The American Bahá’í/Volume 12/Issue 10/Text
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Construction under way at Louhelen Bahá’í School[edit]
Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, uses a ribbon-bedecked, chrome-plated shovel to break ground at the Louhelen Bahá’í School during a ceremony September 6 that was attended by about 400 people. Standing next to Mr. Mitchell is Auxiliary Board member Stephen Ader.
About 400 Bahá’ís were present September 6 at the Louhelen Bahá’í School near Davison, Michigan, as Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, using a chrome-plated shovel, turned the first earth marking the successful completion of the $1.8-million Louhelen fund-raising campaign and the start of construction at the school.
Five weeks earlier, when believers gathered at Louhelen to observe the school’s 50th anniversary, some $600,000 still was needed to meet the August 31 deadline for $1.25 million to begin the Louhelen reconstruction project.
THOSE FUNDS were received during August in the form of three large contributions and loans that totaled $600,000.
In addition, said David E. Smith, secretary of the National Education Committee, smaller contributions and loans totaling another $500,000 came in from all over the U.S., indicating a broad base of support by individuals and communities.
Any surplus funds and additional funds received, said Mr. Smith, will go to the Faizí Endowment for the operation and programming of the school.
The ground-breaking capped a year of intensive effort by the Bahá’ís in America to make the school a reality.
In the course of that year, architectural plans were prepared, construction permits were obtained, and the site was made ready, awaiting funding.
Meanwhile, a program was launched to sell promissory notes in 23 states to help raise the needed $1.8 million. Agents were appointed to inform the friends about the project and to sell the notes.
The sale of notes, together with other loans for the school, eventually amounted to 60 percent of the total amount raised.
The generosity of the friends has enabled the National Spiritual Assembly to proceed with construction of the school now, thus avoiding later inflationary building costs.
BECAUSE OF laws regulating the sale of promissory notes, a threshold amount of $1.25 million had to be raised by the end of August.
As late as June, only about $500,000 had been raised through contributions, loans, and the sale of promissory notes.
July and August, however, saw a flurry of activity by the believers on behalf of the project.
A progress report and creative ideas for helping to raise money for the school were shared at each Nineteen Day Feast in the Treasurer’s letter.
Special fund-raising events were held from coast to coast, and many individuals made sacrificial efforts to support the school.
Meanwhile, widespread interest in the project resulted in a tremendous outpouring of funds through loans and the purchase of promissory notes.
AS A RESULT, the threshold amount of $1.25 million was reached by mid-August. And by the end of that month, the overwhelming response of the believers had accounted for a grand total of $1.8 million!
About $800,000 of that money was received in direct contributions from communities and individuals.
Contributions are still coming in, and those who have not had the opportunity to participate may still do so.
Construction at Louhelen was scheduled to begin at the end of September and to be completed by the end of summer 1982.
Last spring, the Faizí Endowment was established to honor and continue the work of the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Abu’l-Qasim Faizí in the field of Bahá’í education. The first use of the Endowment will be to assist in the reconstruction of the Louhelen School.
Mr. Mitchell, addressing the friends at the ground-breaking, spoke of the significance of establishing the school, especially at this time, in view of the situation in Iran.
He also spoke of the great promise of the school, and of the positive impact it is bound to have on the growth and consolidation of the Faith in this country.
MR. MITCHELL, addressing the friends at the ground-breaking, spoke of the significance of establishing the school, especially at this time, in view of the situation in Iran.
The National Spiritual Assembly, said Mr. Mitchell, challenges the Bahá’ís in Michigan to launch a teaching campaign to bring forth around Louhelen a host of new believers to exploit the benefits of the school.
John Nash, chairman of the Louhelen Bahá’í School Committee, read letters of congratulations from the Green Acre and Bosch Bahá’í Schools.
Sam Clark, coordinator of the Louhelen reconstruction project, publicly thanked members of the Louhelen Project Committee, and offered his congratulations to the American Bahá’í community for successfully carrying out the fund-raising project.
Speakers and members of the audience then walked to the top of a hill overlooking the rolling farm land that is the location for new construction at Louhelen.
At the staked-out site of the new School Center building, Mr. Mitchell broke ground with a ribbon-bedecked shovel.
The friends may now be assured that the future of the Louhelen School will be great. The Guardian himself indicated that it would grow to be a seat of Bahá’í education.
Having initiated the latest step in the evolutionary development of this important institution, we might well ponder these words written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís gathered at Louhelen in September of 1943:
“(the friends) are too close to their task to correctly value it and realize how much hangs on its complete success, but in the future the fruits that will grow out of their present labors will astonish them.”
Rising deficit in Fund dampens Louhelen victory[edit]
The American Bahá’í community has gained yet another victory. In a few short months nearly $2 million was raised, assuring the building of a new school at Louhelen.
However, the National Bahá’í Fund is still in deep crisis. The deficit has grown and threatens to grow even larger.
IF THE LEVEL of contributions does not rise dramatically in the next few months, programs will have to be cut and many activities discontinued.
An uninformed observer might feel that too large a share of the national budget is devoted to administrative expenses. This is hardly the case.
When we speak of “administration” we include such functions as settlement of disputes, marriage counseling, supplying the community with free publications, and other indispensable services.
Much more important, however, is the fact that our deficit is the product not of decline but of growth, not of decreased activity but of an explosion of vitality and energy.
This year’s contributions are 26 percent higher than last year’s, but expenditures have increased at an even greater rate.
The Cause is emerging from obscurity, making it necessary for us to operate on a scale never attained before.
OUR SITUATION is like that of a growing business that has to borrow money to expand its productive capacity. Our deficit represents an investment in the future—it is a result of growth, of expansion, of strength and vitality.
There is no doubt that the American Bahá’í community will rise to the occasion and wipe out the
| What’s inside
HOMEFRONT pioneers are urgently needed in many U.S. goal areas. Page 4 THE DEFICIT in the National Bahá’í Fund nears the $750,000 mark. Page 5 A “NEW” National Youth Committee focuses its attention on the growth of its “Youth Network.” Page 7 U.S. BAHÁ’ÍS participate in several summer teaching projects. Page 8 THE ASSOCIATION for Bahá’í Studies undertakes an expansion program. Page 13 |
The Bahá’í communities of La Plata County and Durango, Colorado, built and entered this booth in the La Plata County Fair held August 12-16. The entire center panel of the booth, which was seen by hundreds of people at the Fair, was hand painted by a local Bahá’í. (Photo by Fritz Mann)
[Page 2]
VIEWPOINT
Editorial
Have we become too ‘Americanized’?[edit]
One rather peculiar aspect of the recent attacks against the Bahá’ís in Iran has been the lack of a strong and dramatic response on the part of the American Bahá’í community.
The only area in which a measurable response has been registered is in giving to the Fund. And yet the increased level of giving, which was one of last year’s signal victories, has not been sustained, as a glance at this year’s National Fund chart will show.
CERTAINLY THERE HAS BEEN no discernible increase in the number of enrollments, the most telling indicator of the health of a Bahá’í community.
To what can we attribute our muted response?
One observer of life in the United States has suggested that Americans have become “desensitized” to the suffering of others. The glut of cheap art, raucous music and a steady diet of violence and sex on television and in the movies has dulled the senses and inured us to the hardships of the oppressed.
Daily exposure to gossip magazines, pornography, muggings and murders as one’s source of “entertainment,” according to this point of view, cannot help but devalue life and deaden one’s spiritual sensitivities. Is it surprising, then, that one would lose his ability to feel acutely the pain of those who really are brutalized or murdered?
Have we American Bahá’ís become so “Americanized” that we have, like our fellow citizens, withdrawn into an illusive world of comfort and isolation in which spiritual realities are forsaken for the good life of material satisfaction?
IF THAT IS SO, our challenge clearly is to cast off the veil that has numbed the senses of our fellow Americans and to refine our sensitivities so that they can ring true to the joys and sorrows, the happiness and pain, that others experience.
As Bahá’ís, our distinction is to divorce ourselves from the callousness of the age and show forth that true compassion which must characterize those who belong to that “new race of men” Bahá’u’lláh is raising up throughout the world.
Participants in the August 13-16 Special Visit Program at the Bahá’í National Center, shown at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, are (front row left to right) Art Mebane, Norzora Mebane, Lorece Mebane, Lysa Parker, Jesse Parker, Ervan Parker, staff member David Rodriguez; second row (left to right) Sharon Dufka; Dr. Magdalene Carney, assistant secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly; Esther Farts; third row (left to right) Bruce Whitmore, secretary of the House of Worship Activities Committee; John Fails, Brenda Rickell; fourth row (left to right) Gerry Wilson, Ellen Knox, Soraya Jamshidi; fifth row (left to right) Eve Schertler, Loren Miller, Barbara Guthrie. The visitors came from California, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin. (Photo by Ken Jennerich)
Comment
Diversity in child-rearing needn’t harm Bahá’í unity[edit]
| This month’s article, “Diversity and Unity in Child-Rearing,” was written by Susan F. Theroux. Dr. Theroux, who holds a PhD in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, recently moved from New York state to the Denver, Colorado, area where she plans to teach kindergarten. |
“Consider the flowers of a garden. Though differing in kind, color, form and shape, yet inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addeth to their beauty ...In like manner, when divers shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest. Naught but the celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 42)
•
The promotion of unity with diversity is probably one of the most difficult things that any Bahá’í strives to do, whether at home, at work, or in the Bahá’í community.
We come together as Bahá’ís from a variety of backgrounds and lifestyles, all earnestly striving to put into practice the principles that we know will bring peace on earth and happiness to the human race.
YET EACH OF US has his or her own way of practicing Bahá’í principles. We place emphasis on different aspects of the Faith, especially in relation to our daily lives.
This diversity is especially apparent in the area of child-rearing. Bahá’í mothers have chosen a variety of solutions to the dilemma of whether or not, or for how long, they should stay at home full-time to care for their children.
The decisions that these women make are based usually on their careful consideration of several Bahá’í principles, especially the following:
1) The importance of education.
“ ...It is enjoined upon the father and mother, as a duty, to strive with all effort to train the daughter and the son, to nurse them from the breast of knowledge and to rear them in the bosom of sciences and arts. Should they neglect this matter, they shall be held responsible and worthy of reproach in the presence of the stern Lord.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith, p. 398)
2) All are to have a trade or profession.
“It is made incumbent on every one of you to engage in some one occupation, such as arts, trades and the like.” (Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í World Faith, p. 195)
3) The equality of men and women.
“Divine justice demands that the rights of both sexes should be equally respected since neither is superior to the other in the eyes of Heaven ...”
“Woman must endeavor then to attain greater perfection, to be man’s equal in every respect, to make progress in all in which she has been backward, so that man will be compelled to acknowledge her equality of capacity and attainment.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 162)
Women with young children have discovered a diversity of ways of implementing these principles in their lives.
Some stay home during the day to care for their children and go to work or to school at night. Some discontinue working for several years to care for their children. Others work part-time or full-time, arrange for the children to be cared for by their father, or by relatives, sitters or child care centers, and care for the children when they are home.
The number of possibilities is as large as the number of Bahá’í families.
No one disagrees with the statement that the mother must devote herself to the education of her children, but whether she should work outside the home during her children’s early years is a personal decision.
MANY WOMEN long to spend all their time with their children; they believe that they are the best educators for their children, and feel comfortable in that role.
Other women prefer to use their talents outside the home, and would feel thwarted without a career. They believe that this is how they can best contribute to the world, and see their destiny in terms of balancing motherhood and a career.
Our job as Bahá’ís, I believe, is not to try to convince one another that our personal solutions are correct (or even justifiable), but to learn to appreciate different lifestyles and to give others the freedom to solve common problems in a variety of ways.
Social scientists have verified the wisdom of promoting the mother’s freedom to choose.
In a study that compared mothers and children using full-time child care with those who stayed at home full-time, the happiness and well-being of the children was found to depend upon the attitude of the mother.
If the mother enjoyed working, her children tended to adjust well and to enjoy the child care situation. If the mothers did not enjoy their work, but felt they had to work, the children had more problems adjusting to child care.
The reverse also was true. If a mother stayed at home out of choice, her children tended to be happier and healthier than those whose mothers felt they should stay home, but would have preferred a job or career.
Differences in child rearing practices afford us an opportunity to learn from one another, and to complement one another. We cannot tolerate envy, on the one hand, or self-righteousness on the other.
We must keep in mind our common goals as Bahá’ís, and avoid dwelling on the actions (or lifestyles) of others—whether we believe them to be better or worse than our own. Only in this way can the oneness of mankind become the reality it should be in our lives today.
[Page 3]
LETTERS
Becoming a mother means growing spiritually[edit]
To the Editor:
| The American Bahá’í welcomes letters to the editor on any subject of general interest. Letters should be as brief as possible, and are subject to editing for length and style. Please address letters to The Editor, The American Bahá’í, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091. |
Amidst the push and shove for self-realization and self-fulfillment, especially among women, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the subject as it pertains to mothers.
