New Beginnings

This week in history: September 28-October 4

• True Parents introduce “My Pledge” which later becomes the “Family Pledge”
• True Father begins the 21-city “Day of Hope” tour
• True Father launches Ocean Church
• HSA-UWC Japan is founded
• True Parents proclaim a new Holy Day: Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World
• True Father is released from Seodaemun Prison
• The Unification Church obtains legal status in Korea
• True Father proclaims the Day of the Victory of Heaven

October 1, 1962

True Parents Introduce “My Pledge”

Following the Holy Blessing of 36 Couples in 1961, True Parents introduced an abbreviated version of what became “My Pledge” on October 1, 1962. “My Pledge” consisted of five statements that affirmed Unification faith and commitments. It was a staple of Unification devotional life, regularly recited on Sunday mornings, the first day of the month, and on Holy Days from its introduction until 1994, when it was superseded by the “Family Pledge.”

October 1, 1973

True Father Kicks Off the 21-City “Day of Hope” Speaking Tour at Carnegie Hall

True Father conducted four “Day of Hope” speaking tours in the United States between 1972 and 1974. The initial 7-city tour served to unite Unificationists of the several groups created by missionaries during the 1960s. The second 21-city tour began the process of catapulting the Unification Church into the public limelight. More than 400 Unificationists, including missionaries from Europe and Japan, came to New York City to publicize True Father’s talks, which began at Carnegie Hall on October 1, 1973, with “Christianity in Crisis: New Hope.” In addition to mass leafleting, the event was advertised in newspaper and magazine ads, on bus and commuter train posters, and in professionally made radio announcements.

The results were remarkable. In New York, the event attracted widespread media coverage. The New York Daily News carried a large photo and article on a Day of Hope rally on the steps of Federal Hall on Wall Street. Time, Newsweek and Christianity Today all carried stories on the campaign. A generally positive Associated Press feature story appeared in 79 newspapers throughout the United States. Two hundred and fifty prominent New Yorkers attended the inaugural “Day of Hope” banquet at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Telegrams of congratulations were read from the New York City mayor and several U.S. congressmen. Afterward, two 40-member International One World Crusade (IOWC) advance teams prepared for each of the remaining cities on the tour.

October 1, 1980

True Father Launches Ocean Church

In late summer of 1980 True Father sponsored the first World Tuna Tournament in the fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to stimulate interest among Americans, particularly young people, in the ocean. Then, on October 1, 1980, he established Ocean Church. He chose 24 Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) graduates and 60 Unificationists in supporting roles to pioneer 24 port cities on the East, West and Gulf coasts. He directed them to build a foundation of sixty Unificationists, at which point they were to order ten 28-foot “Good Go” fiberglass boats from the Unification Church-owned fleet and one large stern trawler. He advised the Ocean Church pioneers to “visit the Coast Guard chief, police chief and mayor,” telling them that “your sole concern is to revive the fishing industry in America.” True Father told them that their boats “will be your churches.” Unificationists, he said, “will have a regular spiritual life” and “catch more fish than anyone else in the area, even more than people who have been fishing for many years.”

October 2, 1959

HSA-UWC Japan Is Founded

Missionary Sang-ik “Papa-san” Choi (fourth from left) on his way back to Japan following his first visit to Korea in seven years.

Missionary Choi and participants during the first special workshop held in Japan in 1963.

Sang-ik “Papa-san” Choi, known to Japanese Unificationists as Mr. Nishikawa, planted the seeds for the Unification Church in Japan from 1958 to 1964. Because Korea and Japan did not have diplomatic relations, he was arrested upon arrival in June 1958. Escaping confinement, he made his way to Tokyo where, after six months of struggle, he got a job as a salesman for a watch shop in the Shinjuku section. During the morning he worked. In the afternoon he witnessed. Once a week he rented the second floor of the shop to preach. On Sunday, October 2, 1959, he conducted the first Sunday service. The Unification Church of Japan commemorates this as its founding day.

October 3, 1988

True Parents Proclaim Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World

True Parents proclaimed a new Holy Day, Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World, on October 3, 1988, immediately following the completion of the Seoul Olympic Games. True Father explained that an ideal world must be achieved through external and internal unification. According to True Father, the key to external unification was the unity between democracy and communism, symbolically realized through the 1988 Seoul Olympics. To achieve internal unification, True Parents declared the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World. True Father envisioned the end of all national divisions and boundaries, saying that one day humankind no longer would need visas.

Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World had additional symbolic significance, as October 3 is a national holiday in the Republic of Korea, also known as Tangun Day. It observes the legendary founding of the Korean nation in 2333 B.C.E. In effect, True Parents universalized what had been a national holiday. True Parents also selected October 3 as the day to establish the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC) in 2003 as a new, Abel-like United Nations. True Father appropriately spoke on the topic “The New Elimination of Boundaries and World Peace.” In 2007, True Parents changed the name of the day from Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World to Foundation Day for the Nation of Cosmic Unity, also referred to as the Foundation Day for the Unified Nation of Heaven and Earth. This indicated that the providence had advanced beyond the world to the cosmic level and that humankind could become “citizens of heaven.”

October 4, 1955

True Father Is Released from Seodaemun Prison

On July 4, 1955, True Father and four Unification Church leaders were arrested on charges of illegal confinement and violation of military regulations, stemming from work on Seoul’s Ewha Women’s University campus. This followed the dismissal of professors and expulsion of students who had joined the church. True Father was convicted and sent to Seodaemun Prison, a facility constructed by Japanese colonial authorities for the confinement and torture of Korean nationalists. True Father’s conviction was overturned on appeal, and he was released after three months on October 4, 1955. According to True Father, a number of prison officials “became part of our Unification family” following his release.

October 4, 1963

Unification Church Obtains Legal Standing in Korea

True Father and four disciples founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), or Unification Church, in May 1954. However, the church did not obtain legal standing until October 4, 1963. In effect, it was an underground church, particularly during the Syngman Rhee presidency (1948-60). After Rhee’s ouster, there was more openness, especially as a result of the church’s efforts to promote literacy among Korea’s village population and its campaign to arm police ideologically against communism. The church continued to face opposition and harassment, but it had surmounted legal barriers to its existence and development.

October 4, 1976

The Day of Victory of Heaven

True Father holding a replica of the Washington Monument during the post-rally celebrations.

A little more than two weeks after the Washington Monument Rally and on the 26^th anniversary of his release from Seodaemun Prison, True Father proclaimed the Day of the Victory of Heaven before several thousand Unificationists at Belvedere. He stated that the Washington Monument Rally was an “unqualified victory” and that barriers in the spirit world had been broken down. This, he said, “will be reflected in the physical world.” He predicted that the Unification Church would “take off in leaps and bounds from now,” and he discussed prospects in evangelism, business and educational activities. In fact, the Washington Monument campaign was a watershed event in the history of the Unification Church in America. It closed out the initial proclamation period of True Father’s ministry and opened the way for new initiatives in evangelism, education, interfaith relations, business, media and public life. The Unification Church began to develop an infrastructure that greatly expanded its ability to exert influence in the United States and elsewhere.

This Week in History briefly lists significant events in the history of the Unification Church, the lives of the Founders, and world events that are momentous to Unificationists. Most items are marked according to the solar calendar. Items marked “H.C.” correspond to the Cheon-gi or Heavenly Calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. This installment covers the week of September 28 to October 4.