July 

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.

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.

On July 1, 1998, beginning at 10 a.m., a dedication ceremony was held in Jardim, Brazil, for the Education Center for Ideal Families and World Peace. Around 3,000 people, well-known figures in Brazil and leaders from a variety of backgrounds in Jardim, came to the event.

True Father said, “The goal of the Jardim education center is to raise people who do not live for their own individual benefit but instead live for the country, the world and God as families and to raise people who live for the world, even though it means sacrificing one’s clan or nation.” After the dedication, FFWPU members from across the globe began to attend the Jardim forty-day workshops in this center to inherit True Parents’ heart and traditions. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee.)

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.

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.”

On July 4, 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, which explained the reasons for the 13 American colonies to separate from the British Empire. Two days earlier, on July 2 in closed session, the same Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence. From the beginning, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, thereafter known as Independence Day or the Fourth of July. Independence Day is a national holiday marked by patriotic displays, barbecues and fireworks.

In 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial, True Father founded the “Bicentennial God Bless America Committee” to focus the bicentennial celebrations on God and to call America to its global responsibilities. True Father delivered major speeches at Yankee Stadium in New York City on June 1, 1976, and at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 1976.

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.

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.

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.”

The first one-hundred-day workshop in Japan began on July 5, 1973, at the Atsugi Training Center in the city of Atsugi. Members had responded to True Father’s words: “For people to become global leaders, there are three abilities they must have. Based on correct values, these are persuasion, public relations, diplomacy and business skills.”

Eighteen one hundred-day workshops were held, with Japan’s top executives participating. After that, it was replaced by a forty-day workshop. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

As part of the 2007 World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF 2007), True Parents officiated an international marriage blessing at Yoo Gwan-soon Indoor Gymnasium in Cheonan, Korea (one hour south of Seoul) on July 5. Under the title, “2007 Cross-cultural Marriage Blessing Ceremony in the Sacred Reign of Peace,” the blessing brought 1,634 couples together in holy matrimony. The blessing was the 7th Phase of the International Cross-cultural Blessing of 400 Million Couples.  The ceremony was broadcast through the internet, so many other couples participated indirectly from all around the world.

Dr. Lee Soo-sung, former prime minister of Korea and H.E. Stanislav Shushkevich, former president of Republic of Belarus, offered congratulatory addresses. In his remarks, Shushkevich noted, “I had the privilege to be at the World Peace Blessing in 1992, when I was still head of state of Belarus,” he explained, “At that time we were so happy because of our new found freedoms. But looking back now fifteen years later I can say that freedom alone is not enough: we must have strong families and a strong moral structure if our nations are to prosper.”

True Father publicly declared his messiahship for the first time in a speech delivered to Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and Korean civic leaders in Chungju, Korea. This was the first of four major gatherings that took place from July 6 to 9, 1992, in Korea’s Seoul region, the southeast region, the southwest region and the mid-Korea region. In his speech, “The Reappearance of True Parents and the Ideal Family,” True Father stated:

“God chose me to be the Messiah. … I have fulfilled my mission as the Lord of the Second Advent, Savior and the True Parent. I am proclaiming this in this place because the time has come to do so. Those who accept this will be blessed. If this race listens to me, how good that will be for the country. How good it would be, if the statesmen listen to me.”

True Father declared his messiahship on the worldwide level at the first World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF) held in Seoul from August 19 to 30, 1992.

True Parents’ first car was bought on July 7, 1958. The car’s plate number was “Seoul, Ja 747.” True Father went on endless tours nationwide with this car. During summer and winter forty-day witnessing periods in particular, True Father was busier than usual, moving around the country to encourage witnessing members. At times, a church in a province would be preparing for a revival when suddenly it would receive information of an impending visit by True Father. All members would come out and warmly welcome him. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

True Parents hosted the Convention to Proclaim the Embodiment of God’s Word and the Era of the Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind at the Cheon Jeong (Original) Peace Palace in Korea on July 8, 2010. Two thousand overseas members attended including some 640 from Europe and 130 from the United States. The convention culminated True Parents proclamation of a new heavenly calendar, their Golden Wedding Anniversary and Seunghwa Memorial Festivals held at the United Nations and elsewhere earlier that year.

In his speech, True Father stated, “True Parents have already prepared the last words I will give to humankind” and noted, “I am leaving behind eight textbooks and teaching materials for humankind to use for all eternity. These are published in almost a thousand volumes.” He called upon blessed families to carry our Hoon Dok education, establish an absolute family, and to “inscribe in your hearts the fact that we have entered the era of the realm of the cosmic Sabbath.” Through this proclamation ceremony, True Father stated, “all the borderlines in the entire cosmos have been abolished.”

