1927 (In the year)
192- |
The formation of a Bahá'í Youth Group in Montreal, perhaps the first in the Western World. [OBCC78, 85]
Some of the members were: Mary Maxwell, George Spendlove, Rowland Estall, Emeric Sala, Mary Gillis, (later Rosemary Sala), Teddy Edwards Alizade, Norman McGregor, Judie Russell Blakely, Dorothy and Glen Wade, Edward Dewing, Gerrard Sluter, David Hofman, Rena Gordon and Eddie Elliot.
The Bahá'í youth group was a social club organized by Ruhiyyih Khanum called the "Fratority Club." By this word, Ruhiyyih Khanum meant to put together the words "fraternity" and "sorority" and had invited to belong to it people, mostly young students at McGill, who would otherwise not have been able to find membership in the exclusive fraternities and sororities around the campus. [Black Roses in Canada's Mosaic:
Four Decades of Black History by Will C. van den Hoonaard and Lynn Echevarria-Howe]
When advised of the formation of this group Shoghi Effendi replied, in part
...I urge them to study profoundly the revealed utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and the discourses of Àbdu'l-Bahá and not to rely unduly on the representations and interpretation of the Teaching given by the Bahá'í speakers and teachers. [MtC30-31]
A Bahá'í youth group had been started in California in 1912, but the Montreal group was the first in North America to systematically study the Teachings—an exercise that had a long—lasting influence on the development and growth of the Bahá'í community in Canada and elsewhere. Members of the group would later distinguish themselves as some of the best-known teachers, administrators, pioneers, and writers of the Bahá'í Faith. [BWM46] |
Youth Group; George Spendlove; Rowland Estall; Emeric Sala; Rosemary Sala; Teddy Edwards Alizade; Norman McGregor; Judie Blakely; Russell Blakely; Dorothy Wade; Glen Wade; Edward Dewing; Gerrard Sluter-Schlutius; David Hofman; Rena Gordon; Eddie Elliot; Montreal, QC |
first Bahá'í Youth Group in Montreal |
Canada
