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Unfinished Tasks of the United States in The World Crusade
We have now reached the halfway point in the seventh year of the Ten-Year Global Crusade, leaving but two and one-half years, thirty months, less than 1,000 days — in which to achieve the remaining tasks of the long list assigned by the beloved Guardian to the Bahá’í community of the United States. As ultimate victory depends upon the exertions and sacrifices made by the last stage of any human endeavor, so also does the victorious conclusion of the spiritual World Crusade depend upon the exertions and sacrifices made by the believers in these last few months.
In simple terms, all of the remaining tasks, as the following list indicates, call for the enrollment of many more believers and the settlement of many more Bahá’í pioneers.
Except for the thirteen Soviet and satellite countries, twenty-seven of the thirty-one virgin areas assigned to us have been opened. Two of these are inaccessible to Americans, but the remaining one, Easter Island, can and must be opened.
Thirty-one independent national spiritual assemblies are still to be formed, eleven in Europe and twenty in Latin America. For most of these, additional settlers as well as many new believers are needed.
Thirty-four out of the original thirty-six national spiritual assemblies are still to be incorporated, and of course this cannot be done by the thirty-one mentioned above until they are established.
On the homefront, 105 additional local spiritual assemblies must come into being in order to attain the goal of 300 assemblies. Of the 100 local assemblies to be incorporated, fourteen are still required to attain that status.
In general, the victory on all fronts now depends almost solely upon the enrollment of new Bahá’ís to raise up the required local spiritual assemblies. In several of the European and Latin American countries this means that the Faith must be introduced into a number of new localities where as yet there are no believers. Hence, the urgent need for dedicated, experienced pioneers who can devote their full time in these last fleeting days to attracting, teaching, and confirming new souls.
Funds are needed to get these pioneers into the field
promptly. Those who cannot go can help others to go by making contributions to the deputization fund over and above their regular contributions to the National Bahá’í Fund, a fact which the National Spiritual Assembly hopes is being emphasized at all Nineteen-Day Feasts and at teaching conferences. Also, Bahá’ís who cannot go far can consider moving to localities where there are pioneers ready to go but who are being held back because their leaving would jeopardize the continuance of the local spiritual assembly.
Six months remain in this Bahá’í year. What portion of the remaining tasks will we have accomplished by Riḍván 1960?
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
An individual Responsibility
The following excerpts were taken from a letter written by the Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land on September 4, and addressed to the Bahá’ís who attended the Blue Ridge Summer School. This letter was written in acknowledgment of a card of greeting signed by all the believers present at the School, and was received too late to be sent to the Blue Ridge Summer School:
“It made us very happy to see that so many of the believers had gathered together, and we hope that in the course of your joint consultations the work on the homefront was given careful consideration, and that ways and means of accomplishing the goals set for us by our beloved Guardian were discussed.
“The American Bahá’ís, upon whom such great bounties have been bestowed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, must arise now and prove worthy of the trust conferred upon them. Experience has shown all of us that it is not enough in this world to expect that assemblies and committees can execute the Plan. They are the instruments, but the building blocks are the believers themselves, and it is incumbent upon each one of us to feel an individual responsibility towards attaining the precious goals set for us by our dearly-loved Shoghi Effendi."
[Page 2]
NOVEMBER 1959
Progress Report on Pioneering
At the end of the first half of this Bahá’í year the National Spiritual Assembly wishes to report to the American Bahá’í community the status of our pioneer activities.
As of October first, 376 American pioneers are in the field. These include 21 who have left since Riḍván 1959. They are distributed as follows:
Africa 74 Asia 54 Europe 62 Western Hemisphere 186
In addition, thirty American Bahá’ís are pioneering in the American Indian field.
It is expected that by November first ten more pioneers will be enroute to Latin America and three to Europe.
Since Riclvan 192 Bahá’ís have volunteered for pioneer service at home or abroad, 105 of them for Latin America and 50 for the homefront, Unfortunately, a number of these cannot leave for several months; in some instances they cannot be released until they are replaced in their communities, which would lose assembly status if they left. Also, several have been unable to qualify for health reasons or because of family and other obligations.
