U.S. Supplement/Issue 104/Text

Universal House of Justice Acknowledges Letter from Youth Members at the

Green Acre Training Session

The Universal House of Justice on August 16 acknowledged through the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States receipt of “a very heart warming letter” from the Bahá’í youth who attended the Green Acre Training Session in July. The letter from the youth, accompanied by a taped recording of one of the youth songfests, thanked the Universal House of Justice for its message to the Bahá’í youth of the world and stated: “The spirit and enthusiasm here has been kindled by the realization of the tremendous opportunities that are open to us. With the challenge of the New World Order in our midst, and the guidance given by you we are sure to win many victories on the path to becoming the Spiritual Descendants of the Dawn Breakers.”

In its acknowledgment the Universal House of Justice said: “We have listened to the tape and we are heartened by the spirit which animates these youthful followers of Bahá’u’lláh. Please convey to them our greetings, our grateful appreciation and assurance of prayers for continued success in their efforts.”

Pilgrims Touring the Holy Land

For the information of pilgrims who plan to tour the Holy Land while in that part of the world, the following instructions were issued by the Universal House of Justice in March, 1964 and should be carefully observed.

Believers are perfectly free to tour in the Holy Land, but they must first make the pilgrimage which extends over nine nights, and must then leave the World Center. They may remain in Israel a total of nineteen days and during the remaining ten days they may tour wherever they like outside the area of the Twin Cities, Haifa and ‘Akká.

Those friends who plan to enter Jordan through the Mandelbaum Gate would do well to check very thoroughly with their travel agents as they may experience some difficulty entering Jordan due to the political situation. There is no objection to their visiting Africa and other places but they should not visit Beirut or iran without prior permission secured through the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States.

Will all persons scheduled to make the pilgrimage to the World Center please inform the National Spiritual Assembly of their date of departure.

CORRECTION

The list of territories and responsibilities of Auxiliary Board members as given in Bahá’í News insert, August, 1966 omitted mention of Nebraska, North and South Dakota. These States should be added to those allocated to Beth McKenty.

Birthday of Bahá’u’lláh November I2, 1966

A Special Event for Proclaiming the Bahá’í Faith to the Public

Theme: Bahá’u’lláh Emancipator of Men’s Minds Suggested Materials: News and Radio Releases. Bahá’í Teachings for a World Faith; Basic Facts; Bahá’í Answers, from Bahá’í Publishing Trust. Reports: Good photographs and reports of outstanding meetings should be sent at once to the Public Information Department, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091.

Subscribe Now to World Order

The first issue of the new World Order magazine is being mailed to subscribers this month. As this handsome new journal is received and read there will undoubtedly be a spurt of new subscriptions bringing the present number of 1,100 closer to the goal of 1,900 — the number needed to enable the publication to break even financially. A surprisingly large proportion of these prepublication subscriptions have come from abroad. The American Bahá’í Community will certainly wish to avail itself of the opportunity to give subscriptions to friends, place the magazine in libraries and thus help make it a well used teaching aid. With 2,500 paid subscriptions the editors can plan improvements in size, quality and appearance of this unique journal.

Southeastern Winter Session Announced

The Southeastern Bahá’í School Winter Session will be held at the FFA-FHA Camp located at Covington, Georgia, December 26 through 31, 1966. For details write to: John W. Yocum, Jr., 4123 Pilgrim Place, Route 1, Austell, Georgia 30001.

Attend

Your State Convention November 6, 1966

Place and other details will be announced in the Convention Call to be mailed to each believer

[Page 2]OCTOBER ‘1966

National Spiritual Assembly Reports Actions Taken on Convention Recommendations

The National Spiritual Assembly has carefully considered the several recommendations adopted by formal resolution at the 1966 National Convention and submits the following report of the actions taken. The comments and suggestions made by individual delegates during the discussion and recorded by the secretaries were noted and taken into consideration during consultation on each action.

Recommendation: That the California Victory Committee be requested to analyze its experiences and prepare for distribution to local Assemblies and teaching committees those elements of its experiences which it feels is responsible for the successes of the campaign.

Action: The NSA has requested the California Victory Committee to prepare such a document.

Recommendation: That the NSA establish full-time organizers to promote the influx of pioneers and the training of pioneers at Bahá’í schools, and that there be a full-time organization to handle and promote victory programs in the United States.

Action: The National Assembly approves the idea of recruiting and training pioneers and is proceeding to implement it to the extent that current resources permit, including the training of pioneers in spring sessions at the Bahá’í schools. The victory program throughout the United States is already being implemented and handled through the newly appointed State Goals Committees and the Departments of National Teaching and Community Development.

Recommendation: That the National Assembly allow a maximum budget for the home front and national teaching; that they employ professionals wherever necessary and if necessary cut down expenditures elsewhere.

Action: The NSA agrees in principle with this sentiment and feels that it is doing as much as possible to promote national teaching in balance with the other commitments under the Nine Year Plan.

Recommendation: That the chart, “Points of Agreement between Science and Religion,” on display in Foundation Hall be made available for distribution.

Action: This recommendation has been referred to the Advisory Committee on Education for its consideration.

Recommendation: That the National Assembly consider the formation of a paid committee or project — a group of individuals——paid to go out and inject the serum needed in each of the communities to get an “invasion” program under way.

Action: While it does not feel that a paid committee or project is desirable on a continuing basis, the National Assembly will take under consideration the possibility of developing programs that might depend on partially subsidized or temporarily supported personnel.

Recommendation: That the NSA consider introducing courses on social sciences into the curriculum at Bahá’í summer schools.

Action: The National Assembly does not feel that formal courses on social sciences should be taught in Bahá’í summer schools at present, but social and psychological implications of the Bahá’í teachings can

always be incorporated into broader courses. In specific instances, such as the pioneer training programs, more formal work in the social sciences may be appropriate.

Recommendation: That study of “The Advent of Divine Justice” be made mandatory before persons are enrolled as Bahá’ís.

Action: Such a requirement is not consistent with the instructions from the Guardian on enrollment, but the NSA encourages new believers to read this important work and become intimately familiar with its contents.

Recommendation: That instead of sending out just anyone who wants to pioneer, the National Assembly send only those who are qualified, who have gone to a Bahá’í pioneer training school; that they go out for two years and be sponsored and supported by one individual for that period if necessary and that this subsistence fund be sent to the National Assembly instead of direct to the pioneer.

Action: The National Spiritual Assembly consulted at length on the ideas included in this motion, and as a result has developed new guidelines for the Foreign Goals Committee in the selection and approval of Bahá’í pioneers.

Recommendation: That the picture booklet on the Bahá’í House of Worship be enlarged to include pictures in color of the Temples around the world and the Shrines in the Holy Land.

Action: This recommendation has been referred to the Bahá’í Publishing Trust for its study and recommendations.

Recommendation: That there be a national youth publication of some kind.

Action: Voted to move toward a national youth bulletin. with the first steps including the location and ability of youth teams who will supply prospectuses for a youth bulletin for a special issue to be distributed as part of the U.S. SUPPLEMENT to Bahá’í NEWS before next Convention, written and photographed by youth members themselves.

Recommendation: That the plans for next year’s Convention include a specific program for pre-teens (twelve to fourteen years) and that it include individuals who can talk to them about how they can identify themselves with local and national goals and be of service to the Faith.

Action: It was voted to refer this recommendation to the Convention Planning Committee for action.

Recommendation: That the supplementary report of the National Spiritual Assembly be given before consultation on the message from the Universal House of Justice.

Action: This recommendation will be considered when the time comes to plan the agenda for next year’s Convention.

Recommendation: That the National Spiritual Assembly consider the possibility of increasing the number of delegates for the National Convention.

Action: The National Assembly does not feel that the United States Bahá’í community is large enough yet to warrant an increase in the number of delegates.

( To be continued)

[Page 3]U.S. SUPPLEMENT

The 1966 State Conventions

Once a year every adult Bahá’í — twenty-one years or older — has the legal right and spiritual privilege to vote for delegates to the National Convention from his State, and to consult upon the important issues facing the American Bahá’í community at home and abroad. The annual State Conventions are scheduled this year for Sunday, November 6. Each voting believer whose address is known will receive the Convention Call about October 15. With it will be the agenda which should be studied beforehand in preparation for full and fruitful consultation.

