Reluctant Refugees from the Land of Blessing

Interview With Byung Chul Kim
Mark Bramwell
May, 1997

Mr. Byung Chul Kim has been a missionary to Europe since 1990. After becoming national leader in Albania, Mr. Kim helped to increase the church membership from two people to well over one thousand members. On March 14, 1997 fifteen members of the Unification Church of Albania were airlifted to Germany. In addition, the Abel national messiah family was airlifted to the U.S.A. and the Cain national messiah family to Italy. They are now waiting for the situation in Albania to stabilize in order to continue their mission there. Mark Bramwell asked Mr. Byung Chul Kim, currently staying with his family in Frankfurt, to recount his recent experiences in Albania.

Now there is a very dangerous political situation in Albania. Before the present unrest, did you ever need to worry about your safety in Albania?

I have felt danger in other nations, such as Bulgaria, where there is a lot of racism, but not in Albania. A few years ago some thugs took passports and money from our Swiss missionaries, but this was an isolated incident.

In the European Unification Community, Albania is well-known because, compared to other European countries, there have been many participants in the Pre-Blessings. What do you see as the reasons for the relative success of the Albanian Church?

Albania is ethnically homogeneous, unlike other Balkan countries. This has supported the development of close relationships among the people. One positive effect of the very strong communist dictatorship which ruled in Albania is that the country was quite isolated from the rest of the world, almost like a feudal society. This had the effect of protecting Albanians from outside satanic influences such as western decadence. They have been able to maintain strong moral values. Furthermore, there is a large Muslim population in Albania and Muslims believe in strong family morals. For these reasons it is only natural that Albanians find our teaching of "One Family Under God" attractive. The True Family Movement is not just a church but first and foremost a promoter of family values. The True Family Movement is committed to fighting immorality and divorce and supporting good education centering on the motto of living for the sake of others. It transcends all religious and racial divisions. Though the communists destroyed churches-even church buildings-they fortunately did not destroy the family. Albania is rather tribal; it is not unusual to have hundreds of "cousins" and "uncles". The Family Federation is therefore a welcome force for good.

What is the cause of the recent troubles?

Industry in Albania is rather underdeveloped. Many Albanians went to foreign countries and sent their earnings to their families. At first, they did not know how to invest the money. Some began to establish small businesses, such as 24-hour shops. The employment situation in Albania is miserable-even graduates cannot find jobs and have to be satisfied with being waiters in cafés. The housing situation is also bad. Whole families often have to live with their parents. In order to make the large amount of money needed to buy or build their own home or to start a business, thousands of people began to invest their money in pyramid schemes. Even one of our blessed couples sold their apartment and tried to double their money through a pyramid scheme. Some people did get the promised money and the word began to spread that fortunes could easily be made. In the south of the country, one big company was returning between 50% and 100% profits. People became very angry when the bubble finally burst and the profits were not paid out. They believed the government was involved in the scheme and blamed the president for allowing it. It appears that the president received bribery money from the companies. The people wanted the president to resign and they wanted to change the entire government. Everything got out of hand because of the large numbers of rebels. Finally the whole of southern Albania came under their control. Soldiers stood by with no desire to fight as people stole guns and ammunition. Even though the prime minister resigned and a mayor from the south became prime minister, the people still wanted to change the president. Finally the trouble spread to the north and to the capital city, Tirana. Northern Albania had been supporting the president, who comes from that area and chose northern people for his cabinet. The south had been most opposed. This conflict of interests has aggravated the danger of civil war.

At which point did you feel the situation was getting out of hand?

Until the rebels actually arrived in Tirana, no one believed they would. By March 13 they were already 50 km south of Tirana. Now we could hear the gunfire in reality and not just on TV.

What was your reaction?

We were worried about being foreigners and being missionaries, but we nevertheless determined to stay through the troubles. On that day the Italian embassy called upon all Italian nationals to leave. A pregnant Italian sister just made it to the airport before it closed. We had a discussion with the Korean national messiah and it was decided that everyone should leave except me. However, the U.S. and Italian national messiahs were also determined to stay. But when we called the embassy, we found out that the airport and seaports were all closed, so no one could leave.

Then how did our members finally manage to leave?

The Japanese sisters called the Japanese embassy in Austria, which was very surprised that there were more Japanese citizens in Albania. On March 13 we were surrounded by the sound of very loud gunfire. We could not leave the house. I was in the center with my 7-month pregnant wife and our child. My mother called from Korea, relating her memories of the Korean War and saying I must in any case send away my wife and child. I could not tell her that the airport was already closed! We could not sleep and through the window we saw a continuous shower of fiery bullets. At 2am the Japanese embassy in Austria phoned and informed us that the next day in front of the British embassy there would be transportation to the airport. Britain, Germany and other countries had made secret plans to bring out their diplomatic staff (the business people had already left). Despite the danger, I had to leave the center and went to inform our national messiahs and other members. We assembled at our center at 6am and went to the British embassy. Other foreigners were also assembled there. Two Japanese journalists were amazed that eight Japanese sisters were there, and this became big news in Japan. After waiting many hours, a big convoy came to take us to an airfield where we were to be airlifted by helicopters. The rebels began to shoot at the helicopters and so the whole convoy turned around and went back to the embassy. Perhaps this was a ploy to confuse the rebels. We then went in a completely different direction-to a field used as a helicopter landing site. A German helicopter arrived, followed by five others. We number around 70 people. We had to give up our heavy luggage. We were quickly surrounded by Albanian people, hoping to leave with us. The German soldiers got out and afforded us protection as we boarded the helicopter. A cloud of dirt and stones was swept into the air, so that we could hardly open our eyes to see the helicopter. At first I could not make it with my pregnant wife. Also, in the beginning, around 75% of those who boarded were uninvited Albanians. Afterwards, the soldiers began to check our passports. When my family was finally able to board, there were already hundreds of Albanians surrounding us. Suddenly there was shooting from the Albanian army to keep the people at bay. But at that moment we thought there was a shoot-out between the Albanian and German armies and that we were caught in the midst of it. We thought we would all die.

Where did the helicopters take you?

We were taken to Montenegro. There the captain of the helicopter gave us the choice to go to Germany or to stay in Yugoslavia. We chose Germany and boarded a military airplane, arriving four hours later at a Cologne military airbase.

What kind of reception did you receive in Germany?

When we arrived there we were surrounded by journalists and embassy staff to welcome their nationals. The Korean consulate welcomed us and the Japanese embassy prepared a hotel for us. Our story made top news in the Korean media.

What were your emotions at the time of the airlift?

When we boarded the helicopter, one Japanese sister was crying because she wanted to stay. I also wanted to stay. We were preparing for the next Pre-Blessing ceremony and I had planned a Blessing Seminar tour of Albania. We had to cancel all of these. I had hoped we could fulfill our pledged result. Our next goal was 1,000 Couples, holding Blessing ceremonies in the villages. One couple was going to bring 100 couples from their hometown. So my emotions were a mixture of relief and regret. Now we feel like refugees.

Is the mission able to continue in Albania at the present time?

Our native members are still working in Albania, receiving Blessing applications. A young member is reporting to me every day and at the moment is saying that it is too dangerous to return.

What will you and your family now do?

My wife and daughter will probably go back to Japan, though our plan was to give birth to our second child in Albania. Even though we often had to be separated, I feel it is very important that as representatives of the Family Federation we can be seen as a united representative family.

Now you are waiting in Germany and hopefully peace will return to Albania. What are your present reflections?

We are all working to accomplish the 3,600,000 Couples Blessing, so I want to invest everything I have to bring joy to True Parents. Jesus mentioned that the poor people will enter the Heavenly Kingdom first. Albanians are poor-actually the poorest people in Europe-but their heart is rich and they like the idea of the true family, so I-together with President Sa-am still hoping that Albania will make a special contribution to God's providence as the first restored nation in Europe. Through this national crisis, I hope that the Albanian people can all go to God's side and that this upheaval can even serve as a foundation for the nation to receive the Messiah. The Pre-Blessing of 100 Couples took place on March 2, and the national emergency was declared March 3. When peace returns, I hope there can be a mobilization to Albania.

Rebirth

by Donna Elaine Mason

When I look into your face
I see the beginning of the human race.
Cast out,
God said, "I will multiply your pain...."

Asian
Foot bound compliance;
Abject obedience.

Black
Shackled
Chained
Deprived of even pain.

Muslim
Enveloped in finery.
To have and hold as property.

All mutely crying, "Free Me!"
By one sin crept into our soul;
By one victorious
Draws us into God's fold.

Holy Spirit dancing across the earth,
Womankind
seeks
to
find,
Her one True Love,
Through re-birth.

New Hope Academy Expanding

by Joy Morrow-Landover Hills, MD

As you may know, U.E.F. is a private non-profit corporation founded by U.C. members. It is dedicated "to meeting the educational needs of the Unificationist community and the greater community of people of faith." Its' projects include New Hope Academy and Preschool, The Korean Language and Cultural Center, The Ballet and Cultural Dance Center, and New Hope Summer Camp. A high school and a foreign exchange student program are also in development for 1997.

New Hope is completing its seventh year of operation, as a private pre-school through eighth grade, certified by the Maryland State Department of Education. We anticipate enrollment will be about 210 students by September of 1997. At this time grades 9 and 10 will also be added. About 40% of our students are Unificationists, with the remaining 60% coming from over 20 different religious faiths. Thirty-five different nationalities are represented among the families and staff at New Hope. New Hope doesn't teach religion, but operates from the Shimjong Theory of Education, which promotes a God-centered, family-values-based, character education program.

Financial

This is our second year of being financially autonomous, with our entire budget supported solely through tuition and fundraising. Though the achievement of this goal has been very hard, it has been an inspiring and empowering experience.

Academic Achievements

New Hope has made many strides over these years. Our academic program is considered one of the very best in the county. For five years in a row we have scored in the top 25% of the schools in the U.S. on the Stanford Achievement Tests, a nation-wide standardized test. Our graduates are getting into the best high school and honors programs in the area. This year, of the students accepted to the Korean exchange program at Sonhwa School, six came from New Hope.

Korean Language Program

Representing The Korean Language and Cultural Center (KLCC) at New Hope Academy, Dr. In Ku Marshall and Principal Joy Morrow have been meeting extensively with the Educational Counselors from the Embassy of Korea regarding New Hope's Korean foreign language program. They consider New Hope to have the best elementary/middle school Korean foreign language program anywhere in the U.S.

We held a teacher training program for over 100 Korean heritage language teachers. This was co-sponsored with the Korean Embassy and a D.C. area Metro Korean Saturday School Association. They were very impressed with the materials Dr. In Ku Marshall has created, as well as our specially designed Korean classroom which looks like the inside of a Korean home.

Specialty Classes

In addition to Korean, we have recently begun to offer classes in Spanish and French. In the Ballet and Cultural Dance Center's professional quality dance studio, classical ballet, classical Spanish folk dancing, jazz and tap are taught. Our students are often asked to perform at events throughout the area. New Hope has a martial arts school that teaches a style known as Coung Nhu, and also offers after school classes, music lessons, and specialty courses.

With such versatility and originality, New Hope is setting an example for other schools to follow, of a balanced program that emphasizes spiritual values, development of character and heart, strong academics, hands-on interactive learning, and creativity through the arts and movement.

Future Development

We are proud to say that in seven short years we have created a prototype educational program.

As mentioned we are currently working to develop both a high school and a foreign exchange student program. New Hope is a large facility (52,000 sq. ft.) on eight acres of land, so there is still room for expansion as our program grows. We now have specialty classrooms including a gym, dance studio, science lab, computer lab, art studio, Korean language room, library, conference room and several large multi-use rooms for special events.

New Hope is also researching distance learning with the long-term goal of providing educational programs and support for the National Messiahs and the Home Town families.

Hiring Of Additional Teachers

With the expanded enrollment New Hope will be hiring additional teaching staff for September 1997. Principal Joy Morrow is especially seeking interested first and second generation Unificationists with education degrees. Teaching experience is also preferred, though first year teachers will be given serious consideration.

New Hope is one of the first Shimjong Education schools in the world, and has a tremendous foundation of success, both within the Unificationist community and the greater community at large. With our philosophy based on the Unification Thought Theory of Education we are seeking educators with vision who can appreciate this unique opportunity to create and shape this new system of education.

Its an incredible opportunity to contribute to the development of a unique and new system of education for the new age. New Hope is a prototype, or a laboratory for this theory. With grades PreK2 through high school it encompasses nearly the entire educational path.

We hope that you will find this information to be useful and inspiring, and if you are interested in teaching please contact Joy Morrow at New Hope Academy, as soon as possible. Hiring will take place by early summer.

Principal Joy Morrow is also very interested in supporting brothers and sisters who are seriously interested in starting schools elsewhere, and would welcome your inquiries as well.

