Hope and Unification

This week in history, January 17-23:

• The Day of Hope banquet is held (January 17, 1974)
• UTS is granted its absolute charter (January 17, 1990)
• The Global Expansion of True Families speaking tour is held (January 17, 1999)
• The Saddest Day (January 18, 1951)
• Reiner Vincenz ascends to the spirit world (January 18, 2015)
• The Cheong Pyeong Providence begins (January 19, 1995)
• The first Victory Over Communism Asian Rally is held (January 21, 1970)
• The Barrytown property is purchased (January 21, 1974)
• The Unification Church in Paris is bombed (January 22, 1976)
• WFWP hold sisterhood ceremonies (January 22 – March 8, 1995)
• America honors Rev. Moon on his 80th birthday (January 22, 2000)
• 21-day seminar for Soviet students starts in Hungary (January 23, 1991)

January 17, 1974

Day of Hope Banquet in San Francisco and Proclamation of “Hope and Unification Week” in Oakland

Perry Cordill, International One World Crusade (IOWC) team leader in 1973, leads one of the rallies for the Day of Hope Tours, 1973.

On January 17, 1974, the San Francisco Day of Hope banquet attracted more than 500 guests to Benjamin Swig’s Fairmont Hotel. In Berkeley, where Rev. Moon spoke at Zellerbach Auditorium on the University of California campus, The Daily Californian reported, “Rev. Moon’s followers have waged one of the neatest and best-run publicity campaigns seen here in years.” In San Jose, January 17-24, 1974, was proclaimed “Hope and Unification Week,” while in Oakland, Mayor John H. Reading proclaimed the period from January 21-24, 1974, as “Day of Hope Days.” Single days of “Hope and Unification” were proclaimed in Berkeley and Hayward, and on January 21, 1974, Rev. Moon was awarded the key to the city of Berkeley by Mayor Warren Widener.

January 17, 1990

UTS Obtains Absolute Charter

David S.C. Kim with Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Unification Theological Seminary.

Unification Theological Seminary was granted its absolute charter by the New York State Board of Regents on January 17, 1990. This was the culmination of a fifteen-year struggle with the State of New York since the seminary’s first application. Because of the controversy surrounding the church, the application process was prolonged and UTS was denied in 1978. UTS took the matter to court, claiming discrimination and unfair treatment, narrowly losing a 4-3 decision of the New York State Court of Appeals in 1981. Reapplication for the charter was made in April 1984. On November 21, 1986, the New York State Board of Regents approved by a 12-2 vote the seminary’s provisional charter. UTS petitioned for its absolute charter in May 1989, and this was granted eight months later by a 14-0 vote. Since 1986, UTS was able to grant degrees to its graduates so long as the state approved. From 1990, UTS was able to grant degrees unconditionally.

January 17, 1999

Global Expansion of True Families Speaking Tour

The Global Expansion of True Families speaking tour was held on January 17, 1999, in the Olympic Park Weight Lifting Stadium in Seoul. In his speech True Father emphasized, “True love is the beginning point of creation, and we must fulfill true families centered around true love.” The speaking tour, which covered eight cities around Korea, continued until January 25, and the tour was completed successfully with 80,000 participants in total. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

January 18, 1951

The Saddest Day

Refugees from North Korea.

There have been many “saddest days” in God’s providence. During morning devotions in 2012, True Father referred to one of his early sermons, “Hometown We Miss,” in which he spoke about his life in Heung Nam labor camp in North Korea and his journey to the South. He said then, “January 18 … is the saddest day for me.” He explained that he had offered great devotion to his followers in North Korea “in front of Heaven … but all of them betrayed me.” True Father recalled that he “wrote a long letter expressing heavenly love and tried to get in contact with them three times” following his release, “but they returned my third letter to me.” True Father left North Korea carrying that letter with him. He carried it until he crossed a bridge in Yeongcheon City in Gyeongsang Province in the southeast part of the Korean Peninsula. There he tore up the letter after having read it again and proceeded to Pusan where he restarted his mission in the South.

