Bahá’í News/Issue 150/Text
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| No. 150 | YEAR 98, BAHÁ’Í ERA | January, 1942 |
Communications From the Guardian[edit]
The following cablegram, received December 13, 1941, refers to a message cabled the Guardian by the National Assembly informing him that the sixth and seventh main-story faces of the Temple had been completed:
“Extremely grateful (and) delighted (at) completion (of) two more faces (of) Temple. Owing developments advise deliberate (to) insure (that) nothing whatsoever prevents or delays (the) erection (of) last two faces (at the) earliest possible opportunity. Deepest love.” (Signed) Shoghi Rabbani.
The next communication is a cablegram received on the same day, December 13, and reproduced elsewhere in this issue.
On December 14 this message came: “Kindly cable news (of the) safety (of the) Honolulu friends. Assure them (my) prayers.” (Signed) Shoghi Rabbani.
On December 10, a cablegram had been sent to the Honolulu Assembly expressing loving prayers and best wishes from the National Assembly. On December 14 the message from the Guardian was cabled and on December 20 the Honolulu Assembly replied: “Deepest loving gratitude (for) assurance (of the) Guardian’s (and the) Assembly’s prayers. Bahá’ís (of) Maui (and) Honolulu (are) safe.” Thereupon the Guardian was cabled the news of their safety.
On January 1, 1942 this message arrived from Haifa:
“Faithless sister Mehrangiz (has) followed (the) example (of) Ruhi’s sister. All ties (have been) severed. No consideration (of) family relationships can ever be allowed (to) interfere (with the) dictates (of) justice or (to) supersede supreme fidelity (to) Center (of) Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. Inform believers.” (Signed) Shoghi Rabbani.
Two days later, January 3, a second message came on the same subject: “Parents strongly condemn Mehrangiz’s action.” (Signed) Shoghi Rabbani.
In publishing these two messages from the Guardian, the National Assembly reminds the friends of the statement on “The Spiritual Quarantine” prepared for the December, 1941 issue of Bahá’í News in connection with the Guardian’s two previous cablegrams reporting Covenant-breakers within the family.
From the January meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly three cablegrams were sent to the Guardian, as follows:
“American Bahá’ís will employ every possible occasion (to) demonstrate fidelity (to) Center (of) Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.”
“Bahá’u’lláh’s call resounding in (our) hearts, (we are) praying (for) fitness (and) capacity (to) maintain sacred trust unimpaired through time (of) supreme spiritual trial until glorious light (of) God’s ancient Promise floods this darkened earth. Confident (of) upsurge (of) devotion (and) service from rededicated community.”
“Intensive teaching campaign inaugurated (with) seven projects (in) North America, race unity program (among) Southern colleges, new pioneer, Flora Hottes, for Bolivia. Collins’ second annual gift five thousand (for) teaching work received. Extending direct assistance (to) inexperienced Assemblies; issuing special teaching number (of) Bahá’í News; planning (for) completion (of) Temple construction (in) 1942.”
The final cablegram to share with the friends came January 8:
“Comforted (and) fortified (by) fervent messages testifying (to) solidity (of) bonds (of) spiritual kinship uniting me (with) true upholders (of the) Covenant. (I) prize their loyalty, glory (in) their achievements, hail their resolve, invoke still greater blessings (upon) their superb exertions.” (Signed) Shoghi Rabbani.
The following excerpts are taken from a letter written by the Guardian through his secretary to the Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly on October 26, 1941:
“He has recently cabled the National Assembly that he considers it of the utmost importance that the faces of the Temple be completed and placed in position on the main story with as much expedition as possible. This matter has aroused his grave concern, as the Guardian believes that in view of the relation of the U.S.A. to the international situation, the rising costs, labor shortage, etc., it may be both increasingly difficult and expensive to complete this work with every month that goes by. He, therefore, would urge you to impress on Mr. Early—who, he realizes, is always eager to cooperate in such matters —the necessity of completing whatever ornamentation of the main story remains, during the winter months, so that at the earliest moment next spring, when the weather permits the work at the Temple itself to be resumed, the last faces may be placed in final position.
“Next to this in consideration should be the teaching work. Nothing must be permitted to hamper or slow down this apostolic campaign, which the believers have undertaken. It represents the discharge of their moral duty towards their fellow men, that of permitting them, in these cataclysmic times, to hear the Message their Lord has sent to them and the ways He has prescribed for them to solve their problems and heal their ills.
“The Guardian feels confident that the great devotion which so evidently inspires both the body of the believers and their National representatives will carry them on to victory, in spite of the difficulty of achieving it. His prayers and his hopes are with you all the time.”
In the Guardian’s hand: “Now that the construction of the steps of the Temple has had to be postponed and in view of the increasing gravity of the international situation, a special and pressing responsibility rests on the National Assembly to insure, with the aid of the contractor and through every other possible means, the completion of the nine faces of the edifice before the end of next spring. During the coming winter months the work at the studio should be (so) conducted that no delay whatever will be incurred when the time of the placing of the remaining faces arrives. During these same months, while the teaching work is being strenuously
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O Thou Incomparable God! O Thou Lord of the Kingdom! These souls are Thy heavenly army. Assist them and with the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse, make them victorious; so that each one of them may become like unto a regiment and conquer these countries through the love of God and the illumination of divine teachings. O God! Be Thou their supporter and their helper, and in the wilderness, the mountain, the valley, the forests, the prairies and the seas, be Thou their confidant—so that they may cry out through the power of the Kingdom and the breath of the Holy Spirit! Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty and the Omnipotent, and Thou art the Wise, the Hearing and the Seeing.
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pursued, the most effective
measures for the construction of
the steps should be carefully considered,
and thus insure the uninterrupted
progress of this vital aspect
of the Seven Year Plan.”