Although I have no degrees or formal training, I do have two children and another on the way, so I think that should lend some credence to these thoughts.
RATHER THAN thinking of mothering as an accumulation of repetitive chores binding one to house and children, we could think of it as a unique opportunity for the very self-realization and self-fulfillment our society expects us to seek—but with a twist.
Before birth the development of the child in the womb causes one to develop new awarenesses. But from birth onward the potential for development is unlimited.
The opportunity for spiritual growth comes to a unique high point when we are challenged from moment to moment to be patient, understanding, selfless, moderate, wise, discerning, just.
More, however, than development of skills and spiritual qualities is the ever-increasing awareness of one’s dependence upon the Supreme Being for assistance to manage this tremendous task, to master the necessary, multifarious skills to incorporate into action the spiritual Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
All in all, I have found in the last seven years with my children more broadening and deepening than any previous or even imagined experience.
Perhaps in a new light—the light of opportunity to develop oneself according to the emphasis of the Bahá’í Teachings rather than the clamor of society—mothers will be more able to cope and to enjoy more fully the many demands, challenges and rewards of being a mother.
Citrus Heights, California
To the Editor:
In the August issue of The American Bahá’í there appeared a photo of the play “Soul Wars” that was presented by the National Treasurer’s Office at the Bahá’í Youth Conference in Kansas City.
Since I was unable to attend the conference, I have no idea as to what the play was about. What I am concerned about, however, is that evil is portrayed as “Dark Invader” while the character in the movie “Star Wars” was named “Darth Vader.”
The fact that I am a black Bahá’í youth made me wonder what the Treasurer’s Office is trying to get across. I feel that it is in poor taste to present a Bahá’í drama, which should show unity and a lack of prejudice, that represents “dark” (or in this society, black) as being evil and “white” as being good.
I write this hoping that my opinion does not offend anyone, but that it helps bring “the most challenging issue” to light.
Spartanburg, South Carolina
To the Editor:
The use of the term “non-Bahá’í” was mentioned in a letter to the editor (August 1981).
Some term must be used to refer to those who, for whatever reason, have yet to accept the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.
Should we refer to one who is not of our Faith by the expression “non-believer,” it might be understood to mean that that person does not believe in any facet of revealed religion.
A friendly term, one that could be used instead of “non-Bahá’í,” is “not-yet-Bahá’í,” or the even friendlier expression, “Bahá’í-in-waiting.”
Remember the old flour mill slogan, “Eventually—why not now”? In our Bahá’í endeavors, we should always rephrase that old commercial cliche to read, “Now!—Why eventually?”
Jersey City, New Jersey
Deaf Bahá’í chosen to participate in leadership programs[edit]
Vicki Jacobs, a Bahá’í from Reno, Nevada, who is deaf, was one of 15 people chosen from throughout the U.S. by the National Association of the Deaf and the National Academy of Gallaudet College to participate in August in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Deaf Leadership programs.
The second phase of the program, in which participants were trained to help guide deaf communities in becoming stronger and to promote legislation that would be in the interest of the deaf and handicapped, was held at Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C.
The ‘Dallas Bahá’í Singers’ made their debut August 1 during an Intercommunity Unity Feast held at the Bahá’í Center in Dallas. More than 200 Bahá’ís attended the event.
N. Hampshire Bahá’ís participate in children’s festival[edit]
The Bahá’í community of Dover, New Hampshire, participated June 20 in the first “Somersworth International Children’s Festival.”
An estimated 20,000 people attended the festival at which the Bahá’í booth and eight-foot kiosk, placed strategically opposite the main stage, were a focal point.
Gov. Hugh Gallen of New Hampshire and representatives from Canada, France and Spain were among those who attended the event.
Bahá’ís Randy Armstrong and Ken LaRoche, who together comprise the professional music group “Do’a,” were the featured artists at the festival.
They performed on more than three dozen instruments from around the world, and were able to mention some principles of the Faith.
Many people accepted pamphlets and inquired about the Faith; several attended firesides after the festival.
The festival proved to be an excellent kickoff for teaching and proclamation in Somersworth, which is Dover’s extension teaching goal.
Spectators crowd around the booth and kiosk sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Dover, New Hampshire, June 20 in the first ‘Somersworth International Children’s Festival.’ An estimated 20,000 people attended the event.
[Page 4]
TEACHING
Shown are many of the friends who attended the 1981 Montana Bahá’í Summer School held July 19-25 near Red Lodge. The teachers at this year’s school were Auxiliary Board member Opal Conner, and assistants to the Auxiliary Board Rouha Rose and Jamsheed Samandari.
Counsellor’s visit spurs Texas teaching campaigns[edit]
The visit to Texas this summer of Counsellor Hidayatu’lláh Aḥmadíyyih of Belize led to several successful teaching efforts in that state.
In Austin, more than 90 Bahá’ís including members of the Spiritual Assemblies of Austin, Travis County, Bexar County, San Antonio, San Marcos and College Station attended a meeting with the Counsellor.
THE FOLLOWING day some 55 people divided into 15 teams taught the Faith, with 25 of them remaining to teach that Sunday.
The immediate results included eight declarations and “many” interest cards.
One of the eight declarants apparently opened the locality of Del Valle, a goal of the Austin Assembly for the past two years.
In addition, five declarations were obtained in the developing Assembly area of Manor.
One believer, Trey Yancy, has arisen to become a homefront pioneer to Manor.
Bahá’ís from Portland, Corpus Christi, McAllen and San Antonio participated the weekend of August 22-23 in a teaching project initiated by the South Texas District Teaching Committee in conjunction with the Spiritual Assemblies of Portland and Corpus Christi.
Eight declarations were reported including six in the town of Odem. The other two were in Kingsville.
ALL OF THE declarants are Hispanic, and all apparently are bi-lingual.
Dr. Aḥmadíyyih, who supervised the weekend effort, counseled the teachers to ensure that those who did the initial teaching would do the follow-up as well.
According to the Writings, he said, it is the responsibility of the teacher to nurture each soul even after his or her declaration and enrollment.
A consolidation program is to be coordinated by the Assemblies involved. The town of Odem has been adopted as an extension goal by the Spiritual Assembly of Portland.
Extension teaching information needed[edit]
If your Assembly has adopted an extension teaching goal as called for by the Universal House of Justice and has not yet notified the National Teaching Committee, please do so.
As you know, the goal during this second phase of the Seven Year Plan is to “encourage the adoption and pursuit of extension teaching goals by all Local Spiritual Assemblies.”
We ask your Assembly to consult on adopting an extension goal with which to work through the next year. Once a goal has been chosen, please notify the National Teaching Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL.
Homefront pioneers are greatly needed in many goal areas[edit]
Are you able to become a homefront pioneer? What is homefront pioneering?
It is when a Bahá’í is able to move to a goal area. And what is a goal area?
IT MAY BE a locality that is not yet open to the Faith, one that is to form a Group, one that has a Group that must be brought to Assembly status, or one in which an Assembly is in jeopardy (that is, has less than nine members).
Homefront pioneering can be moving across the country or simply across town. If you live in a large community, say one with more than 15 adult Bahá’ís, perhaps you could move just outside that community to a nearby goal area.
Ask your Spiritual Assembly or District Teaching Committee where the goal areas are. There are many areas throughout the country that are in need of homefront pioneers.
The National Teaching Committee would like to encourage you to consider seriously relocating to help our beloved Faith right here at home.
In 1956, the beloved Guardian wrote a message to the friends that is as relevant today as when it was written: “If the Bahá’ís remaining ‘at home’ would arise with the same spirit of devotion and fervor as animates the pioneers, there is no question of the remarkable results that would be achieved.”
If you are interested in becoming a homefront pioneer and would like to receive information about a particular area of the country, please complete the form below and the National Teaching Committee will be able to place you in contact with people who are familiar with that area.
[Page 5]
THE FUNDS
About 40 Bahá’ís from seven communities attended a recent auction and spaghetti dinner for the benefit of the Louhelen Bahá’í School sponsored by the Bahá’ís of El Cerrito, California. The event raised $391 for the Louhelen School reconstruction fund.
Deficit[edit]
Continued From Page 1
deficit under a torrent of contributions.
There is also no doubt that deficits will recur in the future as we achieve new successes, scale new heights, and expand our activities at an ever-increasing rate.
Back of the National Fund stands the vigorous and dynamic Bahá’í community whose energies will assure the fulfillment of every plan and the success of every enterprise.
Above: Glenford E. Mitchell, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, addresses the friends at the Louhelen School groundbreaking ceremony September 6.
Below: Some of the 400 people who attended the ceremony enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the school near Davison, Michigan.
Shortage in Fund nears $750,000[edit]
The growing National Fund deficit was the object of much concerned consultation at the September meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly.
For eight consecutive months, the Fund has experienced a severe shortfall in contributions.
BY THE END of September, the deficit was approaching $750,000, or about 30 percent behind the mid-year budget goal.
In response to this urgent situation, the National Assembly is asking that each individual believer contribute directly to the National Fund every Bahá’í month, and has raised dramatically the goal for individual participation to 20,000.
The mechanical means to achieve this goal has been provided with the envelope packets that were distributed to the community last spring. Yet the spiritual means lies in recognition of our precious opportunity to serve the Cause.
In the days of the Dawn-breakers, no less than 20,000 believers gave their lives for the Faith. As the spiritual descendants of those heroic souls, we should easily have 20,000 individuals supporting the National Fund each month.
The beloved Guardian emphasized the importance of individual participation when he linked it to our love for the Faith.
A letter written on his behalf, dated September 25, 1934, stated that contributions to the National Fund constitute “a practical and effective way whereby every believer can test the measure and character of his faith, and to prove in deeds the intensity of his devotion and attachment to the Cause.”
By arising to the call of the National Spiritual Assembly to achieve this unprecedented level of steady participation, we can live up to our spiritual heritage and wipe out the deficit!
National Bahá’í
138 B.E.
| Individual Participation | |
| goal-20,000 individuals | |
| 2763 | |
| Contributions | |
| goal-$316,000 | WHEW! We just don’t have enough strength to win the goal each month without greater participation! |
| $218,000 | |
| received $1,776,024 | Annual Goal $6,000,000 |
| goal $2,528,000 | |
[Page 6]
TEACHING
‘Operation Befriend’ offers many chances for service[edit]
The friends have responded enthusiastically to “Operation Befriend,” the guidelines for service projects in your community that may make people aware of the Faith through your good deeds.
The National Teaching Committee has received comments, suggestions and reports about the project, and would like to share a few of them with you, as promised:
• ONE ASSEMBLY suggests that the project be accompanied by “General Love” and “Private Prayer,” followed by “Corporal Action”!
• Take advantage of the opportunity presented by having new neighbors. They can almost always use a hand when moving in, or need to borrow a telephone or tool or who-knows-what. They are strangers in the neighborhood and would be pleased to find a friend. Friendliness and neighborliness are becoming increasingly rare qualities, and this is where Bahá’ís can really stand out and shine!
• One community collected items (that completely filled a mid-sized car) to donate to an American Indian Center. The workers at the Center were grateful, and spoke highly of their past association with Bahá’ís.
The community gathered with a few other communities and held a party at a nursing home. A magician performed and songs were sung. When the Bahá’ís left, they gave each person at the home a basket of fruit and flowers. The director said some of the residents looked happier than they ever had before!
• Several communities got together and entertained the handicapped in their area. They presented a show and served refreshments at the children’s ward in a local hospital, visited the state hospital, and gave a show at the local autistic center.
Not only did these Bahá’ís help their neighbors, they also forged closer bonds with one another. Let’s work together on helping our fellow men so we can be an example when it comes to unifying the world.
• One individual has been involved with the Scouts, and although her son is no longer with them, she is! She also presented a book to one of her children’s teachers, and she is working with the local recycling center.
• One community felt it could help people within the Bahá’í community itself and adopted the goal of contacting one of the elderly, invalid people.
Community members visit him on a regular basis, read to him, bring him food and visit him when he is hospitalized. The children have helped to clean up his yard and have brought him flowers on several occasions.
Not only does he know he is a loved member of the community, it has impressed his family to see the devotion of the Bahá’ís.
Each of the people served knows he or she has been served by Bahá’ís and why—that the Bahá’ís genuinely care about their fellow human beings and want to be of service.
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said about the lovers of God: “ ...let them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being ... and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-kindness.”
The National Teaching Committee would be most happy to learn of the successes you have had in your community using the “Operation Befriend” guidelines. Please send stories (and photos, if possible) to the National Teaching Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
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On Saturday, May 30, the Bahá’ís of Citrus Heights, California, entered an exhibit in the Sunrise Mall Association’s annual Spring Non-Profit Organizations exhibition. The theme was ‘Did April Showers Bring May Flowers?’ Thousands participated in the event at the Citrus Heights Mall, the largest and most popular shopping mall in Northern California. The backdrop on the Bahá’í exhibit read, ‘As April showers bring May flowers, the Bahá’í Faith brings fresh life to mankind. All are the flowers of one garden.’ Here Dr. Johney Brooks (right), chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Citrus Heights, discusses a point with Charles Jenkins of Chico, California, while Belinda Tremper, treasurer of the Assembly, sets up a slide presentation.
