Message from the Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland

Dearest friends,

Warmest love and greetings from the Baha'i Council for Northern Ireland. What exciting times we are living in! The Counsellors of the world and some 849 Auxiliary Board Members have just returned from the World Centre to their 172 countries after participating in the ceremony to mark the occupation by the International Teaching Centre of its permanent seat. In a few short months we shall witness the momentous official opening of the Terraces on Mount Carmel. Meanwhile the Baha'i World stands at the threshold of a new global Five Year Plan of our beloved Universal House of Justice. How wonderful a bounty to be alive and to serve in these never-to-be-repeated days.

Closer to home, the Bahá'í Council is slowly coming to terms with the honour and responsibility placed upon it by those who took part in its first election and how this act forever binds us with the Assemblies around Northern Ireland. One of our earliest tasks was to set a budget for the coming year. With this in mind we had the pleasure of meeting with our National Treasurer, Dr Kishan Manocha, and the financial manager of the Office of the Treasurer - Farzin Yourtchi. We finally agreed a budget of some £36,000 of which we hope to raise a substantial proportion from within the community here. This shows a mark of confidence in the community and our hopes that activities throughout Northern Ireland will increase through expansion and further consolidation of our communities. We hope to meet with our Counsellors Mr Patrick O'Mara and Mr Shahriar Razavi in order to share our plans and strategies for the future.

We are asking every Bahá'í to keep Saturday March the 31st free for a Northern Ireland-wide Conference when we can share thoughts and ideas and meet with the whole community as well as, we hope, one of our Counsellors. Details of this meeting will be circulated in due course.

We have a change of Editor for CommuNIqué. This change has become necessary since Edwin Graham's election as Secretary of the Council. We would like to thank Edwin for the sterling work with the editorship in the past. Our new editor is Dr Keith Munro and we wish him well with this important responsibility. He has requested prayers for strength and steadfastness in carrying out this essential function.

At the time of writing three of our hard won Assemblies are under numbers, namely: Cookstown, Craigavon and Lisburn. We ask that you prayerfully consider any ways in which you might support these 'beacons of light.' Already the Council has decided to send its representatives to meet with these communities to offer our wholehearted support both spiritual and material in order to return these essential communities to full strength.

"That which He hath reserved for Himself are the cities of men's hearts; and of these the loved ones of Him Who is the Sovereign Truth are, in this Day, as the keys. Please God they may, one and all, be enabled to unlock, through the power of the Most Great Name, the gates of these cities."

With warmest Bahá'í love,
Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland