UK Bahá’í News Update
2 September 2022
14 Asmá’ 179 B.E.
Contents:
– Service at the Bahá’í World Centre online meeting
– Holy Days permission letters
– Memorial for Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Charles Dunning
– BIC Addis Ababa: Addressing the disproportionate impact of climate crisis on women
– UK Bahá’í News on WhatsApp
Service at the Bahá’í World Centre online meeting
GC-36757
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To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved Friends,
The National Spiritual Assembly wrote to you in April this year to invite anyone interested to participate in the first of two online meetings designed to offer insights into life and service at the Bahá’í World Centre, along with information about the current staffing requirements. The second of these gatherings will be held on Tuesday, 6 September 2022, at 7.30pm, and will include a presentation by a representative of the Office of Personnel at the World Centre.
At present there is a considerable need for more friends to apply to serve at the Bahá’í World Centre, both those with specialized experience and qualifications and youth eager to offer a year of service. In this light, anyone who might consider serving or would simply like to find out more is encouraged to join the session next week by using the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85299301098?pwd=STNRdWh2ZzN5NzFQVUJyajkyeFBtZz09
Meeting ID: 852 9930 1098
Passcode: 556252
In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to offer to serve, please contact service@bwc.org.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara,
Secretary
Holy Days permission letters
GC-36726
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Download letter for Employers
Download letter for Schools
To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved Friends,
Mindful that work and schooling should be suspended on nine of the Bahá’í Holy Days, as expressed in the quotations below, the National Spiritual Assembly has prepared the enclosed template letters—one for employers and one for schools—providing the dates of Holy Days for the coming year. Please use these at your discretion to request the necessary time off work or school.
The days pertaining to the Abhá Beauty (Bahá’u’lláh) and the Primal Point (the Báb), that is to say these nine days, are the only ones on which work connected with trade, commerce, industry and agriculture is not allowed. In like manner, work connected with any form of employment, whether governmental or otherwise, should be suspended.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in The Bahá’í World Vol VII, p.537
Regarding children: at fifteen a Bahá’í is of age as far as keeping the laws of the Aqdas is concerned—prayer, fasting, etc. But children under fifteen should certainly observe the Bahá’í Holy Days, and not go to school, if this can be arranged, on these nine days.
From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to a National Assembly, dated 25 October 1947
The observance of holy days occupies a central place in every religion. Through their commemoration, the calendar year becomes the stage on which the signal events associated with the life and ministry of the divine Manifestations of God are annually remembered and honoured. This remembrance has both a personal dimension, providing a time for reflection on the significance of these events, and a social dimension, helping to deepen the identity and foster the cohesion of the community.
From the preface of Days of Remembrance
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara,
Secretary
Memorial for Knight of Baháʼu’lláh Charles Dunning
Charles Dunning was 62 years old when he encountered the Faith in Manchester in 1947, and within weeks of declaring himself a Baháʼí, he volunteered to pioneer to Belfast as it was a goal of the Six Year Plan. However he decided first to travel to Cardiff in December 1947 to assist in the teaching work there before moving to Belfast in March 1948. Throughout the rest of his life he went to various pioneering posts and was given the title of Knight of Baháʼu’lláh when he fulfilled one of the goals of the Ten Year Crusade by pioneering to Orkney in 1953. In between his travels he always returned to Cardiff to regain his health, and lived his final years there in a nursing home for the elderly. In anticipation that Charles would end his earthly life in Cardiff, the Local Spiritual Assembly in July 1967 purchased three burial plots in the Western Cemetery in Ely, and on 29 December 1967 Charles was laid to rest.
Over recent years there has been much discussion in the community about replacing the stone on his grave with a more fitting memorial. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Cardiff is pleased to announce that a new stone has finally arrived and is in place, and feels this would be an appropriate time to hold a memorial meeting for Charles Dunning where we can say prayers and share stories from his life. This will include stories shared by Keith Munro from a book on the life of Charles Dunning that he is in the process of completing.
The memorial will take place in the Glanely Hall, next to the Church of the Resurrection in Ely (Grand Avenue, Ely, Cardiff, CF5 4HX) from 3-4pm on Sunday 18 September, after which we can visit his graveside. All are welcome to attend. If you have any further questions, please contact secretary.cardiffassembly@gmail.com.
BIC Addis Ababa: Addressing the disproportionate impact of climate crisis on women
A recent forum held by the Addis Ababa Office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) explored the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on women, emphasizing the principle of equality of women and men as essential to addressing climate change. Read more, here >
UK Bahá’í News on WhatsApp
The opportunity now exists for friends to receive UK Bahá’í News via a WhatsApp broadcast list. News items that appear on this email will be shared via WhatsApp to those friends who might prefer to access them in this way. To register to be added to the broadcast list, kindly use this form >