Only a few settlers have yet moved into the homefront goals, chiefly because it was first necessary for the National Spiritual Assembly, in consultation with the American National Teaching Committee, to select the preferred goal groups on which special teaching effort would be focused this year. This list has now been published and the movement of homefront pioneers should accelerate. (See Bahá’í Nrsws SUPPLEMENT, September 1959.)
Although the response to the call for pioneers raised by the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land in their 1959 Convention Message has been most encouraging, more are still needed both at home and abroad. Please refer to the statement on page 1, “Unfinished Tasks of the United States in the World Crusade,” in which these needs are presented. Applications for pioneering outside the United States should be sent to the National Spiritual Assembly promptly.
As for the homefront, the National Spiritual Assembly has placed the movement of settlers under the direction of the American National Teaching Committee. Therefore, applications to serve as settlers in the United States, as well as requests for settlers in groups and small communities, should be directed to the American National Teaching Committee, which works closely with the area teaching committees on all settlement projects.
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
2000 Bahá’ís Hear Hand of Cause Sears on Eight-Month Tour of U.S. and Canada
Between the period February 27 and September 5, Hand of the Cause William B. Sears visited fifty 10calities, all but four of them in the United States, the other four being in eastern Canada. At 115 of the
Bahá’í State Conventions Sunday. December 6. 1959
See Your Convenfion -Call
meetings which Mr. Sears addressed in these cities, 483 centers were represented and more than 2,000 believers were contacted.
Besides the many meetings for Bahá’ís only, there were fifteen public meetings, several of them very large, four radio programs, and two television appearances. There was newspaper publicity in almost every major city, and some of it was outstanding.
Mr. Sears reported that to cover these meetings he traveled 16,000 miles by land and 3,000 by air.
Unforeseen circumstances made it necessary for Mr. Sears to cancel his itinerary which was announced in the September Bahá’í News, but he expects to resume it, possibly in December.
The Purpose of World Religion Day
The friends are reminded that World Religion Day supplies an opportunity to present the Faith and the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh as the world religion foretold by the Prophets of the past. It is not to be considered as a general platform for the exposition of other religions.
The program, therefore, is to feature a Bahá’í speaker capable of expressing the significance of the Bahá’í Faith, and not one or more speakers who can deal with other religions.
World Religion Day has accumulated great influence since it was first initiated, and the National Assembly does not wish to see this impact weakened by an exposition of comparative religion.
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
A Bahá’í Day of Prayer
Many believers have requested the National Spiritual Assembly to arrange for a particular day when Bahá’ís throughout the country can unite in prayer for the fulfillment of our collective tasks on the homefront.
While the motive leading to this request is fully appreciated, the National Spiritual Assembly has not acted on this important matter for several reasons.
First of all it is pointed out that throughout the great area representing America we have not only the continental United States, but also the Hawaiian Islands, an area in which from east to west there is a difference of so many hours that it is impossible for the Bahá’í community to act in chronological unity.
Another compelling reason is that in this spiritual area of prayer, when the Master has acted, it would not be proper for a local or national assembly to take an independent action.
The American friends are requested to recall the
[Page 3]
U.S. SUPPLEMENT
3
fact that in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed prayers for five areas of the United States which He stated should be used daily, each by the believers of the area concerned.
Since these are published in the Bahá’í prayer book the National Assembly reminds the friends of the Master’s action. If the local assembly or the area teaching committee wishes to suggest a definite time for this unified prayer, this would be acceptable. A nationwide day, however, does not seem to be proper or possible.
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
NSA Aslts That Area Teaching Bulletins Be Read and Discussed at Feasts
All area teaching committees mail copies of their area bulletin to all local spiritual assemblies in their areas, in order to keep the communities informed of area plans, activities and accomplishments.
In view of the great acceleration in homefront teaching and the urgent need for maximum co-operation on the part of every believer, the National Spiritual Assembly requests every local spiritual assembly to make specific arrangements to present at the NineteenDay Feasts all items in the area bulletin that have a bearing on the teaching activities in the area, and particularly those matters in its state that are related to the achievement of our teaching goals. This may be done by the secretary, or it may be assigned to some member of the local spiritual assembly who will review the bulletin in advance and mark the items to be presented.
The accomplishment of our goal of fifty more assemblies this year is the concern of every local spiritual assembly and every believer. It is not a task limited to area teaching committees and Bahá’í groups.
Prayers for the success of this endeavor at each Nineteen-Day Feast are also requested.