NOTE: The Temple work has been so planned that all work at the studio has been completed, and it is estimated that faces eight and nine, completing the main story ornamentation, can be completed in about five weeks as soon as weather permits.
America’s Spiritual Mission[edit]
1. Excerpts From Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
O ye believers of God! Endeavor ye, so that you may take hold of every means in the promulgation of the religion of God and the diffusion of the fragrances of God.
Strive ye that the Collective Center of the sacred religions—for the inculcation of which all the Prophets were manifested and which is no other than the spirit of the Divine Teachings—be spread in all parts of America, so that each one of you may shine forth from the horizon of Reality like unto the morning star, divine illumination may overcome the darkness of nature, and the world of humanity may become enlightened. This is the most great work!
You must become heavenly farmers and scatter pure seeds in the prepared soil. The harvest of every other seed is limited, but the bounty and the blessing of the seed of the Divine Teachings is unlimited. Throughout the coming centuries and cycles many harvests will be gathered.
At this time and at this period we must avail ourselves of this most great opportunity. We must not sit inactive for one moment; we must sever ourselves from composure, rest, tranquillity, goods, property, life and attachment to material things. We must sacrifice everything to His Highness, the Possessor of Existence, so that the powers of the Kingdom may show greater penetration and the brilliant effulgence in this New Cycle may illumine the worlds of minds and ideals.
O ye friends of God! Exert ye with heart and soul, so that association, love, unity and agreement be obtained between the hearts, all the aims may be merged into one aim, all the songs become one song and the power of the Holy Spirit may become so overwhelmingly victorious as to overcome all the forces of the world of nature. Work! This is the great Work, should ye become assisted therein. Thus America may become the fulcrum of merciful susceptibilities, and the throne of the Kingdom of God be established upon earth with the greatest joy and majesty.
2. Excerpts From Letters
of the Guardian
Heart thrilled (with) pride (at)
message announcing (the) approaching
completion (of the) ornamentation
(of) seven faces (of the)
Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, proclaiming
intensification (of) North American
teaching campaign . . As fury (and)
destructiveness (of the) tremendous
world ordeal attains (its) most intensive
pitch, so Mission conferred
twenty years ago by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
sacred Will on worldwide, indivisible,
incorruptible body (of) His followers
unfolds its fullest potentialities. . .
(The) spiritual competition
galvanizing (the) organized followers
(of) Bahá’u’lláh (in) East
(and) West waxes keener as first
Bahá’í century speeds to close. With
bowed head, exultant spirit (and)
thankful heart, I acclaim these recurrent,
increasingly compelling manifestations
(of the) solidarity, loyalty[Page 3]
(and) unquenchable spirit animating,
throughout five continents, (the)
community (of the) followers (of
the) Most Great Name. (November
22, 1941)
To carry out in its entirety and to its final consummation this dual enterprise would shed on the closing years of this first century of the Bahá’í Era a luster no less brilliant than the immortal deeds which have signalized its birth, in the heroic ego of our Faith. To the American believers, the spiritual descendents of the heroes of God’s Cause, I again address my plea to arise as one soul and to prosecute with unrelaxing resolve the high mission with which their immediate destiny is inextricably interwoven. The call has gone forth, the path is clear, the goal manifest and within their reach. Though their responsibilities be pressing and heavy and the obstacles formidable and manifold, yet the spirit of our invincible Faith will enable them to conquer if they arise unitedly and determinedly and persevere till the very end. (June 4, 1937)
To the Spiritual Assemblies, Communities and groups of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada.
Beloved Friends:
The American followers of Bahá’u’lláh have entered that time when maximum disturbance and upheaval in the world without will be counterbalanced by the release of spiritual powers of surpassing potency in the world of spirit. Our faith, our knowledge, our training have all prepared us for achievement in this time when the illumination of the Kingdom is to be revealed on earth.
The Guardian’s Message
Consider this mighty call from the Guardian of His Faith, coming to us on December 13, 1941 to rally our forces, unify our souls and afford us a great historic occasion for a reconsecration in service to the Cause.
“(The) most great convulsion envisaged by (the) Prophets from Isaiah to Bahá’u’lláh, catastrophic in violence, planetary in a range, (is) assailing, at long last, (the) predominating nations (of the ) Asiatic (and) American continents. (The) leading Power (of the) Western Hemisphere, which, together with sister republics, Bahá’u’lláh’s ringing call significantly summoned in His Most Holy Book, (the) object (of) ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
Main Story Ornamentation No. 9, November 28, 1941.
( Completion of Fourth and Fifth Faces ).
tender solicitude (and) ardent
prayers, (the) center of His
hopes, (the) recipient (of) His promises
(and the) beneficiary (of) His
blessings, (has been) suddenly
though not unexpectedly plunged (into
the) crucible (of) world conflagration.
Purged, tested, galvanized,
coalescing with its sorely-tried sister
nations (the world over, (the)
great Republic (of the) New World,
(the) enviable parent of System heralding
(the) World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
must assume through adversity
its preponderating share (of)
responsibility (to) lay down, once
for all, broad, worldwide, unassailable
foundations (of) that discredited
yet immortal System. Though
(the) immediate future be dark, critical
(and) fraught (with) anguish,
(I) feel it my bounden duty (to)
appeal (in) this hour as never before
(to the) Trustees
Bahá’u’lláh’s priceless Revelation
whether teachers or administrators,
individuals or Assemblies, North (or)
South, white (or) colored, young
(or) old, (to) refuse at all costs (to)
surrender (their) solemn spiritual
responsibilities, refrain (from) relaxing
(their) teaching efforts, determine
never (to) slacken (their)
sacred task (of) building (the) institutions
whose progress destiny
(has) indissolubly linked with (the)
fortunes (of the) most disastrous,
most challenging, most pregnant period
(of) human history.”
- —SHOGHI RABBANI
The Sacred Task[edit]
It is for each community, each
Assembly, each Committee and
[Page 4]
North America Teaching Map: Twenty-three Unsettled States, January 1, 1942.
every individual Bahá’í to pray and
meditate upon this message, since
it is a supreme, a final call to the
arena of spiritual vitality and dynamic
action.
For the Guardian’s call releases the power for the launching of a concentrated teaching effort throughout North America for the achievement of the tasks given us in the Seven Year Plan for accomplishment by Convention time, 1944.
These tasks are: To establish a local Spiritual Assembly in each American State and Canadian Province, and also in Alaska; To restore every local Assembly once existing but dissolved because the community fell below the requisite number of nine recognized adult Bahá’ís.
As of January 1, 1942, the unsettled States and Provinces are: Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska; Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. With Alaska, a total of thirty States and Provinces.
As of the same date, the dissolved Assemblies are: Maywood and Oak Park, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska; Toledo, and Findlay, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Moncton, New Brunswick; Glendale, Arizona; St. Lambert, Quebec; Alhambra, Burbank, Huntington Park, and Santa Rosa, California; Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado; Augusta, Georgia; Topeka, Kansas; Lansing, Michigan; Knoxville, Tennessee; Salt Lake City, Utah; Monroe, Washington; Eagle River, Wisconsin, during the past two years. Going farther back we have also Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Akron, Ohio. A total of twenty-four Assemblies to be restored.
The Great Progress Made[edit]
Though the task is immense, nevertheless our collective resources are ample if we make full use of them in an intense, unremitting and whole-hearted effort.
For example, in North America as of January 1, 1942 there are seventy local groups containing five or more Bahá’ís. The germ of spiritual growth already exists in most of the unsettled States and Provinces, as shown in the following list:
Tuskegee, Alabama; Glendale,
Arizona; Hot Springs, Little Rock,
Arkansas; Atascadero, Burbank,
Verdugo City, Huntington Park,
Lennox, Knightsen, Piedmont and
South Gate, California; Armstrong,
and West Vancouver. British Columbia
[Page 5]
North America Teaching Map: Six Unsettled Canadian Provinces, and Territory of Alaska, January 1, 1942.
Moncton, New Brunswick; St.
Lambert, Quebec; Colorado Springs
and Denver, Colorado; Hampden,
Connecticut; Wilmington, Deleware;
Pine Castle, Florida; Augusta, Georgia;
Maywood and Oak Park, Illinois;
Fort Wayne, Indiana; Independence,
Iowa; Topeka, Kansas; New
Orleans, Louisiana; Beverly and
Three Rivers, Massachusetts; Ann
Arbor, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Lincoln
Park, Muskegon Heights, Nirvana
and Roseville, Michigan; Duluth,
Minnesota; Independence, Missouri;
Butte, Montana; Reno, Nevada;
Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Atlantic
City, East Orange, Avon, Red
Bank and Tenafly, New Jersey;
Geneva (rural) and New Rochelle,
New York; Fargo, North Dakota;
Akron, Circleville, Cleveland
Heights, Medina (rural), Brunswick
(rural), Toledo and Urbana, Ohio;
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Pawtucket,
Rhode Island; Lead, South Dakota;
Knoxville, Tennessee; Dimmit
County, Houston and San Antonio,
Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah;
Arlington, Virginia; Sultan,
Washington; Green Bay, Sommers Township,
and Shorewood, Wisconsin.
Our Instruments and Facilities
In addition to these seventy groups, all of which are potential communities with a local Spiritual Assembly, the American Bahá’ís are blessed with the developed administrative and teaching facilities which can combine, unify, direct and coordinate all the capacities of the entire Bahá’í community.
For example, the National Teaching Committee, with capacity and experience in planning important projects, the Regional Teaching Committees, working under the direction of the National Teaching Committee and carrying on intensive work in their twenty-three areas which together cover North America, the eighty-nine local Bahá’í communities with their Assemblies, the other National Committees, each of which has a function related more or less directly to teaching activity, and the large number of isolated believers, including the groups of less than five Bahá’ís.
Since this date of January 1, 1942 will be used for measuring progress throughout the remainder of the Seven Year Plan, we should examine the statistics of Bahá’í membership.
Bahá’ís in organized local
communities . . . . . . . . . . .2637
Bahá’ís in groups . . . . . . . . 853
Isolated Bahá’ís, . . . . . . . . 871
There are 89 local Assemblies,[Page 6]
and 203 groups containing two or
more believers.
Let us open our own hearts, and all the institutions of which we are a part, to the inflow of a powerful, a pure and a regenerating spirit, that the American Bahá’í community may accomplish even more than the Guardian requires.
Coordination of Facilities
All who become active in teaching have access to many important teaching aids and facilities, each supervised by a separate and independent National Committee, but all directed and coordinated by the National Spiritual Assembly.
The friends are urged to study anew the possibilities of help at their disposition on request. To refer to some of these:
Publishing Committee — teaching literature; Bahá’í News Service — press releases; Library Committee —book placement in public and university libraries; Radio Committee —prepared talks on many different subjects: Miscellaneous Materials Committee — for photographs, picture slides, etc.; Study Outline Committee— for study material distributed through the Publications Committee: Bahá’í School Committees—for instruction in the fundamental Bahá’í teachings, and for practice in applying them: Race Unity Committee— for valuable material, bulletins, etc., and public meetings and conferences: Exhibits Committee—to create display material, and conduct exhibits at State Fairs. The Bahá’í Directory published a few months ago lists all the Committees and describes their functions.
