He feels
that your Assembly should also look around for a suitable and permanent
Haziratu'l-Quds in Toronto, and try and dispose of the one you have
without loss, if possible, in order to enable you to acquire the new and
he hopes permanent one at once.

As regards the matter of those who have withdrawn from the Faith ....: as
you know, no one has the right to excommunicate anybody except the
Guardian of the Faith, himself. Those people who have withdrawn from the
Faith, though critical of it and disgruntled, are not necessarily
Covenant-breakers. If they were associating with Ahmad Sohrab(58) and
upholding his claims actively, then they would come into an entirely
different category. If this is the case, you should inform the Guardian,
but otherwise the friends should be advised to just leave these people
alone, for their influence can be nothing but negative and destructive,
and the less they breathe the breath, so to speak, of those who have
turned their back on the light of this Faith, the better.

It is not enough to bring people into the Faith, one must educate them and
deepen their love for it and their knowledge of its teachings, after they
declare themselves. As the Baha'is are few in number, especially the
active teachers, and there is a great deal of work to be done, the
education of these new believers is often sadly neglected, and then
results are seen such as the resignations you have had recently. In this
respect, the Summer Schools can be of the greatest help to the friends,
new and old Baha'is alike, for in them they can study, and enjoy the
feeling of Baha'i companionship which is, alas, usually lacking in their
home communities, owing to the smallness of their numbers.

He is very happy to see that the friends are making every effort to
execute the provisions of the Ten Year Plan, as they apply to the Canadian
Community. The most urgent of all tasks facing them in connection with the
execution of their part of the Ten Year Plan is to increase the number of
Spiritual Assemblies.

DEADLY INFLUENCE OF MATERIALISTIC CIVILIZATION

The Baha'is should realize that today's intensely materialistic
civilization, alas, most perfectly exemplified by the United States, has
far exceeded the bounds of moderation, and, as Baha'u'llah has pointed out
in His Writings, civilization itself, when carried to extremes, leads to
destruction. The Canadian friends should be on their guard against this
deadly influence