January 18, 2015

Rev. Reiner Vincenz’s Ascension

Rev. Reiner Vincenz, one of the Unification movement’s most respected and beloved elders, ascended to the spirit world on Sunday, January 18, 2015. Born in East Germany, Rev. Vincenz escaped to West Germany at age 17. He was the first person to join the Unification Church in Europe, joining under Peter Koch in 1963. He became the first missionary to France and served as its national leader until 1972, when True Father called him to the United States. Rev. Vincenz led European and international members of the International One World Crusade (IOWC), which supported True Father’s Day of Hope campaigns in the United States, Japan and Korea. True Father selected Rev. Vincenz to lead the Yeouido rally campaign, which brought more than one million attendees to the rally at Seoul’s Yeouido Island Plaza in 1975. After returning to the United States, he was put in charge of the New Yorker hotel’s restoration and was made one of the leaders responsible for the Washington Monument rally. Rev. Vincenz returned to Germany as national leader in 1978, helped lead Home Church activities in the United Kingdom, and served as True Parents’ ambassador to ten South American countries in 1988. In the latter years of his life he worked in business and fundraising efforts to support world missions. His personal motto, “Marching On,” well described his public life. Rev. Vincenz was blessed to Barbara Koch as part of the 43 Couple Blessing in 1969. Their daughter, Lena, was blessed to Jario Gavin in 1997. True Mother directed that the movement conduct a National- and World-Level Seonghwa Ceremony after his passing.

January 19, 1995

Cheongpyeong Providence Begins

True Parents purchased the land which became the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center in the late 1960s. On July 12, 1971, Unificationists completed construction of the original service hall under True Father’s direction. True Father mapped out his plan for expansion to the West on mountainsides and other locales surrounding Cheongpyeong Lake. The land also served as a holy ground and workshop site. What is termed the “Cheongpyeong Providence” or “Cheongpyeong Works” commenced on January 19, 1995, centered on the Spirit World Ministry of Soon Ae Hong (known as Dae Mo Nim or “Great Mother”), True Mother’s mother, who ascended in 1989, and Mrs. Hyo Nam Kim, who served as her earthly embodiment. On that day, Dae Mo Nim through Mrs. Hyo Nam Kim removed evil spirits from three Japanese members, marking the first of what would be hundreds of workshops that included not just “separation of spirits” but healing and the “liberation” of ancestors. Cheongpyeong today is the spiritual center of the Unification Church, residence of True Parents and capital of what Unificationists envision as Cheong Il Guk or the “Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity.”

January 21, 1970

First Victory over Communism (VOC) Asian Rally

The first Victory over Communism Asian Rally was held in the afternoon of January 21, 1970, at the Seoul Citizens Hall. Hosted by the International Federation for Victory over Communism, this rally was held with success through the participation of more than six thousand anti-communist leaders from five nations. The main address was delivered by Vietnam War veterans Shin Jo Kim and Ik Poong Kim. True Father emphasized the importance of gaining victory over communism, saying that this Asian rally was a ceremony to usher in the 1970s. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

January 21, 1974

Barrytown Property Purchased

The Unification Church purchased the former St. Joseph’s Normal Institute, a novitiate and high school in Barrytown, New York, run by the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic lay order, on January 21, 1974. The purchase included 250 wooded acres bordering the Hudson River 90 miles north of New York City and the historic Massena House, a Hudson River mansion originally constructed in 1796, where 10-year-old Theodore Roosevelt spent the summer in 1868. True Father had been searching locations up and down the Hudson River suitable for educational purposes. The Barrytown site met one of his criteria with mountains, water and woods all visible. True Father reportedly visited the site seventeen times before deciding on the purchase. The “Founder’s Rock” marks the place where he decided. The property initially served as a site for 3-, 7- and 21-day workshops. It later hosted 40-day and 120-day workshops for overseas missionaries and “Barrytown Pioneers.” Unification Theological Seminary (UTS), which now offers fully accredited bachelors, master’s and doctoral degree programs, opened its doors on September 20, 1975, and has graduated some 1,500 students. In recent years the Barrytown facility has hosted matching convocations, Blessing education workshops, and sports festivals.

