Declaring God’s Blessing

This week in history, June 28-July 4:

• The Washington Declaration is made (June 29, 2003)
• 2,075 couples receive the Holy Marriage Blessing (July 1, 1982)
• The Declaration of God’s Eternal Blessing is proclaimed (July 1, 1991)
• True Father holds a 23.5-hour Hoon Dok Hwe (July 1, 2010)
• True Father is arrested in Ewha Womans University incident (July 4, 1955)
• 1,440,000 second generation Christian youth and world religious youth receive the Holy Marriage Blessing (July 3, 2002)
• True Father is transferred from Danbury to Phoenix House (July 4, 1985)
• Leading newspapers in all fifty states began publishing “A Cloud of Witnesses” (July 4, 2002)

June 29, 2003

Washington Declaration

The Washington Declaration was the second in a series of three declarations, the others being the Jerusalem Declaration (May 18, 2003) and the Seoul Declaration (August 15, 2003), which were offered on the foundation of the First, Second and Third Israels. Each of the declarations focused on interreligious reconciliation and peace. Together they led to True Parents’ “Declaration Ceremony for the Beginning of the Nation of the Fourth Israel” on August 20, 2003.

July 1, 1982

Holy Blessing of 2,075 Couples

A large percentage of American Unificationists participated in a record-setting Marriage Blessing of 2,075 Couples officiated by True Parents at New York’s Madison Square Garden. This number eclipsed the previous record of 1,800 couples wed by True Parents in 1975, which the Guinness World Records reference book recorded as the largest mass wedding in history. Engagement ceremonies of 705 couples in May 1979, 843 couples in December 1980 and 653 couples in June 1982 led up to the ceremony. More than 60 percent of the couples were either interracial or cross-cultural. With this event, the U.S. church demographics went from primarily single people to mostly married people virtually overnight.

July 1, 1991

Declaration Day of God’s Eternal Blessing

True Father proclaimed the Declaration Day of God’s Eternal Blessing (Chil Il Jeol) at a special ceremony at True Parents’ residence in Seoul’s Hannam-dong neighborhood. On that day, True Father began a new era in which blessed families, as tribal messiahs, inherited True Parents’ realm of victory. At the ceremony True Father prayed, “I have designated this day, the first day of July, to be the one on which we can apply and declare ourselves to be tribal messiahs across the world.”  He said that Unificationist families no longer belong to any nationality but are members of the Royal Family. He advised Unificationists to create a new spiritual attitude and train themselves to overcome their fallen nature in working with their hometown communities.

July 1, 2010

True Father Holds 23.5-Hour Hoon Dok Hwe

True Father, at age 90, hosted a historic Hoon Dok Hwe that lasted twenty-three and a half hours, speaking on the topic of “God Is the Owner and Victor” to Japanese women participating in a forty-day workshop for “world ocean leaders” at Blue Sea Garden in Yeosu, Korea.

July 4, 1955

True Father Arrested in Ewha Womans University Incident

In late 1954 and early 1955, the newly founded Unification Church witnessed successfully on the campuses of Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University in Seoul. Nearly 400 students connected to the church, at which point Ewha President Helen Kim and Vice President Maria Park spearheaded a crackdown. Five Ewha University faculty members, including Dr. Young Oon Kim and Won Pok Choi, who had joined the church, were fired. Students were given the choice to discontinue association with the church or be expelled. Fourteen students accepted expulsion. Finally, as a result of an orchestrated defamation campaign, True Father, Won Pil Kim, Church President Hyo Won Eu and two of Mr. Eu’s relatives were arrested. True Father spent three months in Seoul’s Seodaemun prison before being freed on appeal.

July 3, 2002

Holy Blessing of 1,440,000 Second Generation Christian Youth and World Religious Youth

True Parents officiated at a series of Interfaith Marriage Blessings centered on the American Clergy Leadership Conference (est. 2000) and the ACLC’s “We Will Stand in Oneness” 50-state speaking tour (2001). The first of these was an Interfaith Marriage Blessing of sixty clergy couples presided over by True Parents in the Cotillion Room of the Hilton Hotel in New York City on May 27, 2001, which included, most prominently, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. The second was a blessing of 144,000 clergy couples, 700 of whom gathered as representative couples at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, on April 27, 2002. The third was the Holy Blessing of 1,440,000 Second Generation Christian Youth and World Religious Youth on July 3, 2002. Seven hundred couples jammed the representative venue at the Sheraton National Hotel. A U.S. congressman offered a congratulatory address. World religious representatives, including a Native American chief, offered prayers. This time, the Nation of Islam brought 40 couples, the Sikhs 20 and the Hindus 20 in addition to other groups that “brought their lineages before heaven.”

July 4, 1985

True Father Transferred from Danbury to Phoenix House

After serving nearly 12 months in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut, True Father was transferred to Phoenix House, a halfway facility in Brooklyn, New York, where he served the final 45 days of his 18-month sentence, getting five months off for good behavior. True Father was permitted to leave the house at 7:00 a.m. each morning and was required to return by 11:00 p.m. During the day he was free to direct church affairs.

July 4, 2002

“A Cloud of Witnesses: The Saints’ Testimonies to the True Parents”

Leading newspapers in all fifty states began publishing “A Cloud of Witnesses” spirit world messages in ad space purchased by the Unification movement. The spirit world messages were the result of “seminars in the spirit world,” initially for the four religious founders (Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad) and subsequently for “120 Christians Who Illuminated History,” 120 leaders each from Buddhist, Confucian and Muslim traditions, and 120 communists. They also included a “Letter from God.” The seminars were led by Dr. Sang Hun Lee (d. 1997) and channeled through Mrs. Young Soon Kim. True Father authorized the messages, stating they “should be considered to be from me.” The “cloud” testimonies were direct about True Parents’ position as the savior of all humankind and controversial among clergy associated with the movement. However, they also provided an opportunity for education. The movement convened “National Ministers Workshops” for several hundred clergy. As one leader put it, “The trial of the Cloud of Witnesses led to a Divine Principle movement within the clergy.”