On July 10, 1959, Korean members did street lecturing for the first time. Following True Father’s guidance, Hyun Shil Kang, Hui Ok Kim, and Seok On Jeong brought chalkboards to Seoul’s Pagoda Park. They cleaned the area around the stone pagoda, set up the chalkboards and started lecturing Divine Principle. Many people would stop to listen to the lectures—at times over one thousand people. Though the crowds were not without those who criticized, most were moved by the new teachings and would applaud. The street lecturing went on for seven years. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

True Mother set off on a 23-city U.S. speaking tour in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 10, 1993. She concluded it in Columbus, Ohio on July 31. Leaders including woman leaders from all walks of life came to each event. True Mother emphasized the beginning of the Completed Testament age and the role of women through her speech, “True Parents and the Completed Testament Age.” (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

According to the inscription on his tombstone, Kyung Yu Moon, True Father’s father, was born on July 11, 1893. True Father notes in his autobiography that he could sing from memory the Christian hymnal which consisted of more than 450 pages, that he was not good at collecting debts but honored his pledge to repay debts, “even if it meant selling the family cow,” and that he was large in stature and strong. True Father stated, “The fact that at age 90 I’m still able to travel around the world and carry on my work is a result of the physical strength I inherited from my father.”

The First Korean Professors World Tour and Seminar, sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation (ICF), was held from July 11 to 24, 1987, bringing together 144 professors from major universities throughout Korea for a program that took them to Kodiak, Alaska, Washington, D.C., and the New York City area.

Dr. Se Won Yoon, president of Sung Hwa Theological Seminary in Korea, served as convener of the seminar, which had as its central theme the responsibility of scholars in the quest for world peace. In their group discussions throughout their two-week stay in the United States, they expressed special enthusiasm to create responsive and scholarly leadership and a popular base for moving Korea toward democratization and unification.

True Parents blessed Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Zambia to Maria Sung of South Korea in a Holy Blessing of Religious Leaders on May 27, 2001. In August 2001, Milingo announced that he would leave his wife, whom he now loved “as a sister,” and asked her to respect his wishes. He then departed on a thirteen-month penitential retreat in Argentina and receded from public view over the next four years, until resurfacing dramatically at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2006.

Milingo said he had lived through five years of “doubts and difficulties” and said, “The shadow of Maria Sung always hung over me.” He stated that he was reuniting with his wife and embarking on an “independent charismatic ministry” to reconcile married priests with the Catholic faith.

On July 13, 1984, the Universal Ballet Company was inaugurated at the Little Angels Performing Arts Center in Seoul. True Parents founded the Universal Ballet Company to raise Korean ballet to the world standard, to contribute to better international cultural exchange and to lead the globalization of Korean ballet arts. They have given the troupe its full support. True Parents wrote the calligraphic message “Rapid Advancement” on this day. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

True Father gave a speech in a conference room at the National Assembly Building in Seoul on July 13, 2001. Congressman Man Seop Lee, the National Assembly’s vice chairman, around fifty other members of the National Assembly from all parties and around 700 staff members were in the audience.

True Father gave the speech “The Liberation of God’s Homeland,” calling everyone to this cause, saying, “Let us establish head-wing and Godism values and completely commit ourselves to the unification of the Koreas for the sake of the nations on the Korean Peninsula and for world peace.” (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

The Fourth Phase of the International Marriage Blessing of 400 Million Couples was held at 2 p.m. on July 13 at Yu Gwan Soon Gymnasium in Seoul, with True Parents officiating the event in front of some 3,550 couples. The blessing ceremony was broadcast throughout the world via satellite and the Internet so that 30,000 couples in the major cities of 186 nations of the world were able to participate in the ceremony simultaneously. The Blessing was the culmination of the World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF) 2003, the ninth to be held since 1992. Couples pledged to take the initiative to realize world peace through true love as they began their lives as husbands and wives.

Washington, D.C., marked the halfway point in the 2014 God’s Hope for America Pilgrimage Tour as participants prayed at the 25th and 26th Holy Grounds established by True Father in 1965. The first stop was the Holy Ground in the middle of the lawn on the west side of the U.S. Capitol building. The next stop was the Holy Ground located in the center of the Ellipse, an elliptical field directly south of the White House. The pilgrimage bus then drove to the Washington, D.C., church which had been purchased from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) in 1977.

That evening The Washington Times held a banquet for pilgrimage participants, local church members, employees of The Times, friends and clergy. All were briefed about exciting developments at The Times, including the plan to be financially independent. In his closing remarks, FFWPU North America Director Dr. Ki Hoon Kim called on those present to “Remember; Revive; Re-imagine!”

On July 15, 1958, missionary Choi Bong Chun arrived in Japan. True Father chose Japan as the place to begin foreign missionary work and sent Mr. Choi there. As this was before diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan had been established, coming and going between the countries was not easy. Missionary Choi got on the ferry from Busan and settled in Tokyo after overcoming a series of difficulties. On October 2, 1959, he held the first worship services and started the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification of Japan. This year is the 57th anniversary of Japanese evangelism. (Materials provided by FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

True Parents launched the first Peace Cup Soccer Tournament from July 15 to 22, 2003. One year earlier, the World Cup, soccer’s most prestigious tournament, had been staged in Asia for the first time, jointly hosted by Korea and Japan. At that time, “soccer fever” gripped Korea, not only because it was a co-host nation but also because the Korean national team made it past the traditional soccer powers to the semi-finals.

After that tournament, True Father announced the establishment of the Peace Cup and said that Brazilian soccer great Pele had promised to support its work of reconciliation within the world community. The first Peace Cup tournament brought eight professional soccer clubs to Korea, including Korea League champion Seongnam Il Hwa, the team True Father had founded in 1989. The inaugural tournament champion and $2 million prize-winner was PSV Eindhoven (the Netherlands).

True Parents met newly re-elected Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan at the president’s invitation on July 15, 2011. The president had invited True Parents to attend his inauguration on May 28. However, True Parents were unable to attend due to schedule conflicts during their 2011 World Tour.

In 2006, while governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Jonathan and his wife received the Blessing from True Mother during her 120 Nation Tour. He was quoted as saying at that time: “The newspapers and television portray so much conflict and hate. That is why I am so elated to be an Ambassador for Peace and to be a part of UPF. After today, I only want to do more for peace.” He also reportedly donated $70,000 toward True Mother’s speaking engagement in Nigeria.

During their audience, True Father offered the president three suggestions for the future of Nigeria. First, he strongly urged President Jonathan to honor God and God’s laws and traditions at the center of his government and to channel Nigeria’s national passion for religion toward being an asset for peace instead of a source of division. Second, he emphasized the importance of supporting strong marriages and families, so that Nigeria’s traditional family tradition would not be eroded by a tide of secular and humanistic values threatening to sweep the country. Third, he voiced the hope that Nigeria would emerge as a model nation for all of Africa, and for the world. True Father also spoke to the president about lineage, harmony and tradition. Afterward, True Father spoke to 3,500 participants at a Universal Peace Federation (UPF) International Leadership Conference at the International Conference Center in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Following what was described as “the most intensive and expensive criminal tax investigation of any religious figure in U.S. history” and a six-week trial riddled with procedural irregularities, True Father was found guilty of tax evasion and obstruction of justice. On July 16 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $25,000 fine plus costs. This marked the beginning of a broad-based movement for religious freedom which eventually resulted in briefs filed by organizations representing 120 million Americans, that supported True Father’s appeal of his conviction.

True Parents inaugurated the “Abel Women UN” at the Cheongshim World Peace Center in Korea on July 16, 2012. Women representing 193 nations, most of them members of the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), attended.

In his keynote address True Father stated, “The fact is that the historic inaugural assembly of the Abel Women UN held today has been made possible through the declaration of the advent of the global era of women.” In her address, True Mother said the establishment of the Abel Women UN would go beyond the level of women’s NGOs and “bring the governments around the world together.” She termed its establishment “the command of God which must be obeyed.” The Inaugural Rally for the Abel Women UN concluded True Father’s public ministry. It was, as True Mother later noted, “the last providential event … [he] hosted on earth.”

True Parents miraculously survived a fiery helicopter crash near the Cheongpyeong Peace Palace. They were returning from a meeting in Seoul, along with ten members, three of their young grandchildren and three crew members, when they encountered a fog bank as they approached the heliport. When the pilot attempted to take the craft up and out of the pitch darkness, the helicopter tail struck a tall tree, causing it to plow through the woods at treetop level for a hundred and fifty yards. It finally hit a large tree and crashed in a muddy wooded area near a small stream.

An urgent effort to escape the already burning helicopter ensued. Two security staff lifted True Parents through the hatch, which fortunately was still accessible. The grandchildren next were lifted up through the same exit. The remaining members then exited and everyone sought cover. Twenty minutes after the crash landing, the helicopter exploded. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured. True Father referred to their survival as “a miracle from God.”

The Unification Church’s 40-day pioneer witnessing tradition began on July 20, 1957 with member-pairs being sent to 120 villages and towns throughout the Republic of Korea. Prior to setting out for the witnessing condition, members fasted for 7 days. Thus, the tradition of a 7-day fast began at that time. In addition, 40-day training sessions for core church leaders began in 1957.

During the 40-day period, True Father made a condition of visiting each pioneer, giving them encouragement as an itinerant worker (IW). He traveled in a World War II jeep for that purpose. Members had little or no money and ate barley rations rather than rice. The first 40-day pioneer witnessing condition bore fruit in subsequent summer and winter 40-day pioneer witnessing not only in Korea, Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

Having exhausted all of his appeals, including a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court, True Father entered the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury (Connecticut), just before midnight on July 20, 1984. He would remain there until July 4, 1985, when he was moved to Phoenix House, a halfway facility in Brooklyn, New York, where he served out the remainder of his 13-month incarceration.

In his farewell speech on the evening of July 20 before departing from East Garden, True Father told members, “This is a glorious, victorious and historic day,” and asked them not “to send me off in tears” unless they were “tears of determination, telling me, ‘Trust us. We are going to bring 100 times greater victory in the days to come.’” He said, “Wherever I go, whether it is a high place or a low one, my life will be the same life,” and noted, “I am going to prison on the worldwide level at this time,” having already gone to prison on the individual, family and national levels.

The Leaders Rally to Build True Families Tour began in Seoul’s Gangnam area on July 22, 1997, and covered sixteen cities, ending on August 6. True Mother conveyed a message of true love to leaders from all walks of life through her speech, “True Family and True Universe Centering on True Love.” Before each rally True Father would telephone True Mother from South America to encourage her, and after each rally they held simultaneous victory celebrations. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

A special two-week blessed children’s workshop, the “2014 True Parents’ Aloha Reunion,” was held at Kona, Hawaii, from July 22 to August 4. True Mother had convened the first Aloha workshop in 2013 with a small group of participants that included several of her grandchildren and several Second Generation youth of the same ages. In 2014, the scope was expanded to include a total of 40 Second Generation youth, ages 15-16, from around the world.

True Mother participated in the opening and closing ceremonies, telling the participants that they “are like pure water from a deep source that can naturally overcome any obstacle through giving true love.” She asked all counselors to teach two main points, “kamsahamnida(thank you) and saranghamnida (I love you),” which she said summarized the whole of Divine Principle.  The first week was based on the Principle and the second week centered on True Parents’ lives. Afternoons included numerous activities, such as a sports festival, a tour of Hawai‘i Island, beach outings, visits to the Akaka Falls State Park and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and fishing. The workshop was sponsored by the WonMo PyeongAe Foundation.

True Father launched a forty-day National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis (NPFWC) in late 1973. Stating that “the crisis for America is a crisis for God,” True Father directed a multi-faceted campaign that included publication of his “Answer to Watergate” statement, rallies, letter-writing, leafleting in all fifty states and eventually a meeting with then President Richard Nixon. True Father was especially concerned that the United States stands unified and strong in the face of communist aggression. In the end, the Watergate tapes doomed the Nixon presidency.

Nevertheless, True Father mobilized 610 members for a 3-day fast and vigil on the steps of the U.S. Capitol at the height of the crisis from July 22-24, 1974. Those participating wore placards with a quotation from True Father’s Watergate statement on the back and a picture of the elected or appointed official for whom they were praying on the front.

The vigil received national exposure. Seventy-six congressmen and five senators came out to meet the person praying for them. Newspapers across the nation carried pictures and interviews in over 350 stories. Local television stations and all three broadcasting networks showed film of the event and described it in their newscasts. Among the news magazines sending their own reporters to cover the vigil were Time, Newsweek, New Republic, U.S. News and World Report, New Yorker, and the Washingtonian.

True Father noted that the 36 Couples, 72 Couples and 124 Couples “are one team which cannot be separated.” Providentially, the 124 Couples (sometimes referred to as 120 Couples) represented Jesus’ 120 disciples and signified the nations of the world. The 124 Couple Blessing was one of the conditions by which True Father undertook his first world tour, establishing 120 holy grounds throughout the world. The ceremony was conducted in a community hall and couples paraded through Seoul in a convoy of cars, thereby testifying to the growth of the church before Korean society.