Boarding Students

New Hope has enrolled students from outside the D.C. metro area through a program that supports families to make private boarding arrangements with local families. Several families have expressed an interest in having middle school or high school students board with them.

One such family, Steve and Noriko Wright, would be interested in having several students of the same gender board in their home. The Wrights are eminently qualified from their work in Korean for three years as the house parents for the western students at Sonhwa School. As well, they even know many of the older blessed children from their work as Camp Counselors for many years with Camp Sun Rise in New York. Families interested in knowing more about the possibilities for boarding students can contact New Hope Academy directly at (301) 459-711: fax (301) 459-2813 or the Wrights at (310) 422-8042.

As always, we would be greatly honored if any family or individual would like to visit the school the next time they are in the Washington area.

Joy Morrow is President of U.E.F., Principal of New Hope Academy, Pre-school and Day Care.

Naturalist Wonder

Paul Carlson
May, 1997

Recently, in these pages, our brother Laurent Guyénot examined the differences between Humanism and Naturalism. (Sept. 96 UNews.) While these two forces are currently allied against Judeo-Christian traditions, they are, in fact, quite different.

Naturalists are avowedly pro-nature. Some of them embrace nature in a genuine way, spending much time in the wilderness. Others are city dwellers, and their only communion with nature takes place in their imaginations. When such people do visit the wilderness, perhaps along with some popular "protest movement," the real forest dwellers often regard them with scorn. For they know no woodcraft, and often leave behind piles of trash. But even genuine "mountain men" can be rather unsavory-like the notorious Unabomber.

Naturalism developed well before science, hence, its roots are rather fuzzy. In the distant past there was no clear, mental dividing line between the natural and supernatural, or even between the explicit and the metaphorical. (As explained by C. S. Lewis in Miracles.) Misunderstanding this, Humanists scorn the beliefs of the Naturalist, while the Naturalist seeks for lost roots he cannot possibly comprehend.

Some Naturalists have embraced science, and attempted to sort of their particular worldview. The results have been, shall we say, all over the map.

In the past, many spoke of: "Nature, red in tooth and claw." They beheld in nature an endless parade of death. This observation has been updated by modern Complexity Theory. More than %99.9 of the species that ever lived have become extinct. Five great extinctions each wiped out most of the life on Earth, the most famous being the "K-T Boundary" asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs. Mainly, though, extinctions have averaged a steady one species every year, for billions of years now. (Kind of makes the Endangered Species Act -even if well meaning- seem a bit fatuous, doesn't it? Or does it have a hidden purpose?)

As Naturalists keep this history in mind, for some of them, human life is regarded with intrinsic value than one would like to think. Hence the teaching of "deep ecology," which sees humanity itself as a plague.

Today there is a popular Gaia movement, with both scientific and spiritual aspects. Its scientists see the Earth's biosphere as an interlinked whole, dynamically balanced and self-healing. Its spiritualists see Gaia as the embodiment of nature, an actual goddess with three aspects.

Humanists are all too eagerly in favor of science. (See the upcoming article Humanist Hubris.) Naturalists do not trust the works of man, and especially those of "the Machine." They especially abhor any "tampering with nature," such as genetic engineering. Witness the recent Attack of the Killer Gene-Altered Tomatoes, an outcry which might have been funny if it hadn't revealed so much sheer ignorance.

In reality, domestic dogs, cattle and many others have been genetically altered, just more slowly. Extreme Naturalists, such as PETA, even reject the keeping of pets or livestock.

This fear of technology has bred a cottage industry called "junk science," which has invaded both the courts and the capitals of our world. Self-proclaimed specialists will testify eruditely to any scare du jour. Some real scientists, at places like NASA, are not above over-hyping their own data, be it about ozone holes or global warming-especially when budget-voting time comes around. NASA has actually fired staffers who questioned their dire conclusions, including one man who merely proposed tests which would have verified them-or not.

All of this is becoming very expensive for the average citizen. One recent, international treaty has banned CFCs (Freon coolant, etc.), and forced people to use expensive -and largely untested- replacement chemicals.

The same thing has happened with the bureaucratic imposition of gasoline containing MTBE. This chemical ruins car engines, emits chloroform gas, and is contaminating many water supplies.

These fiats were based on shaky -even junk- science. However, the bureaucrats don't mind, as they are assured of ever greater power. Ironically, the Big Oil and Chemical corporations don't mind either, because these mandates have become their exclusive, multi-billion dollar cash cows. Ditto for the big-time criminals, for Freon smuggling is now flourishing, second only to hard drugs.

Because of their mistrust of science, and its subsidiary, modern medicine, many Naturalists are susceptible to all sorts of faddish nostrums. As this article goes to press, "magnetic treatments" are back in vogue. These were first popularized more than 200 years ago, in the American Colonies. They were also exposed as frauds-by none other than Benjamin Franklin.

Today's doctors certainly don't understand everything. (They hate to admit it, too. The suffix idiopathic on disease-names means: we don't know what the heck it is.) But people have been dying because Naturalists told them to shun vaccinations, and other effective, modern treatments.

Humanists tend to go for dry, intellectual constructions. Naturalists are more openly emotional. They see nature as flowing with invisible, mystic forces. In this, the Divine Principle agrees with them-to a certain extent.

There is a good litmus test for any belief system: its ideas on authority and the exercise of power. Naturalists are as proud in their way as their rivals. They believe they can harness the invisible forces of Nature to do their own bidding, however they see fit.

While it has its own version of the Golden Rule, pagan Gaia worship is definitely a pre-Old Testament religion. The third, or declining aspect of that triune goddess is identified with the "crone" phase of a woman's life, with the waning moon, and with the coming of winter. Historically, she was also propitiated with human sacrifices, a detail today's pagans prefer to whitewash. (See the recent bestseller Waking the Moon, by Elizabeth Hand. Caution: it's "modern gothic," and rather intense.)

Naturalists claim an ancient heritage, stretching back tens of thousands of years to the Europe of the Lascaux cave paintings and the curvaceous, carved Venus figurines.

Modern feminism also claims roots there. Supposedly, prehistoric societies were matriarchal; women were regarded with mystical awe, and not dominated by men. They were free to display their bodies, and to live in peace with all.

Only later (feminists speculate), when men discovered their role in conception, did they begin to dominate women. This produced the hated "western patriarchal" societies, and both the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions. Thus the arch-feminists fully intend to destroy these traditions.

Archeology has not supported the feminist's version of the past. Not every ancient society was matriarchal. Only a few, such as the Minoans, worshipped the moon goddess. Prof. Jeannine Davis-Kimball has been excavating the Bronze Age graves of (what may be) the real Amazons, tribes of warrior women who lived on the steppes of southwestern Asia. These women worshipped the sun, and in historic times, were apparently hired as mercenaries by the Roman army.

The Principle explains that history has progressed upwards from the Fall. The oldest religions did center on women's fertility-in a rather crude manner. In India there are survivals: one ice stalagmite, which forms each winter in a sacred cave, is worshipped as "the lingam of Shiva." There are similar old rituals in Shinto Japan.

The oldest forms of worship, then, were often reenactments of the Fall. This probably explains how, in the famous Bible story, Tamar could so readily seduce Judah. In those pre-Mosaic times, the goddess Ashtaroth was worshipped by having sex with the temple prostitutes. There was nothing "liberated" about those times-for either gender.

The Naturalist's naive spiritualism has opened the way for many popular mystics. Most of them were basically good, like Gurdjieff or Edgar Cayce. These men only got strange when they made pronouncements on subjects outside their fields, like Geology or Medicine.

Others were completely mixed up, like Velikovsky. A few were truly horrible, such as Hörbiger and his eager disciples amongst the Nazis, the Ahnenerbe SS.

With the year 2000 fast approaching, each of these men have numerous modern imitators.

There are also noble traditions rooted in the distant past. If in the pre-Old Testament Age they could only reach God through the Creation, they were also very close to nature.

The Indians of the American southwest learned of Catholicism from the Spanish friars, more than 200 years ago. Many of them have incorporated the Catholic veneration of Mary into their own traditions. She is regarded as a sort of "sky mother," an idealized spiritual woman, worshipped in combination with their traditional, nurturing earth mother.

About twenty years ago, then-Governor Cargo of New Mexico, at the behest of a group of Pueblo Indians and their white admirers, proclaimed a special "Mother's Day" in honor of this idealized woman. Recently, this same man helped welcome True Mother, when she came to speak in Albuquerque.

Surely, a fitting crown to the Governor's long career. It is also a perfect illustration of Naturalism's true aspirations. Only by going forwards, to humbly fulfill God's ordained roles for us all, can we truly have peace. Only then will women be truly honored, as they always should have been. Medicine and spiritualism will no longer be hampered by arrogance or worse. Then man, woman, and nature will finally live in health and harmony.

My Memory of True Mother's Mother (Dae Mo Nim)

Joe Kinney
May, 1997
Nutley, NJ

These days we hear testimonies from the members who attended the Chung Pyung Lake workshop. The central person in these workshops is known as Dae Mo Nim. The testimonies we hear focus on members' experiences at Chung Pyung. Perhaps it would be useful to learn a little about how this great spirit spent her life on earth. In her physical life Dae Mo Nim was known as Soon-Ae Hong, or Grandmother Hong. She is our True Mother's mother. In the mid-'70s I had the good fortune to be the maintenance man in True Parents' house at East Garden. This testimony is from my limited experience with Grandmother Hong from that time.

Grandmother Hong arrived at East Garden without any particular fanfare and was assigned a room in a corner of the top floor of the main house. Because it was practically an attic, you couldn't stand upright in parts of the room, and it had an irregular shape because of the dormer windows. Grandmother's furniture was whatever was no longer good enough for the True Children. I didn't know then that in Ho Ho Bin's church she had done 300 and sometimes 3,000 full bows a day as indemnity.

Grandmother dressed in the most humble of clothes, like any poor Korean grandma you see on the street. She worked as if she were part of the house staff, helping in the kitchen and around the house. She didn't take her meals at the table with True Parents; rather she would help clear the dishes and eat together with the kitchen staff. I didn't know then that she helped to sew the garments to comfort Jesus' heart and lay the foundation for the Messiah to return, three stitches and a prayer, three stitches and a prayer, three stitches and a prayer, for endless hours.

One of my main memories of Grandmother was of her garden. One spring, Grandmother summoned me to a plot of land out of sight of the main house and told me that this was where she would grow Korean vegetables for True Family's table. This was a pretty good-size garden about 100'x35'. After I broke the soil with a rotary tiller, Grandmother did all the rest of the work, sometimes with help from whomever she could collar on any given day. So that year and every year, Grandmother would plant, cultivate and harvest this large garden. Muddy shoes, dirty hands, soiled dress, working hour after hour in the hot sun like a humble farmer. I didn't know at that time that this woman, who offered her daughter to become True Father's spouse, was not allowed to remain in her daughter's new home. I didn't know then that on the occasion of her rare visits, she had to enter through the back door like a servant, unseen like a thief in the night.

I encountered Grandmother around the house and grounds, occasionally drove her places by car, and sometimes went to her room to fix something. She always said I was too skinny and tried to shove some Korean snack into my mouth. If I did any little thing for her at all, she was so very grateful. I was so ignorant and she was so humble that I felt I was just helping out a fellow staff member. She was really at the bottom of the list when it came to special treatment. I didn't know then that she was the only person in history to be a member of all three churches preparing the foundation for the Second Advent: the Holy Lord Order, Mrs. Ho Ho Bin's group, and the Unification Church.

Grandmother Hong was always taking care of the needs of others, whether the True Family, the never-ending stream of guests, or the staff. She didn't take care of people by strutting around in fine clothes, giving speeches and reminding people of her position. She took care of people from the back of the room with a comforting smile, or from the kitchen with a special snack, or from the prayer room with tears. Grandmother never spoke publicly at all until one day, without warning, Father asked her to give her testimony. She stood erect in the middle of the room in the humble clothes she happened to be wearing, and because it was Father's order, began to speak about herself for the first and only time. I don't remember the words Grandmother spoke that day, but I'll never forget the tears she shed. From the first sentence the tears streamed forth from her eyes. For the entire time she spoke in sobs and wails. It was impossible for the translator to translate because he too was sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't know then what Grandmother was like. I thought she was almost like me. She acted more like a staff member than a True Mother's mother.

The motto of our church is "Let us go forth in the shoes of a servant, with the heart of the Father shedding sweat for earth, tears for man, and blood for heaven." Soon-Ae Hong lived this motto quite literally. I didn't know then what that meant at all, but Grandmother Hong knew.

I didn't know then that this humble grandmother who worked in the garden and ate in the kitchen would become the designated mediator between heaven and earth, giving rebirth and liberation to our members. Do you think Soon-Ae Hong knew?

My Life as a Martial Artist

Michael Kellett
May, 1997
Berkeley, CA

Just before I joined the Unification Church, my desire was to go to Okinawa, Japan. Before leaving, I met our movement and decided it was more important to put my spiritual life first and trust that God would guide me. To give up my desire for Martial Arts was not an easy thing to do. That time I was nineteen years old. Looking back, I feel very good about my decision to put the public cause over my individual cause.

After five years of fundraising and witnessing missions, I started working in Home Church in the Bronx, New York. The higher purpose to do Martial Arts came when my central figure suggested I do Martial Arts with Dr. Joon Ho Seuk. It just so happened that my leader was from Okinawa, Japan. I began training and teaching in my Home Church area. I was fortunate that our center was only half an hour from True parents' home in Tarrytown, NY. In that period, 1980-83, Father spoke almost every Sunday at Belvedere. Our training hall was located on the same grounds as Belvedere.

After these years in Home Church, Dr. Seuk recruited me to CARP. I began my mission doing Martial Arts demonstrations before Dr. Seuk spoke on Unificationism at many major universities. I was assigned to Berkeley, CA in order to promote my Martial Arts program. I directed a Martial Arts school for six years. During this time, my student, a businessman from Finland, went back and sent me a ticket to visit his school in Helsinki, Finland in 1988. That time I visited Leningrad, Russia and I knew it would be a challenging place to live. In 1992, four years after that visit to Leningrad, my wife and I accepted the mission to work in Russia.

The first couple of years in Russia, I coordinated many DP seminars. I was given permission to focus full-time on the Martial Arts. On the foundation of working with orphans, the director of the Institute of Family and Child asked me to teach there. From the Institute I was able to develop my Martial Arts Federation. We are directly connected to the government's Martial Arts Association.

Our Federation has sponsored fifteen tournaments and many seminars involving different stylists. With the Russian toughness, we have improved as a sport since our beginning in the USA. Our self-defense program comes from the system of Don Harbour, who has merged his style with Tongil Moo Do, embracing the movements of Aikido, Kempo and Jujitsu. Centered on the principle of love and harmony, Mr. Harbour has developed a system which can embrace the average person not interested in tournament-type Martial Arts but wanting to learn self-defense. I am very happy to note that two of my instructors have been blessed by our True Parents and the person I left to be in charge will be blessed this November.

She was able to come from St. Petersburg to attend the Martial Arts Federation for World Peace recently started by True Father. We had 400 leading Martial Artists from 120 nations discuss how they can cooperate to provide moral leadership and contribute to the establishment of world peace. Father spoke three times at the conference. As we all know, True Father never compromises the Principle. In short, the participants were inspired to help this Federation for World Peace. The April '97 Unification News has a more detailed report on this most recent conference.

My personal experience connects to the people I invited. I can't say enough how impressed my guests were by True Father. At our recent Sunday service, John Strother, president of Martial Arts for Healthy Mind and Bodies, spoke about his experience at the conference. He spoke at length about how grateful he was to participate. his program could only benefit from such an excellent conference. He made an approach book with pictures and information from the conference. Mr. Strother has a master's degree in social work and sincerely connects to Father's vision, using Martial Arts for healthy mind and bodies. Martial Arts serve as a positive alternative for our young people.

Internship Program Introduced at UTS

by Gareth Davies-Barrytown, NY

The current trimester sees the introduction of a Field Education Internship Program. The purpose of the internship is to offer students an opportunity to experience ministry in a given community. The student participates in the daily life of the community through teaching, counseling, pastoring, and participating in administrative concerns under the guidance of the local UC minister.

At present, 11 students are working in five locations: Los Angeles, Chicago, Newark, Westchester, New York and Brooklyn. Dr. Kathy Winings who, with Dr. Shawn Byrne, directs the Field Education program, reports that most of the students are supporting the True Family Values ministry and Pre-Blessing programs in their areas. "This means that they are spending a great deal of their time discussing True Family Values content, the situation of American Christianity and religion, as well as community needs with various ministers and religious leaders," she wrote. "Of course, with the Pre-Blessing and Family Festivals, the students are also learning how to plan, organize and direct such an event."

Since the 11 interns are all Japanese, they are also finding value in the fact that they are forced to practice and improve their ability to speak English and this was foreseen as a significant benefit of the program.