Extension Teaching
The local Communities are urged to realize their great responsibility in contributing to the success of the Seven Year Plan. Their communities contain much more than half the Bahá’í population of North America.
Therefore, each Assembly able to provide for Extension Teaching in addition to the local activities is requested to appoint a Committee for Extension Teaching as soon as possible. This Committee is to serve exclusively outside the civil area of the local community, cooperating with the Regional Teaching Committee in the great task of settling the areas with the Assemblies, restoring the dissolved Assemblies and developing groups to the point of forming their own Assembly.
First Canadian Summer Conference, June , 1941.
Group photographed in garden of Maxwell home, Montreal.
The Extension Teaching Committee
will report to the Regional Committee,
while the local Assembly
will continue as hitherto to report
to the National Spiritual Assembly
concerning its local work. Extension
teaching affords the local community
the privilege of carrying on
pioneer work.
The teaching part of the Seven Year Plan has many aspects. Will the believers give full attention to the important statements contributed by the National Teaching Committee to this issue of Bahá’í News.
“So precious an opportunity . . . may never again recur. Now is the time, the appointed time, for the American believers . . . to proclaim, through the agencies and channels of a specially designed Administrative Order, their capacity and readiness to rescue a fallen and sore-tried generation.” (The Advent of Divine Justice.)
- Faithfully yours,
Intensification of Teaching in North America[edit]
Beloved Friends:
The Seven-Year Plan, so confidently undertaken by the American community, is now rushing to its close. To consummate its dual objectives has been our driving hope, the end of all our labors, and we have won already proud and shining victories. Yet today the National Spiritual Assembly is summoning us to an “intensification of the North American teaching campaign” because, if we do not intensify, concentrate, and focus the whole of our energies, we shall in the final balancing find ourselves short of the goal.
Surely the essence of our problem is time! “There is no time to lose.” wrote Shoghi Effendi in 1939, but in this hour with thirty virgin States and Provinces challenging what may be accomplished through teaching in twenty-seven months, our position is inexpressibly critical. There is no way to overstate this, no possible language in which to exaggerate. For teaching is delicate, painstaking work, and to implant securely in men’s hearts the eternal truth of God is a process which seldom can be quickly done. Moreover, what is always difficult becomes, the more so by two essential requirements: (1) to root the Cause in specified areas, (2) and to do this within the limits of a predetermined time.
Between now and April 21, 1944
lie little over two years. The course
of the Seven-Year Plan has carried
us from brave inception, through
months or vigorous action, into the
final and decisive chapter. We are
already far beyond the climax in
time, but the climax or peak of our
strength is yet to be scaled. We have
poured out individual resources and
energies, but the future requires an
inconceivable pouring forth of collective[Page 7]
power. Could we not foresee
this in the Guardian’s earliest
instructions? “. . . They must not
throughout these six remaining
years allow themselves to be deflected
from the course they are now
steadily pursuing. They must as
time goes on evince a more burning
enthusiasm, demonstrate a higher
sense of solidarity, reveal greater
depths of consecration to their task,
and display a more unyielding
determination to achieve its purpose.”
It is with these facts in mind, and in the utmost soberness of heart, that the National Teaching Committee declares to the friends a condition of emergency, and at the same time proposes a plan to surmount it. Twenty-seven months remain. The outlines of the goal are clear. Our status is summarized in other columns of this issue. Our problem is evident from a simple comparison. We are confronted by the only possible choice. It is now the hour to gather and direct the force of the American community; to resolve that no other work shall absorb us except this work; to focus completely, whole-heartedly, unstintingly on the supreme objectives of the Seven-Year Plan. We shall not succeed with less. We are bound to succeed if we do.
The National Teaching Committee cannot visualize just what or how much each individual, Assembly, and Regional Committee can contribute in the next twenty-seven months. We bear, each one of us, a unique and essential relationship to the whole overwhelming task. The Committee can and will suggest, assist, and support the friends, and various proposals are outlined below. But in the long run, we must each delve to discover in mind and heart the particular share we can carry. The relationship we shall bear to the Guardian’s vision and our own oft-repeated pledge. The primary matter is that we are all involved!
Beloved friends, while we measure the formidable difficulties ahead, we can never for a moment dissociate them from the marvels to which they lead. “The promulgation of the Divine Plan.” Shoghi Effendi has said. “Is the key which Providence has placed in the hands of the American believers whereby to unlock the doors leading them to fulfill their unimaginably glorious destiny.” What we build new in the
Temple Model Exhibit Conducted at Thorsted Floral Co., Oakland, April, 1940.
Seven-Year Plan is but the first dimension of that destiny, our generation’s chief endowment and merit. We have not chosen it, for God has chosen it; nor can we be free of its responsibility. But what we can do is to strive, in prayer and work, for that assurance which sustains our Guardian, who knows immediately and without a trace of doubt that Bahá’u’lláh directs His Faith and intends for it complete and final victory.
“I am deeply conscious of the many obstacles that stand in the path of the American believers in their stupendous endeavor to attain their goal. I cannot, however, overlook . . . the mysterious power that resides in the united will and concerted action of all the members of that self-sacrificing community. . .”
The Twenty-Seven Month Teaching Program for North America[edit]
When the most important work is before our sight, we must let go the important ones . . . ‘ABDU’L–BAHÁ
Shoghi Effendi has set as the goal of teaching in North America under the Seven-Year Plan the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in each State, of the United States and each Province of Canada, and in the Territory of Alaska, as well as the re-establishment of the disbanded Assemblies.