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
Atmosphere of Study, Deepening Permeates
Southwestern Bahá’í Summer School
With the opening of the second annual session of the Southwestern Bahá’í Summer School, our thoughts recalled the spirit of exaltation and exhilaration that marked the first session held a year ago at this rustic site, and we wondered if we would have the bounty of similar spiritual experiences to nourish our souls for the arduous tasks ahead on the homefront during the coming year.
The spirit was different — everyone realized it almost immediately. As the classes got under way, the spirit began to manifest itself as one of urgency urgency towards accomplishing the remaining World Crusade tasks; as one of action — action which would achieve the fifty local spiritual assemblies on the homefront by Riḍván 1960; and as one of .matu7'ity — maturity in all phases of our individual and collective activities concertedly directed towards the culmination of the Ten-Year Plan.
From the early states of planning to the closing bell
of the session, the atmosphere of study and deepening surrounded the entire program. With the students, faculty, and committee, all grateful to our beloved Guardian for permitting the establishment of this school in the southwest, every opportunity was seized to utilize to the fullest the services, experience, and knowledge brought to the school by the faculty. The following courses were given:
Teaching the Faith — Mrs. Velma Sherrill; Living the Life — Mrs. Florence Mayberry; The Covenant and the Individual — Miss Pearl Easterbrook; Principles of Bahá’í Administration — Ellsworth Blackwell; Special Events — Mrs. Ruth Moffett.
The special events included such programs as: “An Evening with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” “The Guardian and the World Center,” “God’s Divine Plan for the Universe,” as well as two public meetings with Mrs. Florence Mayberry speaking on “The Bahá’í Faith” on one occasion, and later a visitor, the Mayor of Langston, Okla., Dr. Tolston, speaking on “Communications With Minority Groups.”
—PAUL R. PETTIT
Expanded Geyserville Summer School
Inaugurates Youth Sessions, Open House
The Geyserville Bahá’í School was expanded to eleven weeks during the 1959 summer season, and featured five kinds of sessions and the first annual open house.
The youth session was probably the first to be held in Geyserville, as in previous years there had been concentration on sessions for the entire family. The cooperation and interest of the youth was outstanding as they took charge of the daily devotions, the evening programs, and shouldered unusual responsibility for getting to classes on time, preparing lessons, and executing campus chores.
The school was host to the first annual open house on Sunday, July 12. Two hundred printed invitations were mailed to prominent citizens in northern California. The buildings and grounds were readied for attractive display to the public, and guides conducted the guests on tours of the campus. Exhibits were set up in the auditorium on the World Crusade, the World Center at Haifa, the Temple at Wilmette, and the Geyserville Bahá’í School master plan for future development. Slides of “Haifa, a Name to Remember.” were shown in the darkened cafeteria dining room, followed by refreshments. Approximately 150 guests attended.
The high point in the summer was the visit of Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander, who told the friends many heart-warming and intimate incidents of her early associations with Bahá’ís. She also explained the symbolism of the Guardian’s monument.
Teachers and students came from opposite ends of the earth, from Alaska and South Africa, and in addition from Persia, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Mexico, South America, Hawaii, and, in the United States, from the Hopi Indian Reservation, and from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington.
—BEATRICE RINDE
[Page 4]
NOVEMBER 1959
WORLD CRUSADE BUDGET Seventh Year: 1959-1960
Annual Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$400,000.00 illIIlllllllllllllIlllllllllIlllll[IIlllllllllIllllIllllllIlllIIIIIIllIIllIIIIIIIIllIllllIIIllllllllllllIIIllIlllIIIIIIIIIIllllII||lIl||ll|||||ll|lll||||
Total Requirements: May 1 to September 30 ..$166,665.00 lllllllIIllllII|||lIllllIIllIllllllllllIllllll|||l|||l||||l|||lll
Total Contributions: May 1 to September 30 .. 127,800.00 lllllllllIIII|l||Illlllllll||||l|l|l|l|||l||l||l|
Total Requirements for September . . . . . . . . .. 33,333.00 .l|llllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllillllllllilllllIlllIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllIIIIIIlllllllllIIlllllllllll[Illlllllllllllllllllllllllll Total Contributions for September . . . . . . . . . .. 22,500.00
llllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllll[IllIlllIllIlI|IlI||IIl|llll
Special non—recurring gifts received during
present Bahá’í year (not included above) . .. 32,300.00
—U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL AssEMm.Y
You Can Help Teach in Africa
One of the few countries in Africa where Bahá’ís can freely put literature in the libraries is Ghana. Already, ten of the twelve public libraries have some Bahá’í books, and it is the hope of the believers there to place representative selections of Bahá’í books in all the libraries of Ghana, including those of the colleges and universities.
