Derry City Council Offices
Message received by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Londonderry
“As Mayor of the city it gives me great pleasure to extend warm New Year greetings to members of the Bahá'í community in the city and North West region.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the important role played by the Bahá'í faith locally and the great work that its members do for the people of the city and region. The New Year celebrations are a special time for members of the faith. The Bahá'í faith is renowned for its promotion of unity and inclusion and the way in which it embraces the community and promotes a better and peaceful integrated society.
The Baha'i faith is very forward thinking in its views and is very vocal on issues relating to the environment and cultural diversity whilst being committed to promoting family life and strong moral issues. Never before have we faced a time when faith is so important and I am confident as we face a decline in economic prosperity, our community will look towards faiths such as Bahá'í as a good example of how to live our lives.
The Baha'i faith is one of the fastest growing religions in the world and locally it is attracting new members each year. I would like to extend my heartfelt best wishes to the entire Bahá'í faith at this important occasion and wish you all a very peaceful and happy Naw-Ruz.
Yours sincerely, Councillor Gerard Diver, Mayor.
Spires Integrated Primary School in Magherafelt (Seven Valleys Cluster) has invited the Bahá'í community to lead the morning assembly every year since its inception. Sarah Munro's stay here was already packed with activity, home visits and presentations but she was able to help us with the morning assembly as well. A boy from class P7 read a Bahá'í prayer on unity and Sarah spike about unity and its importance in the world. She ended by ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s story of Mr Gregory. Later a Bahá'í children's book "A Violet and the Garden" by Anne R Breneman was presented for the school library.
MG
Photograph: The Principal of Spires Integrated School Mr Paul Trainor with Sarah Munro
A few select souls braved the atrocious weather to attend the deepening in the Londonderry Bahá'í Centre on 27 March. They were richly rewarded with a fascinating talk by Keith Munro on the life of the Bab. I was particularly delighted to hear the story of he Báb's wife Khadijih's vision and the history that followed it. As with others in the "Deepenings in Derry" sequence this was an inspirational talk and I learned something of our Faith I did not know before. A hot cup of tea and a delicious slice of carrot cake followed, to fortify us for the journey home.
MJC
To the members of the Bahá'í community in Northern Ireland
My sincere thanks for your help with my PhD research project. Many of you completed the short questionnaire and a select number (13) also went on to be interviewed. During these interviews I learned much about the Bahá'í faith, including that of the persecution of your members in Iran and the creation of the Bahá'í community in Northern Ireland. The information from these interviews and questionnaires was then used, along with that taken from three other religious congregations in the Province, to develop my PhD thesis. This was eventually entitled 'The Family, Social Structure and Four Congregational Memberships in Northern Ireland'.
Once again, my thanks to all of you, including Edwin Graham, who spent no little time assisting me in the administration of this project.
Yours sincerely, Adrian. (Rev. Adrian Stringer, University of Essex, and Church of Ireland Rector at Moneymore).
We welcome Mr Chaminda Weerawardhana (Belfast) who has declared his faith in Bahá'u'lláh and been enrolled in the Bahá'í community.
We note with sadness the passing of long-serving Northern Ireland Bahá'í Helen McConnell of Bangor.
“Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God..”(Bahá'u'lláh)
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