Extreme emphasis is laid upon this aspect of the Plan at this time for the reason that the Temple construction has proceeded rapidly and definite plans are under way for the completion of the exterior ornamentation in 1942, while the teaching work in Central and South America has also proceeded ahead of schedule. In the United States and Canada, however, there remains but twenty-seven months for the accomplishment of a tremendous, an overwhelming task.
To envision this task as a whole is to realize its vital importance and to feel consecrated to its entire fulfillment within the allotted time, for the goal is nothing less than the erection of the administrative order of the Faith upon the whole foundation of areas and peoples in the two countries of destiny, the United States and Canada.
The 27-month program of teaching, briefly, is:
1. The establishment of a Spiritual
- Assembly in each of the 30 States
- and Provinces still without one.
2. And the re-establishment of the
- 24 disbanded Spiritual Assemblies.
The specific needs to accomplish this are:
1. 15 new pioneers.
2. Teachers,—and more teachers:
- a. those who can remain for extended
periods,
- b. those who can remain temporarily,
- c. those who can assist in teaching
circuits.
[Page 8]
3. Daily prayers for the success of
our teaching program.
4. Continuous and liberal support of the Bahá’í Fund.
The following suggestions indicate the manner in which individuals, groups, and Assemblies can best assist in this tremendous and glorious task:
Individuals:
1. Focus all thoughts and prayers daily on the success of the Seven-Year Plan.
2. Orient all Bahá’í services to the remaining specific tasks of the plan.
3. Intensify teaching services a thousand fold—giving first consideration to the needs of the Seven–Year Plan.
4. Who will arise to fill the 15 important posts for which new pioneers are needed?
5. All teachers contact at once, either the Regional Committee involved, or the National Teaching Committee so that their activities may be directed to the points of greatest need and importance.
6. If unable to go oneself — then deputize someone who can fill one of these posts.
7. Support the Bahá’í Fund freely.
Groups and Assemblies:
1. The Bahá’í Communities are the spiritual reservoirs of the Faith, and must provide the spiritual energy and dynamics to bring increasing vitality to the Campaign. They should lend support through prayers, encourage pioneers and teachers to arise, and increase support of the National fund.
2. Extension work should be carried on in one of the virgin areas where accessible, or in restoring dissolved Assemblies, or raising up new groups, rather than in just a “new” city.
3. Train new teachers as rapidly as possible, so as to enable us to meet the ever-increasing demands of teachers.
4. Actively support Inter-Assembly Teaching Conferences to assist in arranging, teaching circuits to cover virgin areas.
5. At Nineteen-Day Feasts encourage the friends to center their thoughts, prayers and deeds of devotion to the goals of the Seven Year Plan.
Regional Committees:
1. Regional Committees, in consultation with the National Teaching Committee, have developed definite plans to concentrate their efforts both on the points in the virgin areas where Spiritual Assemblies may be formed, and on the re-establishment of the disbanded Assemblies.
2. They will arrange regular and continuous teaching meetings in these areas.
3. They will cooperate closely with Assemblies in their Extension work in these virgin areas.
4. They will arrange Inter-Assembly Conferences, and cooperate in carrying out the teaching circuits.
5. They will assist all teachers and pioneers in their arduous tasks.
O ye beloved of God! Repose not yourselves on your couches, nay bestir yourselves as soon as ye recognize your Lord, the Creator, and hear of the things which have befallen Him, and hasten to His assistance. Unloose your tongues, and proclaim unceasingly His Cause. This shall be better for you than all the treasures of the past and of the future, if ye be of them that comprehend this truth.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
Inter-Assembly Circuit Teaching[edit]
The Assemblies of a given state or region may, in consultation, at any time, arrange a circuit for one or more traveling teacher, a practice followed by some for a number of years. Informally, it is the practice of some to relay information to other centers about the availability of teachers who may have agreed to serve them, so as to widen the scope of such services. Although Regional committees have no jurisdiction over Spiritual Assemblies, they may often aid them by disseminating information about the nearness and availability of teachers. The larger centers do not to the same extent need outside speakers as those of smaller or more recent development. But generally all of them, large or small, give a cordial welcome to visitors and find a use for any talents that may come to them in some meetings, public or fireside.
Traveling teachers should rigidly avoid interfering with the local affairs, the administration of which belongs to the local Spiritual Assembly. To whatever extent they allow themselves to be drawn into local problems or expressing partisan opinions, they weaken their influence and effectiveness as teachers. Should the local Spiritual Assembly of its own motion ask for consultation, advice or aid, it is another matter. Under such circumstances the traveling teacher may sometimes shed light on national and international problems or unfold the teachings which pertain to Bahá’í Administration, the application of which still rests with the Local Spiritual Assembly.
As the coming of a traveling teacher is usually a stimulus to the local teaching activity, moving the friends to unusual efforts in reaching and attracting people: also increasing the number of special meetings for reaching and contacting outside groups and individuals, key people and their followers; his stay should not be unduly prolonged, nor allowed to overtax the strength, endurance and teaching resources of a center, whether large or small. He should readily yield to the wishes of the local friends as to the tenure and utilization of his services.
Itinerant or traveling teachers as well as those who do resident or pioneer work, have been mentioned with appreciation in the letters of Shoghi Effendi. They may be the means by which, as channels, spiritual refreshment and energy may flow to the local centers; and they should, as far as possible, keep in motion. This type of teacher, among the Occidental Bahá’ís, had its highest exponent in the late Martha L. Root, whose ceaseless energy and devotion earned for her the title. Hand of the Cause. As the Cause expands and new centers are started and developed there will be a growing need for workers of this kind.
Duty and Responsibility of Bahá’ís[edit]
Believers are anxious to know
what the attitude and course of action
they should take in the view of the fact
that their country is at war and the
national energies are being concentrated
[Page 9]
upon that great and fateful
issue.