True Parents convened a second “Convention to Proclaim the Word That Firmly Establishes the Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind” at the Manhattan Center in New York on July 24, 2010. The first convention was conducted on July 8, 2010, at the Cheon Jeong Gung Peace Museum in Korea.

The second convention, as the first, culminated a number of milestone events in 2010 including True Father’s 90th birthday, the declaration of his “last words” to humankind, establishment of a new “Heavenly Calendar” and  Seonghwa “Legacy of Peace” Memorial events at the United Nations and elsewhere, True Parents’ 50th Holy Wedding anniversary, and two proclamations in Las Vegas signifying that True Parents had “achieved ultimate unity and offered and proclaimed the era of [God’s] full transcendence, full immanence, full authority and omnipotence upon the standard of perfection, completion and conclusion.” True Father boldly declared Korea to be “God’s homeland” and said that humankind was “now entering the era of the authority of God’s direct dominion.”

At an indoor stadium not far from Sun Moon University in Asan City, near the city of Cheonan, about an hour’s drive south of Seoul, the 5th Phase of the 400,000 Couples Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held on July 26, 2004, for thousands of couples. The Blessing took on an added significance, as it culminated the 10th World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF). Prominent religious leaders representing various faiths of the world added their blessings to the couples.

Some 300 prestigious participants of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP) Assembly 2004 conference, representing 120 nations, including several former presidents, prime ministers and current heads of state, joined not only to observe but support the effort to strengthen families. Stanislaw Shushkevich, the leader of Belarus from 1991 to 1994, said in his congratulatory remarks, “All the events in the WCSF have as their goal the realization of world peace. However, it is clear that the creation of good families is the foundation for a culture of peace.”

On July 27, 1993, the day before True Mother delivered her “True Parents and the Completed Testament Age” address on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution introduced by Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.) which designated July 28 as “National Parents’ Day.” The following year, President Bill Clinton signed the Congressional Resolution into law, authorizing that the last Sunday in July be recognized as “National Parents’ Day” for the purpose of “recognizing, uplifting and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children.”

On July 27, 1999, at 4:18 a.m., at Hotel Americano in Brazil’s Pantanal region, True Parents led a dedication and offering ceremony of Hotel Americano as “the Original Holy Ground, Root Holy Ground and Victory Holy Ground.”

In offering the space to God, True Father prayed, “We wish You to see the era of all-transcendence, omnipresence, full authority and omnipotence that can bring the voluntary surrender of the enemy, Satan, and establish the realm of Your autonomy in the universe!” In a speech ten days later, he said, “Finally we built the site that can become the Origin of Heaven.” In addition to the Jardim Training Center, he envisioned building “an airfield, a railway and a marina” so that “this place … will become a flourishing city,” greater than Venice. He described the site as being located “at the end of the earth, the very end of the earth” and called on Unificationists to visit it every four years.

Culminating True Parents’ speaking tour of 33 U.S. cities under the theme of “True Parents and the Completed Testament Age,” True Mother spoke before an audience of U.S. senators, congressmen, their aides and other dignitaries on Capitol Hill in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 28, 1993. She was introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who acknowledged True Parents’ long suffering and personal sacrifice, commended their investment in The Washington Times, and referred to True Mother as “my friend.” In her speech, True Mother declared “the dawn of the Completed Testament Age” and “the establishment of the first True Family.”

True Parents convened the Inaugural World Convention of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) before 400 delegates and over a thousand participants at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., from July 30 to August 1, 1996. This was the Unification movement’s most spectacular federation launch and included an astounding list of dignitaries: two former U.S. presidents of the United States, Gerald Ford and George Bush; former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias; former Prime Ministers Edward Heath of Great Britain and Brian Mulroney of Canada; thirty-six one-time heads of state or governments; university presidents including Boston University’s John Silber; Christian television personality Robert Schuller; Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed; Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.; Maureen Reagan, the daughter of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan; well-known comedian Bill Cosby; and Christian singer-actor Pat Boone. In addition, the main proceedings were covered live by C-SPAN television network.

True Mother delivered an opening plenary speech on the “View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation,” and True Father spoke on the theme “In Search of the Origin of the Universe” at the convention’s closing banquet. Externally, FFWPU was a high-level forum for world leaders and scholars to address issues related to the family. Internally, it marked a further stage in the movement’s development beyond salvation of the individual to salvation of the family.