Dearly loved friends,
For ten years
the International Teaching Centre has rendered invaluable services at the World
Centre of the Faith, and it is with great joy that we now announce a number of
major steps in the evolution of this vital institution of the Administrative
Order of Baha'u'llah.
Since the tragic death of Mr Paul Haney there have been only
two Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land. We have therefore decided to
call upon Dr 'Ali Muhammad Varqa and Mr. Collis Featherstone to participate in
the discharge of the special duties of the Hands of the Cause residing in the
Holy Land when the occasion requires, as for example, in dealing with matters
of Covenant-breaking. They will be able
to perform these functions either by correspondence or by periodic sojourns at
the World Centre.
We have decided to raise the number of resident members of
the International Teaching Centre to nine.
For reasons of health Mrs Florence Mayberry is leaving the World Centre,
bringing to an end her highly valued services on this institution. Four new Counsellor members have therefore
been appointed: Dr Magdalene Carney, Mr
Mas'ud Khamsi, Dr Peter Khan and Mrs Isobel Sabri, whom we now call upon to
transfer their residences to the Holy Land, where they will join the Hands of
the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum and 'Ali-Akbar Furutan and Counsellors
Anneliese Bopp, Hooper Dunbar and 'Aziz Yazdi.
We have further decided, as foreshadowed in previous
announcements, to institute a five-year term for the Counsellor members of the
International Teaching Centre. Each term
will start on 23 May immediately following the International Baha'i Convention,
and the current term will end on 23 May 1988.
Should circumstances prevent the Universal House of Justice from making
new appointments at the end of any five-year term, the Counsellors will remain
in office until such time as new appointments can be made.
With the rapid growth of the Faith, its emergence from
obscurity, and the diversification of the activities that the believers in many
lands must undertake in such fields as education, rural development, radio and
public relations -- matters which must increasingly occupy the attention of the
Universal House of Justice -- we have decided that the time is ripe to devolve
increased responsibility upon the International Teaching Centre in the fields
of protection and propagation of the Faith.
The duties of the International Teaching Centre, including those
announced previously and those now being assigned to it, are as follows:
- To assume full responsibility for co-ordinating, stimulating and directing the Continental Boards of Counsellors, acting also as liaison between them and the Universal House of Justice.
- To be fully informed of the situation of the Cause in all parts of the world and, from this knowledge, to make reports and recommendations to the Universal House of Justice and give advice to the Continental Boards of Counsellors.
- To watch over the security and ensure the protection of the Faith of God.
- To be alert to possibilities for the extension of the teaching work and the development of economic and social life both within and without the Baha'i community, and to draw the attention of the Universal House of Justice and the Continental Boards of Counsellors to such possibilities, making recommendations for action.
- To determine and anticipate needs for literature, pioneers and travelling teachers and to work out teaching plans, both regional and global, for the approval of the Universal House of Justice.
- To direct the work of the Continental Pioneer Committees.
- To administer the expenditure of the International Deputization Fund.
- To administer an annual budget that will be provided from the Baha'i International Fund, allocating therefrom to the Continental Boards of Counsellors monies for special teaching projects and literature subvention, and, when necessary, contributions to the Continental Funds.
The transfer of functions and responsibilities in
implementation of the above decisions will be made gradually as the new members
are able to settle in the Holy Land. National Spiritual Assemblies and
Continental Pioneer Committees will be notified, as necessary, of any changes
in procedure that will be required; in the meantime they should continue to
operate as before.
In the near future the International Teaching Centre will be
moving into its new offices near the House of the Master, in the building which
served for several decades as the Western Pilgrim House, later as the Seat of
the International Baha'i Council and, for the past twenty years as that of the
Universal House of Justice. Now, most befittingly, it will serve as the office
of the International Teaching Centre until the permanent building for that
mighty institution can be raised on Mount Carmel in close proximity to the Universal
House of Justice.
It is our ardent prayer that the decisions now taken will be
blessed by Baha'u'llah and will enable the World Centre of the Faith to
co-ordinate and direct with ever greater effectiveness the self-sacrificing and
assiduous labours of the friends of God in every part of the world during the
challenging years which lie before us.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
The Universal House of Justice
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
