Julia Moon’s Address at the 2019 GWPN Launching in Los Angeles

Julia Moon’s address at the Global Women’s Peace Network (GWPN) Launching in Los Angeles on April 6, 2019.

Beloved women ambassadors, leaders of the Women’s Federation from the West Coast and beyond, ladies and gentlemen, good morning! It is wonderful to be here with you today!

I would like to convey to you the heartfelt wishes, love and congratulations of our founder and leader, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, for the regional launching of the Global Women’s Peace Network here in Los Angeles and the West Coast.

I also want to welcome you and to thank you sincerely for joining us for this auspicious occasion. I would like to also thank WFWP USA President Angelika Selle, and Regional Director of the West Coast, Rev. Dr. Linda Nishikawa, for inviting me to speak today!

It is truly a great honor for me to have been recently appointed the International President of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, and joint President of WFWP Korea. Though she is not here with us today, I would like to take a moment to give thanks to our former International President, Yeon Ah Moon, for her great work and contribution to the growth and development of WFWP, and I wish her continued success in her new role as the head of the Universal Peace Federation in Korea.

When our founder, Dr. Moon, first told me that she would like me to take on the responsibility of WFWP, it was a big surprise for me, something that I never imagined happening in my life! Since I have three other jobs, directing the Universal Ballet, managing six elementary, middle and high schools under the SunHak Educational Foundation and overseeing a charity foundation, I already had so many responsibilities that it made me wonder how I could possibly take on more, especially such a huge and important responsibility as WFWP.

However, since the passing of our beloved founder, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, I have seen how Dr. Moon has been working relentlessly and tirelessly, day and night, to continue the mission of realizing a world of lasting peace. Knowing this and knowing her deep heart, I put my trust in God and accepted the position, and I stand here today with the hope and desire to support our founder and share her burden in fulfilling the dream of creating “One Global Family under God.”    

I am brand new on the job so I have much to learn, but I will do my utmost to serve our founder’s vision and to serve you and the Women’s Federation for World Peace to the best of my ability. I know that many of you here today have been a part of the Women’s Federation for many years. The amazing dedication and service that you have shown is truly inspiring and I am deeply grateful to you for all you have done to make the Women’s Federation the great organization that it is today.

Dear women leaders,

Dr. Moon is not only our founder, but actually, she is also my mother-in-law!

For the past 35 years, as the daughter-in-law of Rev. and Mrs. Moon, I have had the great privilege and blessing of living closely with the founders of the Women’s Federation and I have seen how they have dedicated every moment of their lives to God and to the cause of peace, showing by example what it means to live for the sake of others and to practice true love.

My mother-in law, whom we lovingly call Mother Moon, is truly the epitome of grace and feminine beauty. As a professional ballet dancer, I went through many years of hard training. A ballet dancer has to be very graceful and yet at the same time very, very strong. But, when I see our Mother Moon I realize that I do not come anywhere near the grace and beauty, the calm and composure, the strength and inner force that she embodies! This is because her grace and strength comes from deep, deep within, from the knowledge that she is God’s True Divine Daughter.

I know that Mother Moon wants all the women of the world to realize and know their own unique value as God’s divine daughters. When our founders established WFWP in April 1992, they announced the arrival of the Era of Women, calling on all women to play a more pivotal role in making peace a reality. They spoke of the goals and mission we must follow in building a world of peace, starting from the values of true maternal love.

They also asked us not only to think of women’s rights, but exhorted us to serve the rights and welfare of all people by building true families with a foundation of true love centered on God, by educating, raising and supporting women leaders and by encouraging women all around the world to be initiators of peace by practicing true love and living for the sake of others.

This means we are not a feminist organization pursuing women’s rights at the expense of the welfare of men. Rather, the Women’s Federation seeks to empower women to first of all understand their own God-given value which comes from the Creator. In doing this, women have no need to fight with men or to put them down; rather we seek to assist our husbands and other men to also see the Divine within themselves and collaborate in building a world of peace.

Dear women leaders,

The twenty-first century is often referred to as the “Age of Women.”  And we can see that great advances have indeed been made, giving women more opportunities for education, for equal treatment, and for equal rights. Despite this, it is the unfortunate reality that even with all these advancements there are still not very many countries in the world where women are truly given the same rights, opportunities and recognition as men.  

WFWP has accomplished a great deal worldwide, but we cannot stop here. Through the Global Women’s Peace Network our founders have asked us to go one step further toward bringing sustainable peace on earth. This is not something that can be accomplished by one NGO alone.

We need to work on a broader scale, networking with like-minded organizations, bringing governments, other NGOs and individual leaders of the world to work together for peace. This is the mission of the Global Women’s Peace Network that we must carry forward. Today with the launching of the Global Women’s Peace Network on the West Coast we are taking another step towards fulfilling that goal.

Beloved women leaders,

Women in all sectors of life, in education, politics, academia, the arts and sports are needed to collaborate and create the environment and culture for peace. We need to work together in every field to bring a cultural revolution grounded in heart.

When Rev. and Mrs. Moon founded Universal Ballet in 1984, they said, “The arts are the path of service to humankind.” I have dedicated my whole life, first as a ballerina and then as director of Universal Ballet, to fulfilling the company’s vision of Ye Chun Mi Ji. Ye Chun Mi Ji translates into, “Heavenly Art Creating a World of Beauty.” Through the arts, we work to heal people’s hearts and bring beauty into people’s everyday lives.

I have realized that now I am being asked to apply this vision not only to the stage, but off the stage, on a much broader and more intrinsic level, by practicing true love and serving the world together with all of you through WFWP.

The art of ballet creates beauty in the world by expressing it through the movements of the physical body and the Women’s Federation creates beauty in the world through maternal love that is sacrificial and unconditional. The goal of creating a world of beauty is the same!  

Together, as mothers and women of today, let us make a more beautiful world of peace.  Following the example of our founders, let us all nurture this world as true mothers and move forward, creating a cultural revolution of heart, working together, learning together and loving together until we have brought peace to everyone.

I am truly happy to be launching the GWPN here on the West Coast together with you, in the City of Angels, the place where Mother Moon gave her first official speech in the United States after the inauguration of WFWP in Korea.

Once again, congratulations! Let’s work together to create a beautiful culture of peace, here in the United States and beyond!

I pray that God’s blessings and guidance be with you and your families! Thank you very much!