The Guardian’s instructions are definite and illuminating. They show that the individual Bahá’í can serve in non-combatant capacities and render aid in programs of civil defense concerned with aid to the injured, fire protection, etc. Bahá’ís are permitted to volunteer, as the Guardian explained to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles in a letter reprinted here in January, 1940:
“There are many other avenues through which the believers can assist in times of war by enlisting in services of a non-combatant nature —services that do not involve the direct shedding of blood—such as ambulance work, anti-air raid precaution service, office and administrative works, and it is for such types of national service that they should volunteer.
“It is immaterial whether such activities would still expose them to dangers, either at home or in the front, since their desire is not to protect their lives, but to desist from any acts of willful murder.”
The Bahá’í community itself, and its administrative bodies, the local Spiritual Assembly, committees, etc., are not to participate officially and collectively in such activities, but to confine their efforts to direct Bahá’í work and the discharge of the functions definitely assigned them in the teachings.
Shoghi Effendi has been clarifying fundamental issues for us over a period of years, and excerpts from statements relevant to present conditions are published elsewhere in this number of Bahá’í News. The believers, and especially the local Assemblies and the Regional Committees, are requested to familiarize themselves with these instructions and explanations.
The Guardian of the Most Great Peace[edit]
Words of Shoghi Effendi
Much suffering will still be required ere the contending nations, creeds, classes and races of mankind are fused in the crucible of universal affliction, and are forged by the fires of a fierce ordeal into one organic commonwealth, one
Canadian Regional Summer Conference, August, 1941,
at Glen Lynden Farm, Rice Lake, Ontario.
vast, unified, and harmoniously
functioning system.
. . . The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is now visibly succeeding in demonstrating its claim and title to be regarded as a World Religion, destined to attain, in the fullness of time, the status of a world-embracing Commonwealth, which would be at once the instrument and the guardian of the Most Great Peace announced by its Author.
The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh has assimilated, by virtue of its creative, its regulative and ennobling energies, the varied races, nationalities, creeds and classes that have sought its shadow, and have pledged unswerving fealty to its cause. It has changed the hearts of its adherents, burned away their prejudices, stilled their passions, exalted their conceptions, ennobled their motives, coordinated their efforts, and transformed their outlook. While preserving their patriotism and safeguarding their lesser loyalties, it has made them lovers of mankind, and the determined upholders of its best and truest interests. . . Of such men and women it may be truly said that to them “every foreign land is a fatherland, and every fatherland a foreign land.” For their citizenship, it must be remembered, is in the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh.
Though loyal to their respective governments, though profoundly interested in anything that affects their security and welfare, though anxious to share in whatever promotes their best interests, the Faith with which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh stand identified is one which they believe God has raised high above the storms, the divisions, and controversies of the political arena. Their Faith they conceive to be essentially non-political, supra-national in character, rigidly non-partisan, and entirely dissociated from nationalistic ambitions, pursuits, and purposes. Such a Faith knows no division of class or of the party. It subordinates, without hesitation or equivocation, every particularistic interest, be it personal, regional, or national, to the paramount interests of humanity, firmly convinced that in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole and that no abiding benefit can be conferred upon the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are ignored or neglected.
These directing and regulating principles of Bahá’í belief the upholders of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh feel bound, as their Administrative Order expands and consolidates itself, to assert and vigilantly apply. The exigencies of a slowly crystallizing Faith impose upon them a duty which they cannot shirk, a responsibility they cannot evade. (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pages 193, 196, 197)
The Community of the Most Great
Name, the leaven that must leaven
the lump, the chosen remnant that
must survive the rolling up of the
old, discredited, tottering order, and
assist in the unfoldment of a new
one in its stead, is standing ready,
alert, clear-visioned, and resolute,
The American believers, standard
[Page 10]
bearers of this world-wide community
and torch-bearers of an as-yet
unborn civilization, have girt up
their loins, unfurled their banners
and stepped into the arena of service.
Their Plan has been formulated.
Their forces are mobilized. They
are steadfastly marching towards
their goal. The hosts of the Abhá
Kingdom are rushing forth, as
promised, to direct their steps and
reinforce their power. Through their
initial victories they have provided
the impulse that must now surge
and, with relentless force, sweep
over their sister-communities and
eventually overpower the entire
human race.
The generality of mankind, blind and enslaved, is wholly unaware of the healing power with which this community has been endowed, nor can it as yet suspect the role which this same community is destined to play in its redemption.
Fierce and manifold will be the assaults with which governments, races, classes and religions, jealous of its rising prestige and fearful of its consolidating strength, will seek in silence its voice and sap its foundations. Unmoved by the relative obscurity that surrounds it at the present time, and undaunted by the forces that will be arrayed against it in the future, this community. I cannot but feel confident, will, no matter how afflictive the agonies of a travailing age, pursue its destiny, undeflected in its course, undimmed in its serenity, unyielding in its resolve, unshaken in its convictions. (July 5, 1938)
“The Spiritual Potencies”[edit]
On December 21, 1939, the Guardian addressed a general communication to the believers throughout the West which the National Spiritual Assembly issued in the form of a pamphlet entitled “The Spiritual Potencies of That Consecrated Spot.”
This communication unveiled for us the profound mystery associated with the transfer of the sacred remains of the brother and mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Mount Carmel and their final interment “within the hallowed precincts of the Shrine of the Báb, and in the immediate neighborhood of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf.”
Bahá’í Temple Model on Display in Window of A.G. Hagopian, Mohemmedan Turkish
- Rug Dealer, Houston, Texas, in 1940. Exhibit Arranged by Mrs. Dwight Edson.
In view of Shoghi Effendi’s recent
cablegrams concerning Covenant-breakers
within the Holy Family,
the friends will find illumination in
contemplating the mighty blessings
released to the Faith through the
sacrifice of these great souls who
became the very symbol of obedience
to their Lord. Moreover, the
Guardian on December 26, 1939 cabled
that he “felt impelled (to) associate
America’s momentous Seven
Year enterprise (with) imperishable
memory (of) these two holy souls
who, next (to) Twin Founders (of)
Faith and (its) Perfect Exemplar,
tower, together with Greatest Holy
Leaf, above (the) entire concourse
(of) the faithful.”
“The Purest Branch, the martyred son, the companion, and amanuensis of Bahá’u’lláh, that pious and holy youth, who in the darkest days of Bahá’u’lláh’s incarceration in the barracks of ‘Akká entreated, on his death-bed, his Father to accept him as a ransom for those of His loved ones who yearned for, but were unable to attain, His presence, and the saintly mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, surnamed Navvab by Bahá’u’lláh, and the first recipient of the honored and familiar title of ‘the Most Exalted Lealf,’ separated in death above half a century, and forced to suffer the humiliation of an alien burial-ground, are now at long last reunited with the Greatest Holy Leaf with whom they had so abundantly shared the tribulations of one of the most distressing episodes of the Heoic Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.”
“ . . . The conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies of that consecrated Spot which, under the wings of the Báb’s overshadowing Sepulchre, and in the vicinity of the future Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, which will be reared on its flank, is destined to evolve into the focal center of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Bahá’u’lláh and anticipated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and which are to function in consonance with the principles that govern the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. Then, and then only, will this momentous prophecy which illuminates the concluding passages of the Tablet of Carmel be fulfilled: ‘Erelong will God sail His Ark upon thee (Carmel), and will manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.’”
Inter-America News[edit]
The Inter-America Committee is extremely gratified at the very kind response of the friends to its appeal for pioneers and interest in this very important work and wishes to thank those Assemblies and groups who have so kindly written the Committee. Financial assistance through the regular channels has been assured in some cases, but the Committee still needs more volunteers.
Radio Broadcast
On November 26 at six P.M. a Radio broadcast from San Francisco over KGEI carried the Bahá’í Message in Spanish over short-wave to the South and Central American Republics. Mrs. Amalia Ford was the speaker and we have just learned that the talk was picked up in Santiago, Chile, by our large group there where Mrs. Atwater has been doing such wonderful work, and that they were tremendously impressed to hear the name of Bahá’u’lláh vibrate over the ether. Although the broadcast was not very clear they are asking for others and we hope they will write to the Station and mention the reception of the talk.
Rio de Janeiro
News comes to us from Rio de Janeiro that Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Wood are now well located and are very happy in their new home. It is not the policy of this Committee to give addresses in the News Letters but we will gladly supply them on request.
Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile is arranging to carry on extension work in Valparaiso where already they have several contacts. Mrs. Atwater has declared her intention of remaining in Chile for some time and she has taken into her apartment a young lady of great accomplishments who speaks beautiful Spanish, and together they are working out a teaching plan for other cities. Word has just come of the acceptance of the Faith by Sra. Lucha Garrido de Padilla, who is the wife of the former Consul representing Chile at Los Angeles. Sra. Padilla will make her home in Antofagasta, Chile, and will try to establish a study class there, and so the Cause is spreading.
Lima, Peru
Miss Eve Nicklin has opened a Nursing School in Lima, Peru and at the first session there were fourteen children. It is hoped that this may develop into a Kindergarten but as yet Miss Nicklin is known only as a student and not yet a teacher. She is studying Spanish at the lovely old University and is about to take up her residence in a private home.
Honduras
John Eichenauer is still maintaining his reputation for energetic teaching work and is now in Honduras. He has ingratiated himself with the Press of Central America and sends us many clippings. Lately he has had the opportunity of introducing the Faith into Rosario which is an important mining town where many American families are living; Rosario is also in Honduras.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica still forges ahead. The Spiritual Assembly of San José has accepted the responsibility of introducing the Faith into Puntarenas and we have received several registration cards from that city as well as others from San José. The growth is truly remarkable.
Guatemala
Guatemala does not write us often, but recently we received a copy of a local magazine in which Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are printed in specially black type. We do not know to whom we are indebted for the courtesy of this complimentary copy.
Puerto Rico
We are happy to announce that four believers from New York have now taken up their residence in Puerto Rico, where they expect to remain and assist Miss Jones and Mme. Disdier in teaching. The four are Mrs. Ella Guthrie, her daughter, Mrs. Edith Marangella, her daughter’s son-in-law, Lucien McComb, Jr., and Mrs. Ayned McComb.
Ecuador
John Stearns writes of having secured a very comfortable apartment where he conducts his business and also has pleasant rooms for meetings and for the display of the Bahá’í books. His health is very good and he and the two young men, believers are working steadily in the teaching work.
Havana
Miss Josephine Kruka was delayed in leaving for Havana because of illness, but by now should be established there for the winter. She has made some new friends and we expect good news soon.
San Salvador
Recently a registration card came from San Salvador signed by Señorita Clara Luz Montalvo. We congratulate Clarence Iverson on this addition to the group and hope for more soon.
Translation
We understand that the Dispensation is now in the process of being reviewed and we hope soon to have this wonderful book to place at the disposal of the friends. The translation into Spanish was made in Buenos Aires and is due to the kindly offices of Philip Sprague.
San Domingo
Miss Lentz in San Domingo has been restricted in teaching the Cause on account of the location of her work in Sosua. However, recently the doors have opened and Margaret Lentz is now in the capital city, radiant at the opportunity for wider service which has come to her after her long sacrifice and difficult labor.