If you have current editions of Bahá’í books in good condition which you can spare, or if you wish to order new books sent, please contact the U.S. Africa Teaching Committee for details. Write Sylvia Parmelee, secretary; 4700 47th St. N.W.; Washington 16, D.C.
—U.S. AFRICA TEACHING COMMITTEE
Marriages
Bernalillo County, N.M.: Mrs. Louise Glaser to Cedric Konkel on August 29, 1959
St. Paul, Minn.: Miss Ruth Van Meer to Arian E. La Quier on September 13, 1959
New York, N.Y.: Miss Cynthia Tolka to Seymour Weinberg on May 31, 1959
Los Angeles, Calif.: Mrs. Lillian Bliss to Dr. John N. Jensen on September 5, 1959
Kirkland, Wash.: Miss Nancy A. Carlstrom to Norman C. Larson on August 29, 1959
Kenosha, Wis.: Mrs. Charlotte Maxwell to Campbell Thompson on September 3, 1959
San Francisco, Calif.: Mrs. Naomi Lyford to Rudolph B. Clinton on September 19, 1959
Phoenix, Ariz.: Miss Joan Crossland to D‘jam Koshbin on August 31, 1959
Hamburg Twp., N.Y.: Mrs. Annis Tarbell to William Dobson on August 24, 1959
in Memoriam
Mrs. Emily E. Bettinger East Orange, New Jersey August 29, 1959
Miss Theresa Fisch Bronx, New York No date
Mrs. Laura McKinney Boise, Idaho August 18, 1959
Mrs. Grace Sprout Denver, Colorado September 11, 1959
Zina Tanner Minneapolis, Minnesota June 7, 1959
Mrs. Viola Van Buskirk Salem, Oregon April 12, 1959
Mrs. Nettie P. Wright Staten Island, N.Y. July 31, 1959
Andrew Franco Waukegan, Illinois August 30, 1959
Mrs. Alice Grant New York, N.Y. May 31, 1959
Robert L. Moffett Des Moines, Iowa June 9, 1959
BAHA'l DIRECTORY CHANGES
ASSEMBLY SECRETARIES
Northern California Sacramento: Mrs. Barbara Miller, 6481 South Land Park Dr. Z 22 Southern California Riverside: Mrs. Roystine Hart, 5438 Dewey Ave. Colorado Denver: Miss Anita Schmidt, 765 S. Williams St. Delaware Brandywine Hundred: Mrs. Ruth Pahnke, actg. secty., 1119 Crestover Rd. Z 3 New Mexico Bernalillo County: Mrs. Pearl Weidenhofer, pro-tem, Box 442, Rt. 4, Albuquerque Louisiana New Orleans: Don Lasday, Chr.. 2104 Milton Shreveport: John Mitchell, 3551 Youree Dr.
ADDITIONS TO COMMITTEES
Temple Worship Mrs. Esther Glauder
Area Teaching Committee—South Atlantic States Mrs. Allene Guinyard
Area Teaching Committee—East Central States Mrs. Helen Eggleston
Marvin Hughes Stanley Brogan
Area Youth Committee—South Central States Miss Mary Harvey William Munson
Area Youth Committee—Rocky Mountain States Miss Natalie Morrow, asst. secty.. 1816 Mariposa St.,
Boulder, Colo.
Miss Shirley Hathaway
Area Youth Committee—Southwestern States Larry Denise
Area Youth Committee—Northwestern States Kent Lansing
RESIGNATIONS FROM COMMITTEES
Area Teaching Committee—East Central States Mrs. Hazel Meese Frank Meese
Area Teaching Committee—Rocky Mountain States Mrs. Kathy Rodgers Warren Rodgers
Area Youth Committee—New England States Robert McLaughlin Scott Clift
Area Youth Committee—East Central States Alan Higgins Donald Streets
