Historic Armagh—Ireland’s spiritual and ecclesiastical capital—was the venue for a conference launching the new Five Year Plan in Northern Ireland. The gathering, arranged by the Bahá'í Council, took place on Saturday 13 May and was attended by seventy Friends from all over NI. The keynote speaker was Dr Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi, member of the Board of Counsellors for Europe.
Opening the conference on behalf of the Council for Northern Ireland Mrs Lesley Taherzadeh O’Mara. She pointed to how each of our clusters had made a special contribution during the Plan just completed and the victories that had been won. Now we are poised to move forward with the new cluster for Belfast and the South-East ready for intensive programmes of growth and Seven Valleys designated as a priority cluster. She emphasised how a study of the Universal House of Justice’s letter of 27 December 2005 would help us do this.
Dr Fozdar-Foroudi gave an intensive and informative presentation on the new Plan and what it would call for from us. She clarified some of the key concepts involved in moving individuals though the sequence of courses and building up human resources as well as how clusters themselves move through their sequence of development.
The Counsellor explained how an intensive programme of growth works and how it challenges us to greater efforts even as it brings greater rewards. We have to be prepared for “a level of exertion that tests our resolve” - humanity’s plight calls for nothing less from us. Emphasis was laid on our understanding that opportunities to teach are everywhere, and many will be created if we faithfully follow through on the various practical activities that are a key part of the study circle courses.
The participants were then split into workshops to study some of the key points of the letter of 27 December 2001, an experience that people found very helpful in clarifying their understanding even if the time available meant that they were only scratching the surface. The need for more detailed study at individual and community level was reinforced by this experience.
After lunch Dr Fozdar-Foroudi gave anotherpresentation, this focusing on the cluster level and what we are called upon to do in our own clusters. She explained some of the terms that are used and how these clarify our thinking and understanding, and emphasised that everything is there to facilitate our teaching the Faith. The role of the various cluster agencies is to help the Bahá'ís use the skills they have acquired in the study courses and—very importantly—the practical elements of these courses. The important role of the Auxiliary Board Members and their assistants was also explained.
The necessary chalk-and-talk (or this being the electronic age PowerPoint-and-talk) elements of the day were balanced out with other elements. After an artistic presentation by a group of youth from Lights Of Unity which will be remembered mainly for the way it got one of the officers of the Bahá'í Council dancing (an all too brief episode which escaped the camera) further workshops were held, this time organised by cluster.
In closing the conference Patrick O’Mara, chairman of the Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland thanked the Counsellor and participants, and called upon us never to forget that what we are engaged upon is “a spiritual enterprise”. We are a religion and we approach our work in the spirit of love and faith. If we hold fast to that faith, follow the guidance given, and work in a united way, then there is no power on earth can stop the spread of the Message of Bahá'u'lláh—the Message that the world so desperately needs.
ISP
From left, clockwise:
Dr Shirin Dozdar-Foroudi, Board of Counsellors for Europe
The youth entertain (spiritually)
One of the workshop groups discusses the work ahead
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