Purpose ot the State Convention

The State Convention is your convention. It provides every Bahá’í with an opportunity to get acquainted with other Bahá’ís in his state or electoral district, to discuss with them the needs of the Cause, to offer recommendations for attaining the tasks of the Nine Year Plan at home and abroad, and to vote, if he is of voting age, for those whom he considers qualified to be delegates to the National Convention and the electors of the new National Spiritual Assembly.

Preparation for Voting

Contrary to the ways of the world, Bahá’í elections are approached in a spirit of prayer without preliminary electioneering or nomination of candidates. Before the ballots are cast, prayers are read and all participating ask for guidance in selecting those best qualified to serve as delegates. The voter should not determine before the convention those for whom he wishes to vote, unless he cannot attend and must mail his ballot. Through unhurried reflection and prayer he should make his selection as a result of the guidance and inspiration he receives at the Convention.

Eligibility of Delegates to the National Convention

Any adult Bahá’í resident in your electoral district is eligible to serve as a delegate to the National Convention, even if his name is not listed on the voting list received before the Convention in which there are frequently a number of changes between the date of printing and the date of the Convention. Members of the Auxiliary Board of the Hands of the Cause are eligible for election, but if elected they must decide whether to serve as delegates or resign from the Auxiliary Board, since members of the Auxiliary Board cannot serve in administrative capacities.

The beloved Guardian stated that the believers must do all in their power to ascertain the qualifications of those whom they elect for any national service, and “to consider without the least trace of passion and prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the names of only those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, selfless devotion, of a well trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience.”

Consultation

The principle of consultation, which constitutes one of the basic laws of Bahá’í Administration, should be applied to all Bahá’í activities that affect the collective interests of the Faith, for it is through cooperation and

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the continued exchange of thoughts and views that the Cause can best safeguard and foster its interests. Opportunity for full consultation, more intimate association of the believers, and a closer familiarity with the character, mission and teachings of the Cause, offered at our State Conventions provide the means by which we seek to approach that “standard of excellence which should characterize the cooperative efforts of Bahá’í communities” called for by the beloved Guardian.

This year the period of consultation should be particularly lively and productive, for by State Convention time most of the State Goals Committees will have had meetings with local Spiritual Assemblies and isolated believers for preliminary consultation on the goals of the Nine Year Plan for their particular states, teaching programs will have started, and new ideas and experiences can be exchanged.

Bahá’í Youth and the State Convention

The State Convention is a Bahá’í institution of fundamental importance to every believer, including the Bahá’í youth who are already engaged in widespread teaching and proclamation service. Youth members may participate freely in all the consultations, and can be called upon to assist in the conduct of the Convention by acting as tellers’ assistants, registrars, readers of prayers or communications to the Convention, as assistants at the literature booth, to carry on activities for the small children, and as committee members in their home communities to encourage and assist in ensuring full attendance of both adults and youth.

Convention Arrangements

This year a local Spiritual Assembly in each electoral district has been asked by the National Spiritual Assembly to serve as host for the State Convention. The State Goals Committees have been asked to cooperate and to make every effort to ensure one hundred per cent attendance on the part of members of groups and isolated centers. They have also been asked to assist the local community in planning any pre-Convention public meeting or fellowship gathering of the friends that is considered desirable and practicable by the host Assembly and the Committee. The location of the meeting place and the name of the individual who is to receive ballots that must be mailed will be announced in the Convention Call, as will all essential instructions for voting for the allocated number of delegates for each state or electoral district.

May the 1966 State Conventions exceed all previous ones both in the percentage of believers who attend and in the fruitfulness of the consultation.

Bahá’í Marriages

Antelope J.D., Calif.: Mrs. Darlene G. Quintal to Owen T. Miller on August 20, 1966

Beverly Hills, Calif: Miss Virginia Rae Caldwell to Iraj Talebreza on August 8, 1966

Fresno, Calif.: Miss Peggy Jackson to Farid Sapir on July 31, 1966

Glendale, Calif.: Mrs. Jean Lucile Morgan to George Hampton Vollrner on August 6, 1966

Los Angeles, Cali.f.: Miss Shelby Trebla Wiener to Michael Peter Nissen on August 6, 1966 (non-Bahá’ís)

