Before I provide some details about my personal experience in becoming an Orthodox Bahá'í, I want to discuss briefly the general historical context that led to my decision to be an Orthodox Bahá'í.

Upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, one of Rúhíyyih Khánum's first messages to the friends began Shoghi Effendi beloved of all hearts sacred trust given believers by Master passed away sudden heart attack in sleep following Asiatic flu, urge believers remain steadfast cling institution Hands lovingly reared recently reinforced emphasized beloved Guardian." Note that this was BEFORE anyone had gone looking for a will and testament that Shoghi Effendi may have written. Indeed, it was before Shoghi Effendi had even been laid to rest.

From that point on, the focus within the Faith was on the Hands of the Cause. The focus certainly was not on the International Bahá'í Council that Shoghi Effendi had brought into being prior to naming any Hands of the Faith and which he had stated was potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since the inception of the Administrative Order of the Faith on the morrow of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá's Ascension."

And by 1960 the plans of the Hands (and note that I said the plans were those of the Hands) were well underway. They were the ones who had constituted a body of nine Hands to serve at the Bahá'í World Center." They were the ones who indicated that they would decide when and how the International Bahá'í Council is to evolve." They were the ones who had decided that when the Universal House of Justice that they devised came into being that that body could re-examine the conditions of the Faith and determine_ on consultation with the Hands of the Cause"_the measures required for the future operation of the Faith. (The Will of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, of course, does not give a clue that the Hands of the Cause, who are appointed by and subservient to the Guardian of the Faith, would ever have consultative status with the UHJ. Thus, when Mason Remey made his Proclamation, the remaining Hands did everything in their power to see to it that the believers would see the elements of that Proclamation in the worst possible light, and they portrayed Mason Remey as a sick, tired old man who experienced an "emotional disturbance" and therefore what he had to say should not be given any attention.)

My Experience:

I made my declaration as a Bahá'í just one year prior to Mason Remey's proclamation. I had met the Faith in 1957-8 when I served with the USAREUR Headquarters Band in Heidelberg, Germany. Daniel Jordan, who was some years later to serve on the Wilmette NSA and then still later was tragically murdered in New York City, was also in the band, and he and his wife Nancy introduced other band members and me to the Faith. It was upon my return to the states in 1958 that I began investigation into the Faith in earnest and encountered my future wife at the Bahá'í Center, where I was made most welcome by all the friends. In April of 1959 I made my declaration; in August I married Carole Rhodes; and then in April of 1960 Mason Remey made his Proclamation.

It is at this point that I should note that my wife's mother, Marion Brainerd Rhodes, had been a Bahá'í since 1928, and following my declaration to the LSA she took me in hand. Knowing that I had asked the members of the LSA how I was to reconcile the fact that there was then no Guardian of the Faith in evidence, but the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá called for a Guardian to be the head of the Faith, she insisted that we go through the Will and Testament line- by-line. (The LSA members had simply answered my question by saying that it was something I would have to accept on faith.) Because Mom Rhodes spoon-fed me the Will and Shoghi Effendi's Dispensation," I--along with her and her son and my wife--readily turned to Mason Remey. I subsequently tendered by resignation from the Wilmette/Haifa organization.

We thought at the time that we should explain to others the basis of our decision, and both Carole's mother and I developed papers that we could send out to others so as to provide them with our perspectives on the matter. We very soon learned, though, that because of the way the Remey Proclamation was dismissed by the Hands and the Wilmette NSA, almost all the other Bahá'ís were not interested in reading our material or in discussing the matter with us, and soon thereafter we were identified as Covenant-breakers.

However, before the U.S. Supplement to "Bahá'í News" was printed that said we were engaged in Covenant-breaking activities, we did find numbers of individuals in another community within the state who were interested in what we had to say. We thus got together with them and discussed what the second Guardian had said in his Proclamation, related his views to what was provided in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and "The Dispensation" of Shoghi Effendi, and dealt with such issues as the evolution of the International Bahá'í Council through the stages identified by Shoghi Effendi to its efflorescence into the Universal House of Justice.

We questioned how the Hands of the Faith could maintain that "the appointed phase" of the International Bahá'í Council" made Mr. Remey "the temporary President," that the appointed phase "would no longer exist with the same identity after it was democratically elected from among the believers of the Bahá'í world." We emphasized the January 9, 1951 Proclamation of Shoghi Effendi, and we went over the various statements about the Guardianship in "The Dispensation." We pointed out the praises that ‘Abdu'l-Bahá Himself had made of Mason Remey, and we dealt with terminology, focusing on such words as "temporary" and "dissolve" that the Hands used to refer to the Presidency of the Council and of the Council itself. And, of course, we gave full consideration to the word "branch" as it appears throughout the Will of the Master.

It was our joy that within a month eight of the nine members of the local assembly for that community pledged the support of the assembly to Mason Remey. Unfortunately, though, we didn't find others who were willing to listen to what we had to say or, for that matter, even to consider that there might be an alternative to the course of action that had been taken by the Hands of the Cause, whom they now looked to as their collegial guardianship. Instead, doors were slammed in our faces, or we were left standing on porches with no opportunity provided for discussion.

So what will you do if you should come to the conclusion that the members of the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith have provided a truer course of action in relation to the writings of the Faith than that of the Hands and the institution which they call the Universal House of Justice but which is minus its "sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body"? If you are within the organization under the Haifa UHJ, I think you will want to consider the various possibilities provided by the Orthodox Bahá'ís who here describe their experiences in joining the Orthodox Faith.

In any event, if you have the qualifications spelled out by Shoghi Effendi on page 90 of "Bahá'í Administration," and if you believe in the continuing Guardianship of the Faith (that is, you feel that the Faith must have a living Guardian to comply with what ‘Abdu'l-Bahá provided in His Will and Testament and what Shoghi Effendi described in "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh"), you will be welcome in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith.