Serving Our Neighbors
“To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God.”
— Meher Baba
On June 22, 2023, just two months following Murshida Conner’s passing, she was memorialized in the Congressional Record, the official daily archival account of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress.
This significant recognition of the work Meher Baba entrusted to Sufism Reoriented was the most noteworthy of the dozen or more honors bestowed upon her by governmental bodies at the city, county, state and national levels.
“I find all of this encouraging and also very important. The tribute to Murshida in the Congressional Record is particularly significant and worthy of our attention, not just because it is a great public honor, but because the spiritual leader of America’s Sufism Reoriented has been publicly recognized by the national government of the country Meher Baba said would one day lead the world spiritually.”
— Murshid Walker
Sufism’s Legacy of Service
The legacy of Sufism Reoriented’s community service programs had its start with Ivy O. Duce, who was appointed as Sufism’s first murshida by Meher Baba. Beginning quietly in the summer of 1975, Murshida Duce founded an affordable preschool and daycare program for children of working parents, most of whom were single mothers or fathers. Such programs were rare at the time.
The Meher Schools
Originally called The White Pony, the program was the fulfillment of Murshida Duce’s dream for a school based on Meher Baba's principles of love, harmony, beauty, and selfless service to life.
By 2003 when the program was separately incorporated as The Meher Schools, the preschool had expanded to include kindergarten and elementary grades. After fifty years,The Meher Schools continues to serve more than 300 children ages two through fifth grade with the understanding that...
“Love Nurtures Learning”
Service Programs Founded by Murshida Conner
“The service programs I have created in our community are not social work or ‘charity’. They are pursued in emulation of Meher Baba’s service programs begun in the 1920s and carried forward today. They give expression to the Truth that all are One. When we work in this spirit, He can use each occasion to spread the spark of His love and uplift all.”
— Murshida Conner