January 22, 1976

Unification Church Center in Paris Bombed

On January 22, 1976, the Villa Aublet, a Unification Church center in Paris, was bombed, leaving a young woman from Norway seriously injured. Persecution and bomb threats toward Unificationists in France began in 1975 and were fueled by the French media. The French media portrayed True Father satirically, as a monster and a Nazi. This finally led to the bombing of the church center by a communist group. Other events followed, such as kidnappings and an increasing number of bomb threats across France, and the government did little to protect the persecuted Unificationists. True Father instructed Henri Blanchard, the national leader for the Unification Church in France, to organize a protest against the violence toward the church. With the headline “Accepterons-Nous la Violence et le Mensonge?” (“Are We Going to Accept Violence and Lies?”), Unificationists in France stood up for justice. The Paris City Hall was reluctant to give them a permit to protest, but in the end had no choice. The message of the protest was that the French people should not tolerate violence, and—as France prides itself in the words “freedom, equality and brotherhood”—these key values apply to Unificationists just like anyone else.

January 22, 1995

Japan-USA Sisterhood Ceremonies Begin

Beginning on January 22, 1995, and extending to March 8, four thousand Japanese women traveled to Washington, D.C., to be paired with an equal number of American women in eight sisterhood ceremonies sponsored by the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP). These were set to coincide with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Each ceremony included a dramatic “bridge-crossing” during which a representative group of the Japanese delegates crossed over a special bridge and met their American counterparts in the middle, where each bowed, embraced the other, and then walked down together, hand in hand. Following the highly successful Washington, D.C., conferences, WFWP sponsored Japanese-American sisterhood ceremonies in eight U.S. cities during the remainder of 1995, with several thousand more women from both countries participating. In 1996, WFWP conducted a number of “African-American/Caucasian-American” ceremonies. Activities in the United States inspired Austrian-Croatian, Czech-German, Russian-German, Hungarian-Slovakian, and Italian-Slovakian sisterhood ceremonies conducted by WFWP chapters in Europe.

January 22, 2000

America Honors Rev. Sun Myung Moon on His 80^th Birthday

More than 3,000 people from across the United States and more than 100 nations packed the ballroom of the Washington, D.C., Hilton Towers Hotel in America’s celebration of True Father’s 80^th birthday on January 22, 2000. Participants included former U.K. Prime Minister Edward Heath, founding President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, representatives from numerous U.S. universities, institutes and societies, state legislators, international scholars and government ministers, as well as representatives from most of the world’s major faiths. The program included birthday greetings from Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams and a City Council resolution detailing True Father’s contributions to the District of Columbia, the United States and the world, proclaiming “Live for the Sake of Others Day” in his honor. True Parents received large bouquets and cut a huge, eight-tiered cake, representing his 80 years and eight stages of cosmic victory. True Father delivered a message, “The Path for America and Humanity in the Last Days,” in which he explained the meaning of living for others, and of God’s love and purpose for America and challenged America to fulfill God’s Will. Afterward Sir Edward Heath and Dr. Kenneth Kaunda were joined by U.S. state legislators and representatives of world peace organizations founded by True Father to present him with the “Peacemaker of the Millennium Award.” Founding American Unificationists, together with current and former church presidents, honored True Father’s investment in America with the “Forty Years Foundation Award.”

January 23, 1991

21-Day Seminar for Soviet Students Starts in Hungary

A 21-day Divine Principle workshop for 420 university students from the Soviet Union took place simultaneously in Budapest, Hungary, and Leningrad, USSR, from January 23 to February 10, 1991. This workshop was meant to impart a deeper understanding of Divine Principle to the students who had attended the 10-day introductory International Leadership Seminars in the United States during the summer of 1990. After a fruitless search in the Soviet Union, Poland and Finland for workshop sites that would be free during the students’ winter break, finally a friend of the Unification movement found the Hotel Ezuspart on Lake Ballaton in the resort town of Siofok, Hungary, 108 kilometers (about 67 miles) outside Budapest. Because not all the workshop participants could travel out of the Soviet Union on such short notice, a second workshop site was prepared in Leningrad. The staff for the workshop comprised 21 European national FFWPU leaders, 10 American Constitution Committee leaders and 10 students of Unification Theological Seminary.