ISGP 2019

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Dear Bahá’í Friends,  
 
The National Spiritual Assembly is delighted to announce that the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP) is now accepting applications for first-year participants in its 2019 seminar for Bahá’í undergraduate students from the above regions, to be held at Brentwood College on Vancouver Island, British Columbia from 15 to 25 August 2019. This seminar serves students from the provinces and territories noted above, as another will be held from 3 to 13 May at Louhelen Bahá’í School in Davison, Michigan, U.S. for students from the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut. 
 
We would appreciate your assistance in distributing the attached announcement to the entire community, and particularly to Baha’is aged 17 to 25 who are entering their first or second year of university or college, lovingly encouraging them to participate. It is our hope that all youth will be made aware of the opportunity to participate in the programme. We also hope that parents will offer encouragement to their children to take part in a process that supports students through their challenging undergraduate years and develops capacity to be agents of social change.  
 
The fee of $590 to participate in the seminar includes food and accommodation, with the remainder of the actual costs of the seminar being subsidized by the National Assembly.  If youth who wish to participate are unable to afford this amount, they are urged to write to the ISGP coordinator in British Columbia at isgp.bc@gmail.com to apply for assistance. As in past years, the National Assembly does not wish financial constraints to be an obstacle to anyone’s participation, and warmly encourages those who are not able to pay the entire amount to seek available assistance by contacting the coordinator.  
 
As noted in the attached announcement, interested youth should complete and submit the online application at https://goo.gl/forms/ErAfS93sxa7yJtHG3 no later than 28 April 2019. Inquiries regarding the August 2019 seminar may also be addressed to isgp.bc@gmail.com. It is the National Assembly’s ardent hope that cohort after cohort of Canada’s youth will benefit from this programme, which has exerted such a powerful and transformative influence on its participants, and further, on the communities they serve. 
 
With loving Baha’i greetings,
Karen McKye, Secretary​

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Group Visits to the Shrine in Montreal

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

We are delighted to advise you that the program of group visits to the Shrine in Montreal has now launched, with the first formally-registered group having visited in February from the Rundle neighbourhood in Alberta. The joy that these friends experienced and that they brought to the community in Montreal was a wonderful start to what we hope will become a regular feature of Canada’s spiritual life.

A team has been appointed to assist groups from neighbourhoods or clusters to coordinate visits to this sacred spot and become acquainted with the places that 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited during His stay in Canada. A website is under construction that will share information and offer the opportunity to register for such a group visit.  For the time being, those wishing to register to visit in a group should apply by email at montrealshrinegroups@gmail.com. Of course, individuals wishing to visit the Shrine may do so without registering during the regular hours that the Shrine is open, which can be found on the Canadian Bahá'í website at https://www.bahai.ca/bahai-shrine-in-montreal/.

We take this opportunity to remind you of the wonderful news received two years ago that the Holy Places at the Bahá'í World Centre had been made more accessible to a greater number and diversity of friends. For those unable to go to the World Centre, and those who can do both, it is the National Spiritual Assembly’s hope that wave upon wave of friends might take advantage of this opportunity to visit Montreal, becoming the means whereby, in the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, “the melody of the Kingdom may travel to all parts of the world from that Dominion and the breaths of the Holy Spirit may spread from that center to the East and the West of America.”

With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Karen McKye, Secretary

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News of Community Properties Fund

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Please click here to open the National Spiritual Assembly's message.

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Opportunity to Observe 2019 National Convention

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Dear Bahá’í Friends,

We are writing to seek your assistance in informing the friends of the opportunity to attend the 2019 National Convention as observers. The Convention will take place at the Toronto Bahá’í Centre, 288 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario from Friday, 26 April beginning at 7:00 p.m. to Monday, 29 April ending at 1:00 p.m. Observers will view the Convention consultation through an audio-visual link one floor above the Convention hall and will have an opportunity to interact directly with delegates during breaks in the proceedings.

All Bahá’ís in good standing who are able to attend on a self-supporting basis are welcome to register at https://goo.gl/forms/V0vtiuBvifSYNsLY2 no later than 11 April. Registrations will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis. Further information is attached.

It may also be of interest to the friends to know that the National Spiritual Assembly again plans to offer access to National Convention deliberations through live-streaming over the internet.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Karen McKye, Secretary

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Compilation on Prayer and Devotional Life

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Dear Bahá’í Friends,

We are very happy to share with you the attached newly-released compilation on prayer and devotional life; kindly arrange for its wide distribution.  It is also available in the compilation section of the Bahá’í Reference Library.  A French version will be circulated as soon as one is available.

In its covering letter dated 28 February 2019, the Department of the Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice shared the following about this compilation:

“As the friends intensify their efforts to pursue the last Plan of the series of Plans that end in 2021, a year that marks the centenary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the inauguration of the Formative Age, signs of the enrichment of the devotional life of the community are manifest. Devotional activities are everywhere multiplying and are increasingly being integrated into the core of community life. To add further stimulus to this signal development and to help the friends take full advantage of the period of special potency during which the bicentennial anniversaries of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh and of the Báb are commemorated, the Universal House of Justice has directed us to enclose a compilation of extracts on prayer and devotional life drawn from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and from the letters of the Guardian and the House of Justice.

“It is the hope of the House of Justice that this compilation, prepared by the Research Department at its request, will be studied widely and will be of assistance to individuals, families, and communities as they strive to evoke the spirit of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in the creation of occasions where any soul may inhale the divine fragrances, experience the elevating power of prayer, and be drawn together with others in fellowship and common cause.”

With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Karen McKye, Secretary
 

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