Orlando, Florida, area to be site of December teaching campaign[edit]
Join the friends in Central Florida in December and plan to teach the Faith in sunny Orlando.
A multi-faceted teaching and consolidation campaign will actuate the process of entry by troops in that area.
Daily firesides, field work, and efforts to proclaim Human Rights Month will ensure the teaching of all strata of society.
Public officials, colleges and churches will be visited, and the effort will be reinforced by a full range of media activities.
Room and board will be provided and everyone is encouraged to participate.
Students should plan their holiday break to take part in this exciting campaign whose minimum goal is 300 new believers for the month of December.
Why not come for the Florida Winter School from November 25-29 and stay on for teaching?
For more details please contact Linda Grannis, corresponding secretary, Central Florida District Teaching Committee, ______, Maitland, FL 32751, or phone 305-644-0063.
[Page 7]
YOUTH NEWS
...A WONDERFUL SUMMER-FULL![edit]
The summer of ’81 will long be remembered as that “Wonderful Summer-full!”
Beginning with the “Trail of Light” teaching project in the Navajo-Hopi District, continuing with the Continental Youth Conference in Kansas City, and on through the various summer teaching projects, the youth were in the forefront of the teaching work this summer.
IN JUNE, youth were instrumental in the success of the Trail of Light project and provided many important services to the Bahá’ís involved in that teaching effort. Many youth from distant areas came to dedicate their time and talents to this important effort.
A caravan of Bahá’í youth from the San Francisco area made several stops on its way to Kansas City to teach the Faith. In Kansas City itself, 28 new believers entered the Cause and everyone went home with a deeper commitment to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
In July, the summer projects began in El Paso, Texas, where Bahá’ís of all ages participated in a two-week project along the Mexican border, resulting in 24 new Bahá’ís in Mexico and Texas.
In Northwest Washington state, 22 youth traveled for a week of proclamation and teaching, and nine new declarants were welcomed to the Faith, with two Indian Reservations opened and another expanded.
One of the projecteers went on to Hope, British Columbia, to help with its goals for a week, then to Fort Peck, Montana, to assist in an Indian pow-wow.
In St. Regis, New York, a team of youth stopped for a week to help consolidate the Native American Bahá’ís on the Mohawk Indian Reservation, and their labor of love had a profound effect on that community.
Youth also gathered at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute near Hemingway, South Carolina, to teach youth in that area. Several new believers were welcomed into the Faith, and several local Youth Clubs also were formed.
In August, the District Youth Committee for the Newport Beach, California, area sponsored a week-long effort to befriend Mexican and Southeast Asian families in its district. The result was 47 new families hearing about the Faith—families that are now receiving follow-up visits each weekend.
In South Florida, 30 new Bahá’ís were enrolled during a two-week project. One young girl announced during a New Believers’ Institute that her 15th birthday had just passed, and she promptly enrolled in the Faith!
Youth supported the Native American Institute held in Grand Portage, Minnesota, and throughout the summer the enrollments kept coming in Oklahoma where Bahá’í youth have been instrumental in bringing the Faith to hundreds of waiting souls.
In all, it has been a most successful summer, and best of all, we expect that this “Wonderful Summer-full” will last all year long!
These Southeast Asian children were among the 120 invited guests who attended a celebration May 24 of the Declaration of the Báb sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Orange, Texas. Also present were Bahá’ís from Beaumont, Galveston and Sulphur, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The children are those of a group of Southeast Asians who are attending an English class given by a local Bahá’í. As a result of its work with refugees, the Bahá’í community of Orange has received a certificate of appreciation from the Texas Department of Human Resources.
‘New’ Youth Committee focuses on growth of ‘Youth Network’[edit]
The National Youth Committee welcomed three new members at its most recent meeting held in August in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The newly appointed members are Nanette Graves of Bemidji, Minnesota; Albert Huerta of Los Angeles, California, and Tracey Jeter of Atlanta, Georgia.
OTHER MEMBERS of the committee are its secretary, Charles (Cap) Cornwell of Plantation, Florida; Chairman Walter Heinecke of Berkeley, California, and Dawn Haghighi of Rocky River, Ohio.
The focus of the August meeting was the growth of the “Bahá’í Youth Network” and the continued development and formation of Bahá’í College Clubs, local Youth Clubs, High School Clubs and District Youth Committees.
“The National Youth Committee decided to assign numerical goals for the formation of these clubs in each district,” said Mr. Heinecke.
“In areas where there are functioning District Youth Committees, these committees have been asked to help in forming a specific number of clubs, and in districts that presently do not have DYCs, the first goal priority is the establishment of a functioning District Youth Committee.”
District Youth Committees, each of which is sponsored by a Local Spiritual Assembly, serve to organize youth activities in a particular area.
Following is a list of those districts that presently do not have a functioning District Youth Committee:
Alabama, Southwest/Florida, Northwest; Arizona (all districts); California, Northern No. 2; Colorado, Western; Connecticut.
DELMARVA; Idaho, Southern; Illinois, Northern No. 1; Illinois, Southern; Louisiana (all districts); Massachusetts, Western.
Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada, Northern; New York, Northeastern; New York, Western.
South Carolina, Central; South Carolina, Eastern; South Carolina, Southern; South Carolina, Western; South Dakota.
Tennessee, Western; Texas, Central No. 2; Texas, Northern; Texas, Southern; Vermont; Virginia, Southern.
Washington, Southwest; West Virginia; Wisconsin/Michigan; Wyoming.
The National Youth Committee is ready and willing to help in forming District Youth Committees in any of these areas.
Spiritual Assemblies that are able to serve as local sponsors should contact the National Youth Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone the Fort Lauderdale office at 305-462-1919.
Information packet for High School Clubs is prepared[edit]
A packet of information for the formation of Bahá’í High School Clubs has been prepared by the National Youth Committee.
The packet includes a Club constitution, a suggested list of activities, and information about sponsorship.
“A High School Club can be formed either on or off campus,” says Albert Huerta, a member of the National Youth Committee.
“If a number of youth are attending a high school,” he says, “they might want to try to form an on-campus club. If so, they’ll need to get their Local Spiritual Assembly to sponsor the club and then obtain permission from the high school administrative authorities.”
On-campus clubs can hold functions at the school including proclamations, service projects, and other club-sponsored events.
“High School Clubs that are ‘off-campus’ serve as an informal club for the high school,” says Mr. Huerta. “They also are sponsored by a Local Spiritual Assembly, but meet off-campus and sponsor activities that are designed to attract seekers from the school.”
Each kind of club, he says, is an excellent tool for teaching the Faith to one’s peers.
To receive a High School Club Information Kit, simply request one from the National Youth Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
On Saturday, June 21, the Bahá’ís of the Greater Arlington, Tennessee, area were hosts for the first intercommunity Bahá’í unity picnic ever held in the Arlington area. About 21 Bahá’ís from Arlington, Memphis and Parsons joined three non-Bahá’ís for games, fellowship and a potluck barbecue.
Regional Conferences planned[edit]
The Regional Youth Conferences that will be held during the first year of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan are now being planned.
The National Youth Committee is in the process of securing sites for these conferences, and is happy to announce the following dates and locations:
DISNEY WORLD, Orlando, Florida—December 27-30, 1981.
Lake Murray State Park, Ardmore, Oklahoma, April 9-11, 1982.
Green Lake American Baptist Assembly, Green Lake, Wisconsin—April 9-11, 1982.
Another site to be secured for the western states will be announced in the November issue of The American Bahá’í.
Some changes of location and dates have had to be made, and the committee hopes you will note that the information listed here is the current listing.
Correction[edit]
The National Youth Committee apologizes for its error in stating that the Spiritual Assembly of Glendale, California, was to sponsor a session of the Youth Leadership Training Program in August at Asilomar.
That information was inaccurately reported on the Youth Page in the August issue of The American Bahá’í.
The National Youth Committee hopes to plan a session of the Youth Leadership Training Program in the near future, and will report this information as soon as it is available. In the meantime, the committee hopes its error did not inconvenience anyone.
[Page 8]
IGC: PIONEERING
World NEWS[edit]
Forty-four Italian marble craftsmen, five prominent Italian journalists, and a group of about 80 Bahá’ís from Italy flew to the World Centre in Haifa, Israel, June 11 for a special visit.
The guests were welcomed by the Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery and those members of the Universal House of Justice who have served on the Building Committee for the Seat of the House of Justice. The artisans are members of Industria dei Marmi Vicentini in Chiampo, Italy, which prepared the marble and granite columns for the Seat of the House of Justice ...
The new Bahá’í Center in the village of Nasau-Moce, Fiji Islands, was dedicated March 21-22, and that community’s Spiritual Assembly was one of two Assemblies incorporated the following month, fulfilling a goal of the Seven Year Plan in Fiji ...
The Faith received widespread publicity in Japan from February 28 to April 9 as a result of a visit from a traveling teacher from Hong Kong.
During her stay in Japan, Farideh Paymani, who is Persian, met with two governors, 28 mayors, 39 vice-governors and vice-mayors, nine heads of religions or temples, 33 high government officials of various ranks, and personnel at 65 television stations, 43 police stations, 40 educational departments, 30 newspapers and 15 libraries ...
Eleven adults and 12 youth attended a special institute February 11-18 in Villa Virginia, Panama, to receive training as teachers for Bahá’í tutorial schools and children’s classes.
The establishment of these schools, described as tutorial schools in the Seven Year Plan, is a goal for many National Spiritual Assemblies ...
André Brugiroux, a Bahá’í author and filmmaker from France, presented 11 showings of his film, “La terre n’est qu’un seul pays” (The earth is but one country) to a total of 1,720 people during a visit January 11-February 14 to Réunion, a French island situated east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean ...
The Spiritual Assembly of Kohima, Nagaland, was formed last March, fulfilling one of India’s goals of the Seven Year Plan.
Nagaland is an agricultural state in the extreme northeastern area of India along its border with Burma. Kohima, its capital, has a population of more than one-half million ...
U.S. believers lend spice to summer teaching projects[edit]
As summer drew to a close, the International Goals Committee received reports from several overseas teaching projects involving Bahá’ís from the U.S.
In the Leeward and Virgin Islands, a racially diverse group of nine young believers and a coordinator from the International Goals Committee office took part July 23-August 16 in a fast-paced teaching effort.
IN THE WINDWARD Islands, seven Bahá’ís from the U.S. participated in another summer teaching project.
Meanwhile, six Bahá’ís from the U.S. traveled to Belize to become part of an August teaching project there.
And in Norway, six projecteers from the U.S. taught the Faith in a number of towns.
The group in the Leeward and Virgin Islands was joined by a pioneer from the U.S. who now lives in Puerto Rico.
The projecteers also received considerable help from members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Leeward Islands and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Virgin Islands, from their respective National Teaching Committees, and from pioneers living in the islands.
Traveling in airplanes, in rented vehicles, and on foot, the projecteers stayed an average of two and one-half days each on St. Thomas, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, St. Johns and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, and on St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Montserrat and Antigua in the Leeward Islands.
Participants read prayers when they first arrived on each island, and when they arrived at each goal area.
VISITING new localities each day, they met residents on the streets and invited them to public meetings in the evenings. These programs included an explanation of the Faith, musical performances, and skits.
As the project developed it became clear to the coordinators that there were at least two major goals: first, to enroll youth in the Faith and to activate and inspire Bahá’í youth in the islands; and second, to help the development of the projecteers themselves, most of whom had had no prior international teaching experience and a minimum of direct teaching experience in the U.S.
A follow-up consolidation program had been previously planned by the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Leeward and Virgin Islands.
Although the projecteers faced the usual problems of lack of sleep and illness, at least half of them expressed a desire to remain in the islands as pioneers.
“It was the most important thing I’ve done in my life,” was the way that one of them summed up the experience upon returning to the U.S.
The Windward Islands teaching project was conceived “in a dream,” according to Stephanie Bloodworth, a pioneer from Canada.
She and Pat Paccassi, a pioneer from the U.S., turned the dream into reality by formulating a teaching project for St. Lucia.
ON THE LAST night of the project, Mrs. Paccassi announced to the friends at an island-wide conference that at least 500 people including adults, youth and children had embraced the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
Each day, one group of teachers would go out in a small pickup truck. Toward the end of the project, they reported, people would come out of their houses calling “Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í!”
The spiritual confirmations were abundant as the teachers found great receptivity to the Message among the island people.
In Belize, the 10 U.S. projecteers joined six local Bahá’ís, forming three teams to teach the Faith in Belmopan, Orange Walk, Corosal, San Jose Palmer, San Jose and San Esteban.
In three days of teaching, the three teams reported a total of 155 declarations.
