Ms. Elizabeth Rochester
Presentations by Ms. Elizabeth Rochester
The speaker asserts that the primary responsibility of the Local Spiritual assembly is establishing unity. This requires upholding the laws of The Faith and equality is included here. Assembly members must constantly deepen themselves in The Writings, to meet these mandates. She goes on to say that The Assembly must listen to community members and respond, even if this may bring about conflict. The Assembly's agenda should include room for discussing the education of children and budgeting equal resources for bringing about the equality of women.
Who are the friends of Baha’u’llah? He [Baha’u’llah] says that we the Baha’is are his friends.
“The manifestation of God for today, wronged by the world, wronged by most of his family, turned his heart to us and called us his friends.”
How is it possible to imagine being a friend to the manifestation of God? Are we as Baha’is, as individuals worthy of such a relationship with God?
It is written in the Long Obligatory prayer,
Mrs. Elizabeth Rochester speaks about how to educate family members to achieve equality within the family. She explained why we need to learn how to be an equal marriage partners. The family’s equality learning influences the entire world to move towards equality. Education for equality in the Bahá'í Faith may be the most important task of family education. She recommends that each of us make it part of our goals for spiritual education. She quotes Bahá'u'lláh “The purpose of God in creating man hath been and will ever be to enable Him to know His Creator and to attain His presence".
Ms. Rochester explains that education for equality has to include mothers, fathers, teachers, and the Local Spiritual Assemblies. She summarizes the three most important needs of the Bahá'í Community. She briefly reviews the role of women in past religious dispensations and reminds us that there will be no peace in the world until the principle of the equality of women with men takes place. She advises that the finest Bahá'í teachers should be sought out for our children and that parents should have access to the same materials their children are studying so that they can be more helpful.