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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 144-146
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A NOBLE RECORD OF SERVICE
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No less remarkable has been the share of this community, chiefly
responsible, on the morrow of `Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, for the fixing of
the pattern, the elaboration of the national constitution, and the
erection of the basic institutions, of a divinely conceived Administrative
Order, in the acquisition and establishment, in the course of two brief
years, constituting the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan, of practically
all of the future national administrative headquarters--numbering
over thirty--of Bahá'í national assemblies in four continents of the
globe, involving the expenditure from the National Fund of over a
hundred thousand dollars.
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An effort, hardly less meritorious and equally efficacious and
astonishing, has been exerted by the members of this alert, forward-looking,
ceaselessly laboring community, in the course of the same two-year
period, for the establishment of national Bahá'í endowments in
more than twenty countries of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres,
entailing the expenditure of over twenty thousand dollars.
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In other spheres of Bahá'í activity, related to the prosecution of the
Ten-Year Plan, all of vital importance to the teaching work initiated
under that same Plan, and to the enlargement and consolidation of the
administrative structure of the institutions to be erected in the future,
the accomplishments of the members of this community, during the
first two phases of this world Crusade, have been no less significant.
The establishment of the Bahá'í Publishing Trust; the translation of
Bahá'í literature into more than fifteen languages, both within the
scope of the Ten-Year Plan and outside it, spoken in Europe, Asia,
Latin America and the North American continent; the purchase of the
site of the first dependency of the Mother Temple of the West; the
practical completion of the landscaping of its gardens; the provision of a
considerable part of the material resources required for the purchase of
the sites of future Bahá'í Temples in both the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres, as well as for the construction of the two projected
Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs in the European and African continents; the
guidance given and the aid extended to newly elected national assemblies,
for the efficient conduct of Bahá'í administrative activities and the
prosecution of Bahá'í national plans; the initial visits made by Bahá'í
teachers to countries within the Soviet orbit, foreshadowing the launching
of systematic teaching enterprises in both Europe and Asia; the
assistance given, through financial help as well as through the dispatch
of Bahá'í pioneers, to various Bahá'í communities for the enlargement
of the limits of the Faith and the consolidation of its institutions; and,
last but not least, the purchase of the sacred site of the Síyáh-Chál of
Tihrán, the scene of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's Prophetic Mission, by a
member of that community of Persian descent--these stand out as further
evidences of the enormous share the firmly knit, highly organized,
swiftly advancing, fully dedicated American Bahá'í Community
has had in the prosecution and triumphant progress of the three year
old Ten-Year Plan, and augur well for a no less splendid contribution to
be made, in the years immediately ahead, for the attainment of its
remaining objectives.
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