On two occasions, when seekers were shown a chart depicting progressive revelation, they said they had dreamed that someone would show them the chart with Christ and the other Prophets.
SEVERAL teaching methods were used including direct teaching, radio programs, newspaper articles and presentations of filmstrips in English and Spanish.
There is now a great need for consolidation and deepening of the close to 4,000 believers in Belize, which is more than 3 percent of the country’s population.
Norway offered a greater challenge to the six projecteers from the U.S. who participated in that country’s summer campaign.
Plans for a mobile camper had been canceled, and there were other setbacks and disappointments. But it proved to be a valuable learning experience for everyone concerned.
These young Bahá’ís were among those who participated this summer in a teaching project in the Leeward and Virgin Islands. Morris Taylor, a coordinator from the International Goals Committee office, is second from left (partially hidden).
Project helps children become better speakers[edit]
“Encourage ye the school children, from their earliest years, to deliver speeches of high quality so that in their leisure time they will engage in giving cogent and effective talks, expressing themselves with clarity and eloquence.”—Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 134
•
Acting upon that advice from the Master, Mrs. Gayle Woolson, a member of the Bahá’í community of Evanston, Illinois, has begun a project to help children memorize short Bahá’í talks.
The project, carried out by telephone, involves children from four to eight years of age.
Mrs. Woolson calls the children with whom she is working frequently, giving them each time a few words of short Bahá’í speeches that include a number of quotations from the Writings.
Already, two of the children have given talks at the Bahá’í House of Worship, the Green Acre Bahá’í School and elsewhere, and have been invited to speak at a fireside.
The cooperation of the parents, says Mrs. Woolson, helping the children to practice their talks, is most important.
She feels that if willing Bahá’ís with no children of their own would take one or two children “under their wing” to teach them a Bahá’í talk, there soon would be a considerable number of eloquent speakers among the children, thus helping to develop their potential while advancing the Cause.
Mrs. Woolson, a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh who was a pioneer to Latin America for 29 years, has received a letter of commendation from the National Spiritual Assembly for her efforts with the children.
[Page 9]
EDUCATION
The Promised Day Is Come[edit]
A study session prepared by the National Education Committee
To the American Bahá’í Community
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
Following are the materials for the study session on The Promised Day Is Come that were to have been mailed directly to you for use in September. Because of the present weakened condition of the National Bahá’í Fund, it was decided not to incur the expense of printing and mailing these materials separately, but to include them instead in The American Bahá’í as a special insert.
Each local community will have to assess its own needs and resources in deciding how best to use this outline. The following steps should prove helpful in doing this:
1. SELECT A CHAIRPERSON who will host the meeting, set a comfortable place for the agenda, divide the friends into discussion groups, etc.
2. Select a discussion leader for every five to eight people expected. Discussion leaders must become familiar with both The Promised Day Is Come and the study outline in advance, since they will be responsible for leading the friends through these materials.
3. Choose a convenient time and appropriate place to hold the meeting(s).
4. Invite the friends to attend. Encourage them to read The Promised Day Is Come before the meeting, and, if possible, to bring a copy with them when they come.
5. Arrange for a chalkboard or poster paper and felt markers to be taken to the meeting for each discussion leader. These can be used to keep track of important points in the discussion.
You will notice that the study session is divided into six sections. For the convenience of the discussion leader, each part has a stated purpose, a prescribed method, and selected references for discussion. Each should take from 20 to 45 minutes to discuss, depending upon the depth of the discussion.
The sample agenda below shows one way the program might be implemented. You are of course welcome to alter this agenda for the convenience of your community. If you arrange for sections to be held on different days, be sure to ask your chairperson to review previous sections briefly before starting with new ones. This will help ensure a sense of continuity.
WHEN INVITING THE FRIENDS to your study session(s) please ask them to bring the following: a copy of The Promised Day Is Come, a copy of the Seven Year Plan, this insert from The American Bahá’í, paper for taking notes, and a dictionary for reference.
Please note that there are two editions of The Promised Day Is Come. The friends will find it most convenient to use the most current edition (published in 1980 by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust), since page numbers in the study outline will not correspond to the older edition.
This study session is the fourth in a continuing series of national study sessions called for by the National Spiritual Assembly in the Seven Year Plan. We fervently hope that the insights and inspiration that the friends are certain to derive from their study and discussion of The Promised Day Is Come will enable the entire American Bahá’í community to arise and overcome every challenge facing it.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
I. INTRODUCING THE PROMISED DAY IS COME
Purpose: To initiate a general discussion of The Promised Day Is Come, get an overview of the book, and identify its major themes.
Method: The discussion leader should give a brief introduction to the book, give an example of one of the major themes, and invite the friends to identify other themes and say why they are important. These should be listed on a chalkboard or a large piece of paper for everyone to see. As the discussion concludes, read the references below for additional themes that may be added to your list.
References: Pages 111-112 (summary of the points being made in The Promised Day Is Come).
- Pages 114-115 (the weakening of the pillars of religion).
II. THE TWIN PROCESSES
Purpose: To gain an understanding of the twin processes of punishment and preparation, and the dual phenomena of the death of the old order and the birth of the new one.
Method: The discussion leader should ask the group to read aloud and discuss the following passages. Have them discuss the nature of these processes and why they are occurring. As important points are made, list them for all to see. How can a conscious awareness of these twin processes help keep a positive perspective on the world?
References: “We are indeed living in an age which, if we could correctly appraise it, should be regarded as one which is witnessing a dual phenomenon. The first signalizes the death pangs of an order, effete and godless, that has stubbornly refused, despite the signs and portents of a century-old Revelation, to attune its processes to the precepts and ideals which that Heaven-sent Faith preferred it. The second proclaims the birth pangs of an Order, divine and redemptive, that will inevitably supplant the former, and within Whose administrative structure an embryonic civilization, incomparable and world-embracing, is imperceptibly maturing. The one is being rolled up, and is crashing in oppression, bloodshed, and ruin. The other opens up vistas of a justice, a unity, a peace, a culture, such as no age has ever seen. The former has spent its force, demonstrated its falsity and barrenness, lost irretrievably its opportunity, and is hurrying to its doom. The latter, virile and unconquerable, is plucking asunder its chains and is vindicating its title to be the one refuge within which a sore-tried humanity, purged from its dross, can attain its destiny.
“ ‘Soon,’ Bahá’u’lláh Himself has prophesied, ‘will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.’ ” (p. 17)
“This judgment of God, as viewed by those who have recognized Bahá’u’lláh His Mouthpiece and His greatest Messenger on earth, is both a retributory calamity and an act of holy and supreme discipline. It is at once a visitation from God and a cleansing process for all mankind. Its fires punish the perversity of the human race, and weld its component parts into one organic, indivisible, world-embracing community. Mankind, in these fateful years, which at once signalize the passing of the first century of the Bahá’í Era and proclaim the opening of a new one, is, as ordained by Him Who is both the Judge and Redeemer of the human race, being simultaneously called upon to give account of its past actions, and is being purged and prepared for its future mission. It can neither escape the responsibilities of the past, nor shirk those of the future. God, the Vigilant, the Just, the Loving, the All-Wise Ordainer, can, in this supreme Dispensation, neither allow the sins of an unregenerate humanity, whether of omission or of commission, to go unpunished, nor will He be willing to abandon His children to their fate, and refuse them that culminating and blissful stage in their long, their slow and painful evolution throughout the ages, which is at once their inalienable right and their true destiny.” (pp. 4-5)
“God, however, as has been pointed out in the very beginning of these pages, does not only punish the wrongdoings of His children. He chastises because He is just, and He chastens because He loves. Having chastened them, He cannot, in His great mercy, leave them to their fate. Indeed, by the very act of chastening them He prepares them for the mission for which He has created them. ‘My calamity is My providence,’ He, by the mouth of Bahá’u’lláh, has assured them, ‘outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy.” (pp. 115-16)
[Page 10]
EDUCATION
The Promised Day Is Come[edit]
A study session prepared by the National Education Committee
III. THE LETTERS TO THE KINGS AND RULERS
Purpose: To gain an appreciation for the significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s letters to the kings and rulers.
Method: The discussion leader should call attention to the fact that Shoghi Effendi quotes three times Bahá’u’lláh’s prophecy that “From two ranks of men power hath been seized: kings and ecclesiastics.” (pp. 20, 71, 74) Discuss the questions below in the light of this statement and record the major points for all to see. If you run out of time, encourage the friends to arrange their own follow-up sessions or to study the remainder of this section privately.
References: 1. Why did Bahá’u’lláh address His Messages to the kings and clergy? (See summary pp. 19-20)
- 2. What are some of the counsels and warnings He gave them? (See summary p. 45)
- 3. What were their reactions? (See summary p. 48)
- 4. How was their power seized and why? (See references below)
| Bahá’u’lláh’s Messages to | Reactions and Consequences | |
| all kings | 21-28 | 48-49 |
| Napoleon III (France) | 29-31 | 49-52 |
| Pope Pius IX | 31-33 | 52-55 |
| Czar Alexander (Russia) | 33-35 | 55-56 |
| Queen Victoria (England) | 35-36 | 65 |
| William I (Germany) | 36-37 | 56-58 |
| Francis Joseph (Austria) | 37 | 58-59 |
| Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Aziz (Turkey) | 37-40,60-62 | 60-65 |
| Nasiri’d-Din Shah (Persia) | 40-44, 65 | 65-70 |
| Muhammadan clergy | 78-84-90 | 90-97 |
| clergy in general | 78-84 | |
| Christian clergy | 100-103 | 103 |
CZAR ALEXANDER II OF RUSSIA
IV. GUIDANCE FOR TODAY
Purpose: To gain specific insights from The Promised Day Is Come that will help us to understand the turmoil of the present day.
Method: The discussion leader should ask the friends to identify the disruptive forces at work in the world today and list them on chalkboard or paper. How does the recognition of these forces help us function better as Bahá’ís? The following references may provide a helpful supplement to your discussion.
References: • acceleration of the process of deterioration (pp. 49, 75, 104)
- • the sources of the present world-afflicting ordeal (pp. 111-115)
- • the nature and effects of irreligion, nationalism, racialism, communism (pp. 111-115)
V. ASSURANCE FOR THE FUTURE
Purpose: To gain confidence and hope about the future from statements in The Promised Day Is Come.
Method: The discussion leader should ask the friends to identify and discuss the promises for a bright and glorious future that appear in The Promised Day Is Come. The following references should provide a helpful supplement to your discussion.
References: • the glorious future of mankind (pp. 116-121)
- • the emergence of Bahá’u’lláh’s new World Order (pp. 123-124)
VI. THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTION
Purpose: To take the fresh perspective from our study and discussion of The Promised Day Is Come and translate it into action that works toward the goals of the second phase of the Seven Year Plan.
Method: The discussion leader should have the friends read aloud the following passages and determine some of the implications for action for us as Bahá’ís. List these action items on your chalkboard for everyone to consider. The friends may wish to actively refer to the Seven Year Plan during this discussion.
References: “The powerful operations of this titanic upheaval are comprehensible to none except such as have recognized the claims of both Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb. Their followers know full well whence it comes, and what it will ultimately lead to. Though ignorant of how far it will reach, they clearly recognize its genesis, are aware of its direction, acknowledge its necessity, observe confidently its mysterious processes, ardently pray for the mitigation of its severity, intelligently labor to assuage its fury, and anticipate, with undimmed vision, the consummation of the fears and hopes it must necessarily engender.” (p. 4)
“Not ours, puny mortals that we are, to attempt at so critical a stage in the long and checkered history of mankind, to arrive at a precise and satisfactory understanding of the steps which must successively lead a bleeding humanity, wretchedly oblivious of its God, and careless of Bahá’u’lláh, from its calvary to its ultimate resurrection. Not ours, the living witnesses of the all-subduing potency of His Faith, to question, for a moment, and however dark the misery that enshrouds the world, the ability of Bahá’u’lláh to forge, with the hammer of His Will, and through the fire of tribulation, upon the anvil of this travailing age, and in the particular shape His mind has envisioned, these scattered and mutually destructive fragments into which a perverse world has fallen, into one single unit, solid and indivisible, able to execute His design for the children of men.
“Ours rather the duty, however confused the scene, however dismal the present outlook, however circumscribed the resources we dispose of, to labor serenely, confidently, and unremittingly to lend our share of assistance, in whichever way circumstances may enable us, to the operation of the forces which, as marshaled and directed by Bahá’u’lláh, are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory.” (p. 124)
“Now is the time when every follower of Bahá’u’lláh must cling fast to the Covenant of God, resist every temptation to become embroiled in the conflicts of the world, and remember that he is the holder of a precious trust, the Message of God which, alone, can banish injustice from the world and cure the ills afflicting the body and spirit of man. We are the bearers of the Word of God in this day and, however dark the immediate horizons, we must go forward rejoicing in the knowledge that the work we are privileged to perform is God’s work and will bring to birth a world whose splendor will outshine our brightest visions and surpass our highest hopes.” (The Universal House of Justice, Naw-Rúz 1980)
“Beloved friends, the world moves deeper into the heart of darkness as its old order is rolled up. Pursuing our objectives with confidence, optimism, and an unshakable resolve, we must never forget that our service is a spiritual one.
[Page 11]
EDUCATION
The Promised Day Is Come[edit]
A study session prepared by the National Education Committee
Mankind is dying for lack of true religion and this is what we have to offer to humanity. It is the love of God, manifest in the appearance of Bahá’u’lláh, which will feed the hungry souls of the world and eventually lead the people out of the present morass into the orderly, uplifting, and soul-inspiring task of establishing God’s Kingdom on earth.” (The Universal House of Justice, March 1981)
KAISER FRANCIS-JOSEPH OF AUSTRIA
Bahá’í Juan Garza (left) of Salinas, California, and David Kelly, a member of the Bosch Bahá’í School staff, put the finishing touches on a new 960-square-foot crafts building that was completed in mid-June at the school near Santa Cruz, California. The structure includes one large classroom, two restrooms, a storage area and kitchen-style clean-up area. The entrance, halls and restrooms are designed for use by the handicapped. Except for the dry-wall finish and carpet-tile installation, all labor on the building was done by volunteers. The funds came from contributions from the friends over the past three years.
New ‘Child’s Way’ magazine has Dawn-breakers as over-all theme[edit]
“Spiritual Descendants of the Dawn-breakers” is the theme of the November/December issue of Child’s Way magazine.
The cover illustration stars “Iyama,” the symbol for the Rhythm of Growth, the National Spiritual Assembly’s program for expansion and consolidation during the remaining years of the Seven Year Plan.
Iyama is the animated character who grows from one to five to nine, etc., in the film, which is available from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust.
The theme song, which begins “I am a tiny cell,” will be featured in the issue. Louise Taylor, illustrator of the movie, drew the cover and pictures to accompany the song, which was written by Susan Engle.
This issue of Child’s Way also will include stories about Nabil; Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Kazim; a poem, “Keepsakes,” by Roger White, and a special article with pictures of YOW (Youth for One World).
Notice[edit]
Assembly secretaries and Group correspondents—Please include your telephone numbers at home and at work on all correspondence sent to the Bahá’í National Center.
World goals filled[edit]
As of September 15, the U.S. Bahá’í community had filled 40 of the world pioneer goals for the second phase of the Seven Year Plan.
During 1981-82, the International Goals Committee is striving to fill 50 of the 279 world pioneer goals for the second phase of the Plan.
|
The Fund Is the National Bahá’í Fund |
| Goals filled by U.S. | |
| World goals | 40 |
| Non-goals, overfills and refills | 50 |
| Total | 90 |
[Page 12]
RACE UNITY
‘When the racial elements of the American nation unite in actual fellowship and accord, the lights of the oneness of humanity will shine ...’ (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 54)
Members of the Los Angeles Bahá’í basketball team include (standing left to right) Jerry Augborne, Oscar DeGruy, Glen Evans, Mark Andrews, and (kneeling left to right) Albert Huerta, Randy Haynes, Majid Nosrat. Not shown are Jackson Hockley, Jim Hockley, Joe Cortez and John Barnes.
In L.A., Bahá’í basketball team wins laurels, attracts many seekers[edit]
In Los Angeles, an enthusiastic group of people has joined together to proclaim the Faith through basketball.
The idea sprang from the success of the Los Angeles Bahá’í softball team, formed in 1979, which has played since then in three leagues—Los Angeles city, Culver City, and Beverly Hills city.
The Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles agreed to sponsor the basketball team, and Albert Huerta offered to assume the responsibility of organizing it.
The group began to practice two nights a week, and soon the team was accepted in the Beverly Hills city basketball league.
The team’s t-shirts carry the message “One Planet, One People ... Please,” and they are generally referred to by other players as “the planet people.”
At the end of its first season, the Bahá’í basketball team found itself in first place, a victory its members attribute to the team’s sense of unity.
They say the team plays hard, prays hard, and gives the glory to Bahá’u’lláh.
Bahá’ís who attend the games find that it’s a marvelous way to teach the Faith to non-Bahá’í spectators while supporting their own basketball team.
Emma Caroline Schiller, a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Lemon Grove, California, celebrated her 100th birthday September 6. Mrs. Schiller, a native of Grant, Wisconsin, knew Marguerite Sears and her father in Milwaukee and attended classes given by Ruth Moffett. She declared her belief in Bahá’u’lláh in October 1939. After moving to California, Mrs. Schiller served for six years on the Spiritual Assembly of San Diego. She has one son, three granddaughters, and eight greatgrandchildren, all of whom are Bahá’ís.
‘Gratitude’ in Master’s statement could easily refer to either race[edit]
Dear Friends:
It has been with more than casual interest that I have noticed the several letters in recent issues of The American Bahá’í regarding the Master’s statement about race relations.
In reading them, I have been amazed that no one has discerned that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said “from one” and “from the other,” without being more specific.
I SUBMIT that either of these phrases in the quote we are asked to consider could refer to the white or the black people.
We might well consider that while it is simple enough to see that expressions of gratitude and appreciation from blacks to whites extend to the benefits and privileges of western society made available to blacks, whites overlook the cause for their own gratitude. Here is an incomplete list as applicable to the American whites:
1. The arts. Most obviously, music. Africans brought enriching concepts in visual arts, literature and music to the white world that pervade every level of western society.
Too much of this unrecognized effort is underestimated. America has had black poets, artists, politicians, clergy, scientists, educators, and many more who have contributed, in the face of prejudice, to the raising up of American culture.
2. Productivity. This encompasses the centuries of slavery and non-slave work, drudgery in the majority of cases, to help build a country that is now a powerful and influential force.
3. Spirit. The black race has thrown its share of devotion and participation into many western causes.
Blacks have served in the world wars, taken part in the democratic process, in the cultural functions that make our society work.
THIS IS NOT to say that blacks are any more virtuous, on the whole, than are whites, but they have done their share to advance the American way of life.
4. Martyrdom for human dignity and equality. The oppressive American experience of Africans presents uncounted cases of struggle to teach, to exemplify to the white race the humanity of every human being through every sort of struggle, self-sacrifice, and martyrdom.
Blacks have offered much to remind us what freedom really is.
To this point, this letter may seem too American, offering too little in the light of a new World Order.
But every culture, every nation, every society has, I believe, some gift for the new Order by virtue of its diversity.
We know that America is the cradle of the Bahá’í Administrative Order. But America is a lot else besides.
Its personality would be vastly different, perhaps a little less experienced in the human condition, a little more shallow in its worldly outlook, and certainly less diverse within itself without the contributions and even the presence of blacks within its midst.
WE SEE little of this because of our cultural biases and because of the greater visibility of hatred and violence that is not confined to one side of the racial line or the other.
We often betray ourselves as a thankless society. In the hierarchy of the working world, the menial worker, the janitor, the paper boy, the chambermaid, the garbage man, and those in hundreds of “lower” occupations, regardless of their race, are seldom properly thanked.
In many kinds of hierarchies in our country, that thanklessness is reflected. We have become so used to it that we only barely understand it for what it really is.
Bozeman, Montana
The first Spiritual Assembly of Frederick County, Virginia, held its recognition ceremony May 31. Mrs. Robert Hunsaker of Marshall, West Virginia, representing the National Spiritual Assembly, is shown presenting the certificate of recognition to the Assembly. Its members are (back row left to right) Keith Burr, Sallie L. Ebert, Theresa P. Piurkowsky, Lee Allen Ebert Jr., John L. Piurkowsky, and (front row left to right) Robin A. Burr, Elizabeth R. Walsh, Joanne Holmaas, Patrick Walsh. The children are (left to right) Shabnam Burr, Jennifer Ebert, Maryam Ebert.
the Champion builders[edit]
AMELIA E. COLLINS
The Hand of the Cause of God Amelia Engelder Collins, an outstanding benefactress of the Faith, was born June 7, 1873, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Collins became a Bahá’í in 1919 and four years later made her first pilgrimage to Haifa, accompanied by her non-Bahá’í husband, Thomas H. Collins, a mining investor.
IN 1924 she was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. and Canada, and except for the years 1933-38, served as a member of that body until the Guardian called her to Haifa in 1951.
Thomas Collins died in 1937, and that same year Mrs. Collins made her second pilgrimage to Haifa where a closer bond was developed with the Guardian and his wife, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum.
After her husband’s death, Milly, as Mrs. Collins was affectionately called, sold their home in California and devoted her material and spiritual resources to the Faith.
Milly lived simply, allowing herself no luxuries, and even denying herself what many would consider necessities.
She rarely spoke of the many generous contributions she made to the Cause. The Guardian himself learned of some of them only through the minutes of the National Spiritual Assembly or reports from the National Treasurer.
Many of her services were known only to Shoghi Effendi and herself. Indeed, even she could not remember them all.
BUT THE GUARDIAN never forgot them, and in 1951 he named Mrs. Collins a Hand of the Cause of God. Four years later, he appointed her vice-president of the International Bahá’í Council and called her to Haifa to live.
During this period Mrs. Collins traveled extensively throughout
‘Bahá’í Studies’: Growing, vibrant presence[edit]
In 1975, the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, responding to a directive from the Universal House of Justice for the Five Year Plan, established the Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá’í Faith.
The major purpose of the Association was to carry out the mandate of the Supreme Body to “cultivate opportunities for formal presentations, courses and lectureships on the Bahá’í Faith in Canadian universities and other institutions of higher learning.”
THANKS TO the dedicated efforts of its executive committee and membership, the Association has moved ever closer to that goal, forming branches in each of the provinces of Canada, establishing and maintaining cordial and productive relations with institutions of higher learning in that country, providing them with lecturers upon request, publishing scholarly papers, and holding annual Conferences at which the best examples of Bahá’í scholarship are showcased.
The Association’s steady growth has resulted in some 800 to 1,000 members in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Now, with a change of name and even more ambitious programs in the works, it stands on the threshold of an even greater period of expansion.
To reflect its desire to reach out to Bahá’í scholars all over the world, the word “Canadian” has been dropped, with the approval of the Universal House of Justice. The new name is the Association for Bahá’í Studies.
Membership in the Association is open to all Bahá’ís. As a member, one is entitled to free registration at its annual meetings (the next one is to be held in September 1982 in Montreal, immediately before the International Conference in that city), and new volumes of the Association’s monograph, Bahá’í Studies, and bulletins.
More than 350 Bahá’ís and a number of guests from Asia, Canada, Europe and the U.S. were present May 29-June 3 at the sixth annual Conference of the Association, held in Ottawa, Ontario.
THAT CONFERENCE, and an International Conference on Marriage and the Family that followed, were blessed by the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum who spoke at both gatherings.
The Association also held two conferences in the U.S. this fall at which a number of scholars presented papers on various aspects of Bahá’í studies.
The first of these gatherings was held at the Green Acre Bahá’í School, the second at the Bosch Bahá’í School.
At its meeting in Ottawa, the Association announced the acquisition of a house on the campus of the University of Ottawa to serve as a Center for Bahá’í Studies and an administrative headquarters for the Association, which is governed by a nine-member executive committee appointed each year by the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada.
In addition to its annual Conference, the Association plans to hold several regional conferences each year, according to Glen Eyford, a member of the National Assembly and of the executive committee.
The Association’s main thrust, he says, is now “outward, to encompass and encourage the best scholarship the Bahá’í world has to offer.”
MEANWHILE, it continues to work toward its goals of cultivating relations with institutions of higher learning and expanding the opportunities for presenting the Faith at that level.
A Bahá’í textbook is being prepared, and a formal course of study on the Bahá’í Faith already has been established in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of British Columbia.
“But what the Association wants most of all at this time,” says Mr. Eyford, “is to reach out and enlist the support and collaboration of the most capable and enthusiastic scholars the Faith has to offer.”
Anyone who wishes more information may write to the Association at Box 2577, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P5W6, Canada.
Unity meet held in Washington[edit]
About 80 people from several Bahá’í communities attended a one-day conference entitled “Unity in Diversity: An Exploration of Persian and American Cultural Harmony” held April 25 in Bellevue, Washington.
The moderator for the event, sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Greater Bellevue, was Dr. William Conway, a Bahá’í who is a psychologist.
The purpose of the conference was to bring Persian and American Bahá’ís together to learn more about their two cultures, and to discuss ways in which they can cooperate more closely.
Discussion topics included marriage, family life, child rearing, religious heritage, customs and traditions, education, and community life.
Institute in Vermont[edit]
About 30 adults and a large number of children attended a recent teaching institute in Barre, Vermont.
The guest speakers were Dr. Farzam Arbáb, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for the Americas, and Auxiliary Board member Nat Rutstein.
Cause needs many workers[edit]
The second phase of the Seven Year Plan is under way, and individuals are needed to help in many areas.
If you find yourself in a position to relocate, please contact the Bahá’í National Center to consult about the most effective way for you to participate in winning the goals of the Plan.
