friends who hear your report may find themselves discussing its major points, and opening up the way for you to present at great length the Bahá’í Message.
Other books which may serve as springboards for a logical presentation of the Bahá’í Teachings are:
- Heard, Gerald—Is God Evident?
- Heard, Gerald—A Preface To Prayer
- Schrodinger, Erwin—What Is Life?
- Huxley, Aldous—The Perennial Philosophy
- Mumford, Lewis—The Condition of Man (Introduction & Chap. 11)
| Page | Col. | |
Addresses | 5 | 1 |
Annual Convention | 1 | 2 |
Around Bahá’í World | 6 | 1 |
Assemblies Contributing to Fund | 7 | 3 |
Calendar | 2 | 2 |
| Convention | ||
Annual | 1 | 2 |
Bahá’ís only | 8 | 1 |
State | 1 | 3 |
Convention Echoes | 3 | 1 |
Directory | 8 | 2 |
Enrollments | 4 | 2 |
European News | 2 | 3 |
Fund, Assemblies Contributing | 7 | 3 |
| Guardian | ||
Báb’s Sepulchre | 1 | 1 |
Politics, Non-participation | 1 | 1 |
Home Front | 6 | 1 |
Latin America | 4 | 3 |
Louhelen, Summer, 1949 | 3 | 1 |
Memoriam | 6 | 3 |
| National Spiritual Assembly | ||
Time of the Dawn-Breakers | 2 | 1 |
Positive Action | 8 | 1 |
Programmers’ Corner | 8 | 3 |
Public Relations | 5 | 2 |
Publication, New | 7 | 1 |
Sacrifice, Meaning of | 7 | 2 |
State Conventions | 1 | 3 |
Suggested Daily Readings | 5 | 3 |
Suggested Feast Programs | 7 | 1 |