Panama
Our two lovely teachers in Panama, Mrs. Caswell and Mrs. Oliver, are now established in a new apartment with all conveniences and they are very happy and particularly so because they have a suitable place for meetings and classes. Mrs. Caswell asks if it would be possible to secure a Bahá’í rosary for someone who is very near to the acceptance of the Faith and uses the prayers and greatly desires a rosary. We are appealing in this way in case some of the friends may have one to contribute.
Mrs. Caswell urges that a member
of this committee or one of the N.S.A.
members make a trip to Central
America to visit all the Republics.[Page 12]
We hope that conditions will permit
such a visit.
Elisabeth Cheney
Miss Cheney writes from Lima, Ohio that rest and clean food are causing great improvement in her health and that after Christmas she will undergo some severe surgery which she hopes will completely restore her health. We ask the prayers of the friends for her as she is a very valued and important maidservant whose services we need badly.
Enrollment Cards
The Committee has issued new registration cards which are printed on very thin paper so that they may be sent by air mail. We have suggested that all Centers keep a book as registry which those who accept the Faith may sign. This book will constitute a valuable addition to the archives of each country, while the enrollment cards themselves may be sent to us for filing.
Information for Pioneers
The committee has been filing all information received in reply to our Questionnaire asking for all particulars about the physical conditions of each of the Latin-American Republics. A great deal of valuable information has been received which will enable us to provide abundant data about the various posts to which our pioneers will go.
In Inter-America Bulletin for July, we printed the Spanish translation of that potent statement made by Mrs. Axford in the Australia and New Zealand Quarterly which bears the heading “We Cannot Take Sides” which the Guardian had commended so highly. We sent the Guardian a copy of this Bulletin and he expresses his great approval and thanks us for the promptness with which we acted in this matter and the speed with which he received our Bulletin. The Bahá’í Inter-America Bulletin is sent to all pioneers and centers in Latin-America and carries news of the progress of the Faith and messages of encouragement to our beloved pioneers and with this issue of Bahá’í News we wish them a very happy and prosperous New Year with every blessing.
- NELLIE S. FRENCH,
- Corresponding Secretary
- NELLIE S. FRENCH,
Schedule of Meetings of National Assembly[edit]The friends are informed that the schedule of meetings adopted by the National Spiritual Assembly and announced in Bahá’í News of May, 1941, has been revised. The dates of February 21, 22 and 23, and of April 3, 4 and 5, 1942, have been rescinded, and in place of them a meeting will be held March 6, 7, 8 and 9. This revised schedule reflects the increasing need for concentration of effort on the most important things, and for administrative economy. The meeting date of April 29 is retained, and the Convention will be held April 30, and May 1, 2 and 3, in accordance with the original schedule. |
Reproductions of the Guardian’s Cabled Appeal[edit]
The friends are informed that the National Assembly is arranging for the distribution of a card-size reprint of the Guardian’s cablegram received December 13, 1941, to each believer. Distribution will be made in the same way as Bahá’í News, in bulk to Assemblies and groups for the local believers, and directly to the isolated list. Since this message calls for the reconsecration of every American Bahá’í, the National Assembly wants the friends to have a copy in a form suited to frequent reference.
IN MEMORIAM
Grant, O my Lord, that they who have ascended unto Thee mall repair unto Him. Who is the most exalted Companion, and abide beneath the shadow of the Tabernacle of Thy majesty and the Sanctuary of Thy glory.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
Mr. Frank Osborne, New York.
Miss Emma Claus, Springfield, Ill.
Mrs. Louise Talbott, Freeport, N. Y.
Mrs. Bessie McCauley, Danville, Ill.
Bahá’í Directory[edit]
Additions and Revisions to January 5, 1942
COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
Committee on Assembly Development: Louis G. Gregory, Secretary, 421 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass. (After May, address is Eliot, Maine.) Mrs. Amelia Collins, Mrs. Dorothy Baker.
This new Committee will assist in the development of Assemblies by arranging for personal visits by members of the Committee or by selected teachers, in order to take up with the Assembly the essential matters on which its services to the Cause and the growth of the community depends, and help outline teaching plans, etc.
COMMITTEE ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS
Green Acre Bahá’í School: Change of address, Miss Marjorie Wheeler, Secretary, 59 Davidson Street, Worcester, Mass.
Temple Program: New members added. Miss Sophie Loeding, Secretary, 4318 Greenview Avenue, Chicago, Ill., Mrs. Sarah Walrath, Mrs. Janet Lindstrom, Mrs. Clarence Ullrich unable to serve.
Regional Teaching Committee of California and Nevada: New member added, Mrs. Jessie Kemper, John Keith unable to serve.
ASSEMBLIES
Springfield, Ill. Change of address. Mrs. Gretchen Schultz, Secretary, 1628 So. 16th Street.
Detroit, Mich. Change of address. Mrs. Jessie B. Hall, Secretary, 2387 Woodstock Drive.
Rochester, New York. Change of address. Miss Christine McKay, Secretary, 1410 Highland Avenue.
Findlay, Ohio. Dissolved for lack of numbers.
Enrollments and Transfers[edit]
Chicago, seven. Jamestown, four. Minneapolis, four. New Haven, three. Miami, two. New York, two. Washington, two and one youth. Los Angeles, two. Richmond Highlands, two. Urbana, two. San Diego, two. Baltimore, two. Spokane, one. Vancouver, one. Phoenix, one. Milwaukee, one. Worcester, one.
Enrollments of isolated believers reported in December—eleven.
Bahá’í Calendar[edit]
Nineteen Day Feasts: Sovereignty, January 19; Dominion, February 7.
Period of the Fast: Nineteen days beginning March 2.
Meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly: See special announcement in this issue.