International or homefront pioneering, working at the National Center or the World Centre are examples of ways in which one might serve the Cause.
Individuals giving prayerful consideration to serving in these ways should consult with their Local Spiritual Assembly for advice about their plans. For specific opportunities, please refer to the classified advertisements on Page 16.
One hundred-eight adults, youth and children participated July 9-12 in the Badasht Bahá’í Summer School near Ashland, Oregon, described by the school committee as one of the most inspirational in many years.
[Page 14]
PÁGINA HISPANA
El Cuerpo Continental de Consejeros para América[edit]
Del prólogo, de la Compilación Cuerpos Continentales de Consejeros, por la Asamblea Espiritual Nacional de los Bahá’ís de Estados Unidos.
Un año después de su elección en 1963 la Casa Universal de Justicia anunció al mundo Bahá’í que no había “ninguna manera de designar, o legislar para hacer posible designar Manos de la Causa de Dios” quienes de acuerdo a la Voluntad y Testamento de ‘Abdu’l-Bahá debían ser designadas por el Guardián de la Causa de Dios.
SOSTENIENDO la importancia distintiva de las funciones de protección y propagación asignadas en ese mismo Documento a estos oficiales de alta posición de la Fe, la Casa de Justicia adoptó el objetivo, anunciado como parte del Plan de Nueve Años (1964-1973) de desarrollar la institución de las Manos de la Causa “con vistas a la extensión en el futuro de sus funciones designadas de protección y propagación.”
El fruto de la prolongada consideración de este objetivo en consulta con el cuerpo de las Manos de la Causa fue la trascendental decisión anunciada el 21 de junio de 1968 de nombrar Cuerpos Continentales de Consejeros.
Diseñados a “operar en armonía con los principios que gobiernan el funcionamiento de la Institución de las Manos de la Causa de Dios,” los Cuerpos de Consejeros asumieron inmediatamente los deberes de “dirigir los Cuerpos Auxiliares en sus respectivas áreas, consultando y colaborando con las Asambleas Espirituales Nacionales, y manteniendo informados a las Manos de la Causa y a la Casa Universal de Justicia sobre las condiciones de la Causa en sus áreas.”
Al principio, once Cuerpos fueron nombrados; luego hubo un aumento a doce y eventualmente a trece. En el Día del Convenio (26 de Noviembre) 1980, doce años después de que la institución había llegado a existir, la Casa de Justicia activó su decisión de 1979 de establecer un término de cinco años para Consejeros Continentales.
Con el comienzo de un nuevo término vino el paso adicional de amalgamar las zonas de los trece Cuerpos de Consejeros en cinco—Africa, las Américas, Asia, Australasia, y Europa—así que ahora hay cinco Cuerpos, pero un número mucho más grande de Consejeros que los treinta y tres que fueron designados primero.
UN NOTABLE desarrollo durante los primeros doce años de los Consejeros que influyó profundamente la evolución de la institución fue el establecimiento en 1973 del Centro Internacional de Enseñanza anunciado en los escritos de Shoghi Effendi y el cual la Casa de Justicia introdujo a la comunidad mundial como destinado llegar a ser una de aquellas instituciones ordenadas por Bahá’u’lláh y anticipadas por ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, que “sacudiría” “abarcaría” y “dirigiría” al mundo.
Entre sus deberes el Centro Internacional de Enseñanza, cuyos miembros comprenden todas las Manos de la Causa y Consejeros específicos, “coordinaría, estimularía y dirigiría las actividades de los Cuerpos Continentales de Consejeros y actuaría como enlace entre ellos y la Casa Universal de Justicia.”
Aquí, entonces hubo un logro estupendo, una corona a los servicios de las Manos de la Causa, quienes estaban para “ayudar en lanzar y guiar los nuevos procedimientos” de la institución creada para “reforzar y suplementar el trabajo de las Manos de la Causa” y para extender este trabajo vital hacia el futuro.
Por segunda vez se reúnió en pleno el Cuerpo Continental de Consejeros para América, esta vez en Lincolnwood, Illinois.
Los dieciseis Consejeros Continentales llegaron desde sus respectivos puestos de servicio a la Fe en los diferentes países de América. Muchos de ellos viajaren por varios países que antes no habían tenido la oportunidad de visitar y compartieron con los creyentes de estos lugares.
ENTRE SUS actividades hubieron reuniones con las Asambleas Espirituales Nacionales de Estados Unidos, Canadá y Alaska. También se reunieron con el Sr. Victor de Araujo, representante de la Comunidad Mundial Bahá’í ante las Naciones Unidas, quien informó acerca de la situación en Irán.
El Sábado 8 de Agosto hubo una recepción para los Consejeros en el Auditorium de la Casa de Adoración en Wilmette, donde estuvieron presentes todos los Consejeros, además de los miembros de las Asambleas Espirituales Nacionales de Estados Unidos, Canadá y Alaska, y la amada Mano de la Causa de Dios, Sr. Zikrullah Khadem.
Se presentó también la oportunidad de grabar materiales de enseñanza y profundización dirigidos a los creyentes de habla hispana, por dos Consejeros de América del Sur, Sr. Athos Costas de Bolivia, y Sr. Raúl Pavón de Ecuador.
Manifestaron su gran deseo de poder compartir con los amigos en Estados Unidos, pero debido a razones de tiempo no se pudo hacer la visita. Estuvieron felices, sin embargo, de poder comunicarse a traves de estas cintas, que serán puestas en circulación lo más pronto posible por el Comité Regional de Enseñanza Hispana de la Región Central.
Los 16 miembros del Cuerpo Continental de Consejeros para América, juntos con 8 miembros de la Asamblea Espiritual Nacional de los Estados Unidos en Lincolnwood, Illinois.
PENSAMIENTO BAHÁ’Í
ES UNA REVISTA DE PROFUNDIZACIÓN PUBLICADA POR EL COMITÉ NACIONAL DE VIDA BAHÁ’Í DE ESPAÑA.
UNA PUBLICACIÓN BIMENSUAL DIRIGIDA A TODOS LOS BAHÁ’ÍS DE HABLA HISPANA, QUE CONTIENTE ARTICULOS Y TRABAJOS PARA EL ESTUDIO A FONDO DE LAS ENSEÑANZAS BAHÁ’ÍS.
DESEAMOS RECIBIR COLABORACIONES EN FORMA DE ARTICULOS, ESTUDIOS DE TEMAS BAHÁ’ÍS, ETC. DE NUESTROS QUERIDOS AMIGOS DE AMERICA.
LA SUSCRIPCIÓN ANUAL (6 NUMEROS) PARA AMERICA ES DE:
- 550 pesetas (Aprox. $U.S. 5.75) por correo ordinario
- 650 pesetas (Aprox. $U.S. 6.85) por correo aereo
POR FAVOR DIRIJAN SU CORRESPONDENCIA, TRABAJOS Y SUSCRIPCIONES A:
- Francisco Javier González
- Edificio Cayuco, 8-B
- PALMA NOVA, Mallorca
- BALEARIC ISLANDS, ESPAÑA
¡UNA SUSCRIPCION A PENSAMIENTO BAHÁ’Í ES UN BUEN OBSEQUIO!
Carmen de Burafato (left), a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for the Americas, lunches with Roland Maneiga (center), editor of Tampa’s Spanish-language newspaper, La Gaceta, and the paper’s Spanish news editor, Edmund Georgi, during the Counsellor’s visit June 19-23 to the three districts of Florida. The purpose of her visit was (1) to stimulate the Bahá’í teaching work in that area, and (2) to speak in Spanish at prearranged meetings with seekers in the three districts. Besides Tampa, the Counsellor’s itinerary included stops in Miami and Gainesville.
[Page 15]
PUBLICATIONS
New Kitáb-i-Iqán reprint a ‘sign of things to come’[edit]
The Kitáb-i-Iqán in new cloth and paper versions is a sign of things to come. With this reprint the Bahá’í Publishing Trust is introducing the first example of a new design for the works of Bahá’u’lláh.
Over the next few years, as they need to be reprinted, Prayers and Meditations, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh will all be done in the new design.
AS ALWAYS, the Publishing Trust has sought with this reprint to adhere to its mandate, which states, “ ...the Trust must provide the friends with the Sacred Texts and other designated materials as economically as is consistent with the beauty and dignity inherent in the Faith.”
We are confident that you will be struck by the beauty and dignity of this volume when you first see and feel the new Kitáb-i-Iqán cloth version. You may also think that the Trust has overspent on its design and production, when in reality many cost-cutting measures were employed.
In the past, the Trust found itself redesigning each volume as it was reprinted to make it as appealing as possible. This led to large amounts of money, not to mention time and effort, being spent on every reprint. It also produced volumes that looked quite different from each other.
The Trust has now decided to design one format for the works of each of the major Figures of the Faith. This will accomplish a number of things.
First, all of the volumes by the same Author will be the same size and will look alike (to form a set).
Second, time and money will be saved on composition and design.
Third, no dust covers will be done for any of these titles. Instead, the Trust has put all its time and talents into designing a cover that is attractive and that you will be proud to display without its dust cover.
THERE IS one more cost-cutting measure, and this may surprise you: the selection of the cover stock.
The binding is a new plastic-impregnated paper that looks like leather and is priced the way cloth used to be.
The selection of a less expensive cover would not significantly reduce the price of a book, but would look much cheaper.
The Publishing Trust hopes that you will continue to approve of its designs for books that, on the one hand, befit the dignity of the Faith, and on the other, sell well enough to support themselves so that the Trust can become fully self-supporting and not have to burden the National Fund.
Author Guy Murchie visits the friends in Los Angeles area[edit]
Guy Murchie, author of the book, The Seven Mysteries of Life, used its title as his theme during a visit July 8 to the Los Angeles Bahá’í Center, sharing wonderful bits of evidence for each of the mysteries described in the book.
The Seven Mysteries of Life, published in 1978 by Houghton-Mifflin and reprinted this spring in paperback, is available from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust.
Mr. Murchie has written two other books, Song of the Sky and Music of the Spheres.
A graduate of Harvard University, he worked during the 1930s as a feature writer for the Chicago Tribune and was a war correspondent for that paper during World War II.
In 1945 he founded an interracial summer camp for children, which he ran every summer for 11 years before moving to Spain, where he lived for about 10 years.
In 1967 Mr. Murchie returned to Marlborough, New Hampshire, where he now lives with his wife, Kathe.
Mr. and Mrs. Murchie were in Los Angeles as part of an extended tour they were making around the U.S.
Guy Murchie, author of The Seven Mysteries of Life, and his wife, Kathe, are shown during their visit July 8 to the Los Angeles Bahá’í Center.
George Ronald offers compendium of Bahá’í World Volumes I-XII[edit]
A Compendium of Volumes I-XII of The Bahá’í World, compiled by Roger White and approved by the Universal House of Justice, is available from George Ronald Books.
The Compendium brings together in one convenient volume the most important and historic articles and reports from the 12 volumes covering the development of the Faith over a 29-year period from 1925 to 1954.
Material recurring in each volume of The Bahá’í World has been excluded, and repetitive and less essential parts of reports and articles have been deleted through careful editing.
Also, significant excerpts from the teaching reports in various volumes have been combined to provide a concise presentation of the progress made in each country or area of the world.
The price of the sewn cloth edition of the Compendium (812 pages, 200 illustrations) is $28.50 less 10 percent discount. Cash is required with each order, but there is no charge for postage.
To order, send check or money order to George Ronald Books, Suite 100, 4144 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108.
30 declarations reported in Southern Florida campaign[edit]
Thirty declarations were reported in August as a result of an expansion/consolidation campaign in the Lake Okeechobee area of Southern Florida.
Among the highlights of the campaign, sponsored by the South Florida District Teaching Committee, were 15 firesides, four public meetings, 10 proclamations to local authorities, and more than 20 teaching trips involving new believers.
Consolidation activities included 20 prayer meetings, two picnics, three children’s classes, and two institutes for new believers.
More than 30 Haitians attended one of the institutes, while eight local residents attended a Spanish-language fireside.
The District Teaching Committee is continuing the work by publishing a “new believers’ newsletter” every 19 days.
Nearly 40 people were present May 9 at the sixth annual Women’s Award Luncheon sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Geneva, New York. The luncheon is held to pay tribute to two women who have made outstanding contributions to the community. Shown (left to right) are Mrs. Rhoda Brown, recipient; Mrs. Caroyl Nobile, chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Geneva; Mrs. Linda Gillette, the luncheon speaker and secretary of the District Teaching Committee of Western New York; Debra Woody and Laurie Woody, daughter and husband, respectively, of recipient Mrs. Lois Woody who died in November 1980.
[Page 16]
CLASSIFIEDS
CLASSIFIEDS[edit]
CLASSIFIED notices in The American Bahá’í are printed free of charge as a service to the Bahá’í community. Notices are limited to items relating to the Faith; no commercial or personal messages can be accepted for publication.
