CommuNIqué - Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 154 - 4 Ayyam-i-Há 167 BE - 1 March 2011 CE

 

BAHÁ’í COUNCIL FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

 

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE CALLS FOR "THOUGHTFUL STUDY"

On 28 December 2010 the Continental Counsellors gathered in Haifa for a conference to discuss the progress of the Five Year Plan. At the opening of that conference the Universal House of Justice addressed a letter to the conference setting out the features of the new Five Year Plan that will commence this coming Ridván. In a subsequent letter on 1 January the House of Justice called on all Bahá'ís to engage in thoughtful study of the 28 December letter together with the 2010 Ridván message. In response to this call from the House of Justice the Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland is seeking to encourage a range of gatherings for the study of the 28 December letter. Already many local Spiritual Assemblies and groups have arranged meetings for the study of the letter and many more meetings are planned. The House states:

"We hope that you will be able to give [the 28 Dec letter] thoughtful study alongside the message that we addressed to you at Ridván 2010, at gatherings of all kinds - whether at national, regional, or cluster lever, in local communities, in neighbourhoods and villages or in the home. We are certain that, through the consultations about the Plan in which you will participate, your understanding will deepen and, conscious of the spiritual forces that support you, you will resolve to make this global enterprise a personal concern and become as occupied with the well-being of the human family as you are with your dearest kin."

It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of this message at this time. The Bahá'í Council had the bounty of beginning to study it at the recent multi-national Institutional Meeting in Warwick - we say "beginning" because it is clear that the depths of meaning and guidance it contains will set the course of our activities for years to come and are too much to take in after just one or two sessions. The message also addresses us at different levels, depending on our involvement in the work of the Faith - thus it contains guidance and inspiration for the individual, for the community, for the Spiritual Assemblies and for other organs of the administration.

Following consultation with representatives from the International Teaching Centre, the Continental Counsellors, our National Spiritual Assembly, and our Auxiliary Board members, we are rolling out a series of deepenings and studies of the message aimed at these different levels of service. You will receive suggestions and invitations to these, and most likely to more than one depending on the exact nature of the specific events. The Bahá'í Council hopes that in addition to reading and studying the 28 December message for themselves the believers in Northern Ireland will attend not just one such deepening but several as these are complementary and will work together to ensure we are all on our way to having a rounded appreciation of this vitally important letter from the Supreme Body of our Faith.


DONATIONS BY CHEQUE

The Bahá'í Council appreciates the Friends' support of the Northern Ireland branch of the National Fund. It is important that, however, that any cheques are made out to the National Spiritual Assembly, and not to the Council. This is to comply with banking regulations.


bahai-ni

bahai-ni is the e-announce list of the Bahá’í Council for Northern Ireland and all the Friends are asked to subscribe to it. It is where you will see the news first and sometimes (especially for time-sensitive and event announcelements) it's the only place it will appear. Information and the revised guideleines will be found here.


PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

CommuNIqueand other Bahá’í publications welcomes photographs of your activities. However where children and young people (up to age 18) are featured the Child Protection Procedure of the National Spiritual Assembly requires that (unless it is a group picture—five or more) permission of the parent or guardian be given. If this doesn’t come with the photo then it cannot be used. Please bear this in mind when sending pictures. Of course if the sender is the parent or guardian of the young person featured, permission is assumed.


RESOURCE BOOKLETS AVAILABLE

The Bahá'í Council would like to remind all the Friends in Northern Irelandthat the small ‘activities booklet’ is still available on request (in small or larger quantities). Giving an overview of the core activities for the non-Bahá'í reader, it is professionally-designed, colourful, ideal for handing to friends and enquirers: if you want some copies to give away please get in touch with the Secretary of the Bahá'í Council.

These booklets are resources to be out there working for the Faith, telling people about our various activities and inviting them to join. Why not get some and use them?


AND TALKING OF RESOURCES...

The Bahá'í Council has access to templates that you can use to produce your own leaflets to invite people to your various activities. These are in MS Word which means they can be opened and edited in most word processors, letting you amend them as you like and put in your own contact details and local information. They are A4 sheets that trifold.

Items available are:
CA-1 and CA-2—about the various core activities
SC-2—about study circles
CC-2—about children’s classes
DM-2—about devotional meetings
TZ-1—about Tranquillity Zones. (The National Spiritual Assembly has indicated that these are a specialised form of devotional meetings with a lot to offer in certain circumstances.)

To obtain electronic copies please e-mail the Bahá'í Council specifying which items you want.

If you are wondering, SC-1, DM-1, and CC-1 are also available, they require Microsoft Publisher to open and edit them. If you have Publisher and want them, please say.

And while thinking about leaflets and how we can produce our own literature, how often have we asked “Where can I get a good picture of the Shrine of the Báb, or a temple, or a Bahá'í youth project, or just a nice photo of Bahá'ís doing things?”. The answer is the Bahá'í Media website at http://media.bahai.org which is a large archive of pictures related to the Bahá'í Faith. (Hint: If you download the picture on your screen you will get a small to medium size file, suitable for electronic media or printing as a smaller picture. If you want a large file so that you have a high-resolution picture for a large or professional print you will have to Subscribe then use the Download File option to get the zipped file of the large version).

 

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