Part 20 (1/2)
12: Letters and Cables to Administrative Inst.i.tutions
[Letter of April 1957]
To the First National Convention of the Baha'is of North East Asia-1957
To the Delegates and Visitors a.s.sembled at the Convention of the Baha'is of North-East Asia.
With feelings of exultation, joy, and pride I hail the convocation of this history-making Convention of the Baha'is of North-East Asia, paving the way for the emergence of a Regional Spiritual a.s.sembly with an area of jurisdiction embracing j.a.pan, Korea, Formosa, Macao, Hong Kong, Hainan Island and Sakhalin Island.
This auspicious event, which posterity will regard as the culmination of a process initiated, half a century ago, in the capital city of j.a.pan, under the watchful care and through the direct inspiration of the Centre of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, marks the opening of the second chapter in the history of the evolution of His Faith in the North Pacific area. Such a consummation cannot fail to lend a tremendous impetus to its onward march in the entire Pacific Ocean, a march which will now, no doubt, be greatly accelerated by the simultaneous emergence of the Regional Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of South-East Asia and of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand.
I particularly welcome the establishment of this highly important inst.i.tution in the capital city of j.a.pan, as it affords a splendid opportunity for the diffusion of the Lights of the Faith, and the erection of the structure of its Administrative Order, among a people representing the overwhelming majority of the yellow race, living in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and in a country regarded as one of the strongholds of the Buddhist Faith.
I feel a warm tribute should be paid, on this historic occasion, to the members of the American Baha'i Community, as well as to their elected national representatives, who have, for so long and so devotedly, promoted the interests of the Faith in that country, and, in recent years in its neighbouring islands.
I call upon the Regional Spiritual a.s.sembly now being formed to signalize its birth through the initiation of a subsidiary Six-Year Plan, designed to swell the number of the adherents of the Faith throughout the area of its jurisdiction; to multiply the groups, the isolated centers and the local spiritual a.s.semblies; to incorporate all firmly grounded local spiritual a.s.semblies; to obtain recognition from the civil authorities for the Baha'i Marriage Certificate, as well as the Baha'i Holy Days; to inaugurate a national Baha'i Fund; to consolidate the work initiated in the newly opened territories; to lend an impetus to the translation, the publication, and dissemination of Baha'i Literature in divers languages; to establish Summer Schools, and Baha'i burial grounds; to propagate the Faith throughout the smaller islands of j.a.pan; and to acquire a plot to serve as the site of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of North-East Asia.
May the blessings of Baha'u'llah be showered, in an ever-increasing measure, on those newly emerged Communities now holding aloft, so steadfastly and so valiantly, the banner of His Faith, and may the outcome of their collective efforts illuminate its annals, and contribute to a notable degree to the consolidation of the inst.i.tutions of the Baha'i embryonic World Order now being erected throughout the length and breadth of so vast, so turbulent, and yet so promising, an area of the globe.
Shoghi
(April 1957)
[Photograph with the following caption:]
The first National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of North East Asia elected in 1957. Sitting: Mr. Noureddin Momtazi, Miss Agnes Alexander, Mrs. Barbara Sims, Mr. Hiroyasu Takano. Standing: Mr. Ataullah Moghbel, Mr. Michitos.h.i.+ Zenimoto, Mr. Philip Marangella, Mr. Yadollah Rafaat, and Mr. William Maxwell.
[Cable of April 29, 1957]
Shoghi Effendi's cable to the first Convention of North East Asia:
Deeply appreciate message welcome dedication delegates tasks ahead fervently supplicating richest blessings. Deepest love,
Shoghi
(April 29, 1957)