The Guardian regrets that, in the light of the Master's
statement that the deliberations of Assemblies must be secret and confidential,
it is not possible to have a non-Assembly member in the National Spiritual
Assembly meeting. You must always remember that, in matters of principle, there
can be no deviation; in America it may be possible for you to find a wholly
trustworthy believer; but if your Assembly is permitted to have non-Assembly
secretaries present, then the same privilege must be accorded oriental and
Latin American Assemblies; and can these other countries be assured of finding
people of the calibre you have found? Highly personal subjects, damaging to the
honour and happiness of others, are often taken up by National Assemblies, and
the danger that confidence will be betrayed is already great enough with the 9
chosen representatives of the whole Community, let alone introducing
non-Assembly members. You will just have to make your minutes a little more
compact and sacrifice, if necessary, a certain amount of efficiency in order to
follow this very important principle.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 5 July 1950 written
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United
States; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, National Spiritual Assembly)