•
FOUND after the Bahá’í National Convention: 1) child’s red and blue windbreaker (name “Brian Casey” inside); 2) British publication of Bahá’í prayers (name “Stacey” inside); 3) black notebook, written in Persian (possibly from Canada); 4) tan booklet, written in Arabic; 5) Scribe spiral-bound notebook, possibly from Wisconsin; 6) pair of Gloria Vanderbilt glasses, red tinted frames in multi-colored needlepoint case; 7) black and blue pipe with “The Pipe” written on one side; 8) blue Penrick theme book with name “Sue Versteeg” on it; 9) silver earring (pierced); 10) children’s book; 11) yellow paper bag of postcards; 12) first aid bag; 13) ball point pen; 14) gold pendant; 15) pin; 16) gold pencil; 17) lady’s watch, gold with black band. Found after the Bahá’í Intercontinental Youth Conference: 1) Camera with handle and flash cube, plus film; 2) camera in black vinyl case; 3) notebook covered in red cloth and black string; 4) pair of contact lenses; 5) camera lens caps (3); 6) pair of prescription glasses in brown frame; 7) baby bonnet; 8) key ring, orange plastic; 9) man’s watch, gold; 10) man’s silver ring with stones (2); 11) nail clipper; 12) gold keys, one set and one single; 13) small gold chain and pendant; 14) silver pendant. To claim any of these items please contact the Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
WILLIAMSTON, North Carolina, a city of about 10,000 in the eastern part of the state, needs Bahá’ís to help with the teaching work. Williamston has two elementary schools, a junior high school, senior high school, technical high school and junior college. Anyone who is interested may write to Robert L. Barnes, ______, Williamston, NC 27892, or phone 919-792-1973.
WANTED: Personal recollections of early Bahá’ís, either taped or written. The National Bahá’í Archives Committee has begun an oral history project to collect personal reminiscences of Bahá’ís. Anyone who has copies of personal recollections or who can interview Bahá’ís is asked to write to the National Bahá’í Archives Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
THE BAHÁ’Í GROUP of Prineville, Oregon, needs to restore its Spiritual Assembly. A retired couple would love this beautiful city, nestled at a 2,868-foot elevation in lush summer greenness amid the rimrocks of Central Oregon. The climate is dry, with 9-11 inches of rainfall annually and about 300 days of sunshine. Lakes, streams, wide open spaces and majestic mountains invite tourism. Fishing, boating and cross-country skiing are enjoyed. Prineville has a 52-room community hospital, bus and taxi services, and Central Oregon Community College is 35 miles away in Bend. Lumber, agriculture and livestock are the major industries. For information, please contact Carolyn Wong, _____________, OR 97405.
AN ESTABLISHED dress factory with about 100 sewing machines is on sale for only $25,000 in Highland Park, New Jersey. The owner, who is retiring, would like to see his life-long effort continue, not disintegrate. Therefore, he is willing to help the buyer for three months without charge. And a local Bahá’í tailor will help with investment and labor. Highland Park is an extension teaching goal of the Spiritual Assembly of Piscataway, which will provide information about the area upon request. Please write to the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Piscataway, P.O. Box 326, Piscataway, NJ 08854, or phone the Assembly secretary at 201-932-1343.
PERSIAN Bahá’ís, family types—looking for work, educational opportunities, teaching challenges, fun in the sun? Come south to the lovely flower city of Augusta, Georgia, close to the area’s “empire city,” Atlanta. For more information, write to Bahá’í Faith, ______, Augusta, GA 30901, or phone 404-733-5308.
A TWO-YEAR Caribbean health manpower planning project has been launched by the National Council for International Health and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) secretariat. The project, designed to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of CARICOM’s health manpower planning capabilities, is funded by a grant from the Agency for International Development (AID). It is anticipated that a full-time health manpower unit within CARICOM will become a critical element in helping to meet the long-term health training needs in the Caribbean. There are many goals in the Caribbean area. For more information about this project, please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091.
NORTHERN Nevada has plenty of jobs, and needs Spanish-speaking Bahá’ís (of course, all Bahá’ís are welcome). Great community spirit, clean lakes and rivers, good fishing, excellent climate. Go west, young Bahá’í! Please contact the Spiritual Assembly of Reno, P.O. Box 6447, Reno, NV 89513.
FILMSTRIP projector needed! A new Assembly, formed at Riḍván, is eager to begin a real teaching effort. Our funds are meager, and we hope to find a 100- to 300-watt Filmstrip projector to aid in firesides, deepenings, and proclamation efforts. Please contact the Spiritual Assembly of Flagstaff East, ______, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, or phone 602-526-4539.
THE BAHA’Í National Center is presently accepting applications for a variety of positions. With the ever-increasing needs of the Seven Year Plan, it becomes even more imperative that mature, devoted individuals step forward and offer their services. Opportunities exist for switchboard support, secretaries and clerk-typists, experienced receptionists, and other clerical support. Skilled tradesmen and those in the financial and legal professions also are welcome to apply. For more information please contact the Office of Personnel Affairs, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
THE BAHÁ’Í community of Springfield, Illinois, is planning a ‘homecoming’ for November 7 as a part of its 50th anniversary celebration and would like to hear from all those who have been a part of that community over those 50 years. Your correspondence will help make this a true celebration. Please send cards or letters, with your current mailing address, to Marena Tunkin, ______, Springfield, IL 62704, by October 24 so that we can send you details of this special occasion.
NURSES: If you have a master’s degree in nursing you can qualify for a job at Morehead State University in Kentucky. One faculty position and one for a coordinator must be filled by the semester that begins in January 1982. Morehead, near Cave Run Lake in the Daniel Boone National Forest, is in a lovely, temperate region in the foothills of the Appalachians. For more information please contact Dean Rector, ______, KY 40351, or phone 606-784-4354.
NEW BAHÁ’Í pre-med student is looking for used Bahá’í materials: books, pamphlets, etc. Must be reasonable (or free). Am concerned about homefront pioneering next year and feel the need to quickly build a good Bahá’í library on a limited budget. If you have adult or children’s materials, please contact Sharon E. Elliott, ______, Colorado Springs, CO 80906, or phone (evenings) 303-635-2742.
LA GRANGE, Illinois, a small, active, racially diverse community about 15 miles southwest of Chicago, desperately needs homefront pioneers (especially a family). One family plans to pioneer overseas, leaving the Assembly with eight adults. There are several new Bahá’ís in the community. Schools are excellent; La Grange is only 30 minutes by train from the Chicago Loop, and one hour from the House of Worship. The newly formed “Bahá’í School of the Western Suburbs,” sponsored by the La Grange Assembly, is nearby. The school provides excellent deepening opportunities for adults, and a superb children’s program. Teaching is good here, and much groundwork has been laid and seeds planted. For more information please contact Leon Stevens, secretary, Spiritual Assembly of La Grange, P.O. Box 231, La Grange, IL 60525. Phone 312-579-5711 (evenings) or Julie Doris at 312-354-7018.
MAINTAIN Bahá’í Group status in lovely Galena, Illinois, at the border with Iowa and Wisconsin, a three and one-half hour drive from Wilmette. Scenic countryside surrounds a charming community ideal for raising a family. A historic home in town is being offered for sale with various options. Includes rental apartment plus pleasing antique-gift shop in separate building on premises. Greet tourists eight months of each year. Great potential for teaching! Write for details to Charlotte and John Solarz, Box 309, Galena, IL 61036.
JOB OPPORTUNITY for a Bahá’í with secretarial and bookkeeping experience to assist blind, isolated homefront pioneer in Salida, Colorado, who is starting a business services firm with profit-sharing in this rural mountain area. Applicants should type at least 80 wpm; word processing experience preferred. Salida is a town of 5,000 in the mountains about 100 miles southwest of Colorado Springs. Contact Colleen Francis, ______, Salida, CO 81201, or phone 303-539-2435, 303-539-2572, or 303-635-2742.
HELP a young family go pioneering. Buy a 50 percent share in a medium-sized printing business grossing $300,000 a year (the oldest business and largest printing business in town). Lovely, scenic recreational area, population about 20,000. Lake. Local college. Opportunity to move into one of several goal areas. Write to Janet and Jerry Schoendorf, ______, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814, or phone 208-667-6506.
HOMEFRONT pioneers are needed in South Dakota. There are goal areas in scenic small towns near places such as Craters of the Moon, Sun Valley and Yellowstone Park. Jobs are available in social work, psychology, forestry, lumbering, engineering, teaching, and health care. Let us know your needs; we’d love to welcome you to Idaho! Write to the Southern Idaho District Teaching Committee, c/o Seme Newlin, secretary, Massacre Rock State Park, American Falls, ID 83211, or phone 208-548-2677.
PLEASE COME and help a Group of five Bahá’ís in Nantucket, Massachusetts, form an Assembly by Riḍván 1982. For a female only, there is an apartment to share in town—no car needed. Good pay and job opportunities. For a male, the town needs a good highway engineer. Please contact Anna Hall, _________, MA 02554, or phone 617-228-2904 before 8 a.m., from 5:30 to 7 p.m., or after 11 p.m. (Eastern time).
WANTED: Bahá’í musicians to help form a rock-country band. Must be willing to become homefront pioneers in Central Missouri. Have drummer and organist, need piano player, lead guitar, bass, etc.; doubling on a second instrument would be helpful. Please contact Maureen Sidio, ______, Edgar Springs, MO 65462, or phone 314-435-6708.
THE FOURTH annual Winter Teaching Project in Southern New Mexico-West Texas will be held December 19 to January 3. Three years after the first project, more teaching than ever is being done in the area, with work progressing on goals on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. Spanish-speaking teachers are especially needed. If you’d like to find out what “teaching fever” is all about, plan to join this effort to win more victories for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Contact the District Teaching Committee of Southern New Mexico-West Texas, c/o Oscar Arrambide, secretary, Box 1255, Fabens, TX 79838, or phone 915-764-2743.
HOMEFRONT pioneers: Here’s a wonderful opportunity to help raise an Assembly in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a picturesque city of 50,000 on the Mississippi River with one university, a private college, technical institute, two hospitals, many recreational opportunities. Great for retired persons too. Please contact the Bahá’ís of La Crosse, c/o John Guyer, ______, La Crosse, WI 54601, or phone 608-788-4405.
MAURITIUS is the site of an International Bahá’í Summer School to be held December 21-27, 1981, at a government youth camp that has been placed at the disposal of the Bahá’ís free of charge. The camp, in the northern area of the island, has dormitories and all the other facilities necessary for a school. Beach hotels close to the site also are available. Those who are interested in attending this Summer School should contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
LORDSBURG, New Mexico, wants to form an active Spiritual Assembly, but needs at least five more Bahá’ís to achieve that goal. The Bahá’í-owned Orona Construction Company, P.O. Box 609, needs one construction supervisor and as many skilled carpenters, masons, stone workers,
Please See CLASSIFIEDS Page 19
Personal PROFILE[edit]
Name: Vinson D. Brown
Community: Happy Camp, California
Occupation: Writer/Publisher/Naturalist
Background: Vinson Brown, co-owner of Naturegraph Publishing Company, is the author of no less than 31 books whose subject matter ranges from nature studies and geology to biographies of individuals and Native American groups. Included are one novel, Black Treasure, and Warriors of the Rainbow, a book of Indian prophecy and its relation to the Bahá’í Faith which he co-authored with William Willoya, an Eskimo Bahá’í.
Mr. Brown also has written hundreds of articles, many of which are included in his syndicated nature column that appears weekly in papers throughout California. He has contributed short stories to several magazines, and recently completed 28 articles, totaling more than 50,000 words, for the Encyclopedia of the Indians of America, published by Scholarly Press in Michigan. Mr. Brown also has begun work on his largest book to date, A Field Guide to the Golden Sunbelt of the Southwest, which is to be published by Prentice-Hall.
His earliest training as a naturalist was gained as a field collector in natural history during three trips to the jungles of Panama and Costa Rica, first in 1930-31 and again in 1934-35. From 1935-41 he was owner-director of the Boy Naturalist Club, and after service in World War II he formed Naturegraph Publishing Company and began work as a free-lance writer.
As a Bahá’í, Mr. Brown has given several hundred talks in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Illinois, Texas and Connecticut, concentrating mainly on science and religion, world unity through world understanding, and American Indian prophecies and their relation to the Faith.
These children were part of the happy group of youngsters who attended a Bahá’í race unity conference June 20-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Counsellor Sarah M. Pereira’s presentation is well-received by Auxiliary Board member Robert Harris as she addresses a Bahá’í race unity conference held June 20-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Nearly 160 attend race unity conference in Cleveland[edit]
Nearly 160 people participated June 20-21 in a race unity conference sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Cleveland, Ohio.
The conference theme—“The Supreme Challenge: The Unity of Mankind”—was addressed by Counsellor Sarah M. Pereira, Auxiliary Board members Robert Harris and Javidukht Khadem, and Dr. Daryush Haghighi of Rocky River, Ohio, among others.
The conference was preceded Friday evening by a lawn party cosponsored by the Spiritual Assemblies of Cleveland and Shaker Heights. The party was attended by nearly 100 Bahá’ís and their guests.
Dr. Pereira was the speaker at a public meeting Saturday evening at the conference site, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Community College.
The Sunday morning session included presentations by the youth and children along with addresses by each of the speakers.
Committee chooses theme for 5 Youth Conferences[edit]
The theme for the Regional Youth Conferences is “The Bahá’í Faith Believes in YOUth.”
In addition, all youth who attend are being encouraged to participate in the “Each One...Bring One” program.
“ ‘Each One...Bring One’ is our way of saying that we hope every youth attending will bring along a friend,” says Dawn Haghighi, a member of the National Youth Committee. “If every Bahá’í coming to the Regional Youth Conferences would bring a friend who is interested in learning more about the Faith, imagine the increase in youth enrollments that could result!”
Each of the Regional Youth Conferences is being planned to maximize the participation of youth who attend.
Included on the programs are in-depth discussion groups, presentations by youth speakers, role-playing sessions, and social and recreational activities.
The sites chosen for the conferences are rustic and in natural settings, and in most cases the participants will be camping and involved in outdoor games and cook-outs.
Youth under the age of 15 are also being encouraged to attend.
Details on each of the upcoming conferences will appear in future issues of The American Bahá’í, as well as in the Youth Hotline, published monthly by the National Youth Committee.
|
YOUTH |
The |
Local Bahá’í Fund (local address). Supports teaching, consolidation and administrative work of a local Bahá’í community.
National Bahá’í Fund (Wilmette, IL 60091). Supports the efforts of the National Spiritual Assembly to direct, coordinate and stimulate Bahá’í activities throughout the country.
Continental Bahá’í Fund (418 Forest Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091). Enables the Continental Board of Counsellors and its Auxiliary Boards to perform their missions of protection and propagation of the Faith in the Americas.
Bahá’í International Fund (P.O. Box 155, Haifa, Israel 31-000). Enables the Universal House of Justice to assist the work of National Spiritual Assemblies around the world, to maintain and beautify the Holy Shrines at the World Centre, and to provide services to pilgrims.
More than 40 Bahá’ís and their guests participated June 28 in a Race Unity Day picnic sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Town of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Events included volleyball and live music along with refreshments and fellowship.
[Page 18]
PERSIAN PAGE
Collins[edit]
Continued From Page 13
Canada, the U.S. and South America. In 1949 she visited Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland, and in 1951 undertook a special mission on behalf of the Guardian to Turkey and Egypt.
Among her many contributions to the Faith were the Temple site and International Archives Building on Mount Carmel in Haifa. She also provided assistance for the purchase of many national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds and endowments on five continents.
In his last message to National Conventions, in 1957, the Guardian referred to Mrs. Collins’ “munificent donation” toward the construction of the Mother Temples of Europe, Africa and Australia.
Shoghi Effendi named the beautiful “Collins gate” leading to the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh in honor of Milly, who had ordered its construction.
In the U.S. she deputized believers to teach the Faith to the Omaha Indians in Macy, Nebraska, often visiting the group herself. In 1948 the first Native American Local Spiritual Assembly in the Americas was formed there.
AS A RESULT of a trip she made to Iceland, Mrs. Collins was responsible for the publication of the first Bahá’í literature in the Icelandic language.
She represented the Guardian at the cornerstone ceremony for the House of Worship near Frankfurt, Germany, and at the Intercontinental Conference there in 1958. In 1953 she had accompanied Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum to the All-America Bahá’í Conference in Chicago.
Service for Blind
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- • Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh
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For a printed catalog write:
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It was in the arms of Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum that Milly passed away on January 1, 1962, at the age of 88.
Many years earlier the Guardian had written to her: “Your constancy in service and your single-minded and wholehearted devotion to the manifold interests of our beloved Cause are truly an example and an inspiration that will live and influence many a soul ...”
Mrs. Collins is buried in the Bahá’í cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel in Haifa.
THE BAHÁ’Í HOME
For the Aged
Accommodates people of all religions
- There are no entrance or foundation fees
- No lifelong commitment is required
- The atmosphere is designed to make you feel completely at home
- Located in a charming residential area for 22 years
- A variety of transportation available
- Near shopping area
- Well-planned social and cultural programs
- 24-hour supervision and personal care
- Supervision of medications
- Three home-cooked meals a day plus snack periods
- Maid and linen service
- Laundry service included
- Unique design affords single floor construction
- All rooms are private
No medical care, treatment or medications are provided. Each guest must have his own personal physician located in this area. Each guest must be able to take care of his or her personal affairs or have a relative or conservator in this area assume the task.
Feel free to visit the Home any day of the year. Please write or phone ahead if you prefer an appointment with the administrator. If desired, forward any questions to the Bahá’í Home. Rates are $950, $1,000 or $1,050 per month depending on the room size.
The Bahá’í Home Inc., 401 Greenleaf Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. Phone 312-251-7000.
Please call weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
(Central Standard Time)
Bahá’ís hold their banners aloft while ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words about unity are read during the ‘Festival of Faiths’ held May 17 in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Bahá’ís participate in ‘Festival of Faiths’[edit]
More than 1,500 people were exposed to the Bahá’í concept of unity during a “Festival of Faiths” held May 17 at the Wilshire Boulevard Jewish Temple in Los Angeles.
The Festival was sponsored by the Interreligious Council of Southern California as a part of the bicentennial celebration of the City of Los Angeles.
THE THEME of the Festival was “Los Angeles: One City Illumined by Many Faiths.”
During the program, each of the seven major religions represented was given 10 minutes for a presentation of its teachings as they relate to light.
In the introduction to the Bahá’í presentation, it was explained that “bahá” is an Arabic word that means “light” or “glory,” that Bahá’u’lláh is a title that means the Light, or Glory, of God, and that Bahá’ís are “followers of the Light.”
Afterward, 20 Bahá’ís of widely diverse ages, racial and cultural backgrounds walked on stage to symbolize the way in which the light of the Bahá’í Faith is offered to everyone.
The Bahá’í presentation was read by Judge James Nelson, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, and Mrs. Adellafoy Jennings, with translation into American sign language by Keith Anderson.
Music for the presentation was provided by pianist Peggy Caton and flutist Gerry Ludwin.
The first part dealt with progressive revelation. Selected Bahá’í writings were read, after which nine Bahá’í children, each holding an electric candle, illuminated the candles in turn as the names of nine Prophets of God were read.
THE CHILDREN then stood with their candles lit while selected writings about unity were read.
Seven adult Bahá’ís held large white banners during these readings. Then, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s “Seven Candles of Unity” was read, the banners were turned one at a time to reveal the words, “Unity of Nations,” “Unity of Races,” and so on, printed in white against brightly colored backgrounds.
At the end, the banners formed the colors of the rainbow, and the final passage read ended with the words, “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illumine the whole earth.”
Each of the religions represented at the Festival had tables with information about themselves. The Bahá’í table had brochures in five languages, and a self-repeating slide program shown on a television-sized screen.
In May, Bahá’í women from Los Angeles participated in a one-day conference, “The Ache of the 80s: Faith or Fear,” sponsored by the Women’s Interfaith Committee of Los Angeles.
One of the two speakers on the program was a Bahá’í—Dr. Homa Mahmoudi, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles.
About 150 women of various faiths attended the conference.
Classifieds[edit]
Continued From Page 16
plasterers, etc., as it can get. If you are skilled at any of these jobs, come to Lordsburg for full-time work in teaching the Faith, forming an Assembly, and construction. Write to Antionette Isaac, 609 Shakespeare St., Lordsburg, NM 88045, or phone 505-542-9149.
ONE BAHÁ’Í who reads German fluently is needed to help a Bahá’í historian for six to nine months in Vienna, Austria. Live with a family of three, with room and board and pocket money provided. Sole responsibility is research. Opportunity for an individual who wishes to pioneer to Europe: time to look for a residence, job, school. If interested, please contact the International Goals Committee, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, or phone 312-869-9039.
In Memoriam[edit]
- Victoria Alberts
- St. Michaels, N.D.
- July 11, 1981
- Jean Bruce
- Feasterville, Pa.
- July 29, 1981
- Freeman Daniels
- Wauchula, Florida
- May 16, 1981
- J. Murdoch Eaton
- Grand Rapids, Mich.
- June 18, 1981
- Edith L. Garred
- Salem, Oregon
- June 12, 1981
- Ethel V. Garrison
- Paraguay
- July 2, 1981
- George Gedko
- Madison, Wis.
- January 20, 1979
- Mose McCaster
- N. Chicago, Ill.
- Spring 1981
- Ann Post
- Loveland, Colo.
- July 9, 1981
- Clifford E. Randles
- Elsinor, Utah
- July 18, 1981
- Stanford B. Shure
- Westbury, N.Y.
- July 3, 1981
- Charlie Weathers
- Opelika, Alabama
- 1974
- Charlie H. Young
- Spartanburg, S.C.
- December 19, 1980
Ten years ago...[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly announces plans for special institutes and commemorative gatherings at the House of Worship in Wilmette and at the Green Acre, Geyserville and Davison Bahá’í schools to mark the 50th anniversary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The National Spiritual Assembly’s action is in response to a call from the Universal House of Justice to all National Assemblies asking that special plans be made for the weekend of November 26-28 that will include the Day of the Covenant and the anniversary of the Ascension of the Master.
Local communities unable to take advantage of any of the special programs being planned at the House of Worship or the permanent Bahá’í schools are urged to plan their own local activities ...
Participation by 30 American Bahá’í youth in a summer teaching project in Switzerland prompts the following message from the National Spiritual Assembly of Switzerland: “ ...the total number of declarations registered in Switzerland since the beginning of May 1971 exceeds 250 ... Please convey to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, as well as to those Local Spiritual Assemblies and believers who deputized participants in the project, the expression of our deep gratitude. Let them know that the entry by troops has now started in Europe.” ...
The Continental Board of Counsellors announces a deepening conference to be held November 26-28 at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas ...
The ninth annual Neah Bay Council Fire is held on the Makah Indian Reservation in Washington state in conjunction with a direct teaching campaign named “Project 70 and 2.”
Fourteen people declare their belief in Bahá’u’lláh during the teaching effort, with several more declarations afterward ...
The Bahá’í Publishing Trust announces the availability of Memorials of the Faithful, a new compendium of the Master’s remembrances of 79 early believers, most of whom followed Bahá’u’lláh into prison and exile ...
Using the team name “Jamal,” a group of four Bahá’í youth—Joseph Zambrano of Texas and Diane Johnson, Mark Reddy and Barry Stewart of Colorado—conduct a teaching trip to the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado ...
Linda Kelleher, a member of the Bahá’í community of Greensboro, North Carolina, was named ‘Volunteer of the Year’ May 16 at the Guilford Native American Association’s fifth annual awards banquet. Mrs. Kelleher, an art education graduate and mother of three children, directs a preschool program for 4-6 children (plus a daughter and niece) for the GNAA.
Longing for unity draws 100 to ‘Rainbow Festival’[edit]
One hundred people from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds attended a “Rainbow Festival” July 25 at Lehigh University that was sponsored by the Bahá’ís of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
The festival, a celebration of interracial and cross-cultural unity, included the presentation of awards to four people (non-Bahá’ís) who have helped foster harmony and understanding in education.
The top award was given to Joann Spencer, a resident of Allentown and faculty member at Kutztown College.
Festival speakers included a Hindu; a representative of the Council of Spanish-Speaking Organizations; and Robin Chandler, Afro-American Master in the Artist-in-Residency program at Northeastern University, Boston.
Music was provided by Bahá’í composer/musicians Larry and Leona Hosack of New Canaan, Connecticut.
The committee that planned the Bahá’í ‘Rainbow Festival’ held July 25 at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania included (left to right) Bridget George, Ginny Mair Hairy, Roseann Bowerman and Marie Procter.
For the sixth year in a row the Spiritual Assembly of Jersey City, New Jersey, was an exhibitor in the ‘City Spirit Cultural Arts Festival.’ The 1981 event was held indoors at the renovated Jersey Central Railroad Station, now a part of Liberty State Park, on Sunday, June 14. The state Planning Commission estimates that about 15,000 people saw the various exhibits at the festival.
The Bahá’ís of Webster Groves and Rock Hill, Missouri, recently presented a check for $558.48 to Richard Lehman (right), director of the Edgewood Children’s Center, in appreciation for the use of the center’s facilities for weekly Bahá’í classes for children and youth. The check represented the proceeds from a benefit performance of ‘Planet One,’ an original musical fantasy written and directed by Julie Johans (left), a local Bahá’í. Presenting the check on behalf of the Bahá’í communities was L. Naomi McCord (center). The Edgewood Children’s Center facilities have been available to the Bahá’ís, at no charge, during the last several years for special programs and since last fall for weekly classes.