Champaign, 11].: Miss Janet Griffith to Peter Khan on March 5, 1966

[Page 4]Bahá’í DIRECTORY CHANGES ASSEMBLY SECRETARIES

Alabama Huntsville: Mrs. Tommie H. Kelly, 2915 Ford Pl., N.W. (to correct street name) Arizona Flagstaff: Mrs. Frances Latham, 2619 E. Lockett Rd., 86001 (to correct secretary name) Northern California Auburn J.D.: Mrs. Mary S. Ford, Rt. 1, Box 1231, Auburn Berkeley: Mrs. Dorothy Frey, 754 Arlington Ave., 94707 Santa Cruz J.D.: Mr. Stanley F. Bauer, 3003 Highway 9, N., Boulder Creek 95006 Sunnyvale: Mrs. Lucile L. Jensen, 1282 Parkington Ave.. 94087 Washington J.D.: Mrs. May Verhoeven, 960 Casselman Drive, Broderick Southern California District No. 1. Los Angelesz Mr. Harold Jackson, Asst. Secty., 4309-3rd Ave.. 90008 Northern Illinois Oak Park: Mrs. Diane Taefy, P.0. Box 854. 60301 Massachusetts Boston: Mr. Christopher Wade, 687 Boylston St., Z 16 (now permanent secretary) Minnesota Olmstead County: Mr. Lyle L. Wharton, Rt. No. 4, Rochester Rochester: Mrs. Rosalee Skrenes, 2515- 18th Ave., N.W., 55901 Nebraska Lincoln: Mr. Wiggins DeMoville, 710 N. 25th St., 68503 New Hampshire Nashua: Mrs. Olive Schlesinger, c/o Elliott, 45 Atherton Ave.. 03060 New Jersey Englewood: Mrs. Noreen Keith-Beattie, 426 Lydecker St., 07631 (to correct address) North Plainfieldz Mrs. Avina Mortensen, 90 Mercer Ave.. 07060 Ohio Cleveland: Mr. Thomas A. Gianfagna, 841 Alhambra Rd., 44110 South Carolina Greenvillez Mrs. Joy Benson, 5 Overbrook Circle Eastern Texas San Antonio: Mrs. Mary K. Johnson, pro-tem, 1125 Santa Ana, 78201

NATIONAL BAHA'I FUND Monthly Income: 1966-1967

Thousand 80

Monthly Budget

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"‘>‘t:i‘£-<':>‘o'z Zpl E: ='°‘°2'a:s.

FEB MAR. APR

I Regular contributions pecial contributions & Miscellaneous

->3,» Estates

OCTOBER 1966

Wisconsin

West Allis: Mrs. Mary Pflughoeft, 7726 W. Becker St., Apt. 7, 53219

COMMITTEES

U.S. Bahá’í Committee for United Nations Miss Isabelle Silk, Secretary 450 E. 63 St., New York, N.Y. 10021 (to correct address)

State Goals Committee Colorado

Mrs. Marilyn Fisher, Secretary, 437 Pine St., Boulder

INDIAN SERVICE COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. Larry E. Gibbs, Glendale, Arizona Mr. Arthur Jess, Jr., Glendale, Arizona for Arizona Miss Barbara Magnuson, Glendale. Arizona I

Deprivation of Administrative Rights

Mrs. Marian Gravet Borland, recently of St. Paul, Minnesota, has been deprived of her administrative rights by the National Spiritual Assembly. Her theories, assertions, and actions, which have created disunity in a limited area among the friends, will no longer be a source of concern.

in Memoriam

Mrs. Ethel Taylor Benoit Phoenix, Arizona July 25, 1966

Mrs. Annie Beatrice Boyd Odessa, Texas No date

Mrs. Bertha Rohr Clark Hackensack, New Jersey July 23, 1966

Armitt F. Darnell Sacramento, Calif. June 26, 1966

Miss Margaret Detwiler Fargo, North Dakota July 18, 1966

Joe Evans Gamerco, New Mexico April 16. 1965

Sylvester Harvey Detroit, Michigan July 26, 1966

Mrs. Mayme Jackson Cleveland, Ohio July 27, 1966

Mrs. Mary Jane Lowery Emporia, Kansas July 16, 1966

Mrs. Viola Nicholson Lansing, Michigan

July 4, 1966 Mrs. Betty Collom Rand Quincy, Michigan

August 7, 1966 Mrs. Gertrude W. Robinson Circleville, Ohio

August 22, 1966

Local Assemblies Contributing Each Month

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