The original proposal for the program states that "In particular, the internship is most valuable for the non-American student in that it affords him/her the opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture and language of the community - much as they might if they were sent to the mission field after graduation. Further, it will help their total language development as well as their ministerial development by immersing them so totally in the life of a community for the 10 weeks. Further, by working and living in the culture of a particular community, it will enable the student intern to recognize what skills and attitudes are necessary in order to assume responsibility for the ministry of a particular community."

President Shimmyo places more emphasis on the spiritual dimension of the program. "Students are expected to know the heart of God through faith and endurance in a given, difficult situation of reality in order to become victorious leaders in the future," he said.

In Memoriam - Dr. Henry Thompson

by Michael Kiely-Redhook, NY

UTS professor Dr. Henry Thompson passed into the spiritual world on the morning of April 24. He was diagnosed with cancer over a year ago and had pursued various treatments without success.

What a giant of a man has just slipped away from us! True, he was also of very human proportions. When he was not teaching or talking with students, Dr. Thompson would sit in his office for weeks on end amidst stacks of papers on the floor hunched over his antiquated laptop typing out a bibliography on some prophet. He was not intimidated by the technology which sometimes eluded him. And he was quite modest enough to ask a student for help with his sometimes naughty little machine. He was always grateful for the help. Another familiar image is of Dr. Thompson standing patiently at a photocopier waiting for one of his frequent class handouts to be produced.

Dr. Thompson was an indefatigable writer and editor. It seemed half of every bookshelf at UTS was taken up with books he had written, edited or contributed to. That is why writing papers for him was a daunting task, as many UTS students who received humiliating F's or better will attest. He expected the same high standard of us that he did of himself, much to our chagrin-and growth.

That standard of excellence spilled over into his teaching as well. The vitality of his classroom presentations-listen to his graphic description of what Boaz and Ruth did one night at harvest time on the threshing floor!-helped us Unification students dig our roots deep into the Old Testament, or, perhaps better, discover them. He had profound respect, even reverence, for key biblical figures, but he also brought them to task for their foibles and sins. Great reformer that Nehemiah was, it was, nonetheless, horrendous, said Dr. Thompson, that he cast out non-Jewish women to their near certain death by forbidding their husbands to take or keep any but Jewish spouses. Dr. Thompson seasoned his lectures with archaeological facts he himself had unearthed or heard firsthand from other archaeologists, and he shared liberally and articulately with us from a seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge. He would then extract moral lessons from what he had shared and exhort us to become more moral, serious Unificationists.

Possessed of a Shakespearean sense of balance between the intensely serious and the humorous, Dr. Thompson punctuated his presentations with wry wit. "Present in spirit but not in body?" he would ask a musing student lost in thought-and to the lecture as well-in order to bring him back to the present. Dr. Thompson would similarly excuse an absence from class with the same quip. As one of his many handouts, he might pass out a copy of a newspaper comic strip that poked fun at the foibles of some religious figure.

In one memorable strip posted on his office door, a portly parishioner asked her parson after Sunday service, "Have you ever considered publishing your sermons?"

"Why, no, Mrs. Somebody-or-Rather, I have not!" he replied blushing and smiling, obviously pleased at the implied suggestion.

"Good!" she replied.

The final frame was a classic caricature of human dismay.

On the rare occasion when Dr. Thompson consented to preach a sermon in our morning chapel service, we in the congregation were transfixed with the hot, well-targeted words of a Jeremiah or an Isaiah, both of whom themselves might well have appreciated Dr. Thompson's eloquence, fire and force. Standing sometimes as a Unificationist at the feet of True Parents whom he loved and respected deeply, sometimes as a fierce critic of Unificationists who did not live by their own principles, his clarion call in those special moments at the pulpit was for us to be better Unificationists. If not, we should not even call ourselves Unificationists at all because our cherished Kingdom of Heaven would certainly elude us on our present path. His words penetrated our hearts with the accuracy of an exocet missile because he knew our weakness and our potential well. He pursued both of them relentlessly in those few moments until both were ablaze from his intensity. Finally, when the echo of his last sonorous words had faded away, it seemed that even the organ hesitated to break the ensuing silence. When we dared to breathe again, we all sensed, as if with one mind, that we had been led to drink deeply at some well of new life and were much the richer for it.

Dr. Thompson was a prophet to Unificationists in that he took seriously his mission to help us grow as individuals and as a movement. He admonished us, laughed with us, flunked us, commiserated with and guided us, told stories and inspired us, and listened to and responded to our ideas. With a privileged few he shared about his love for his wife and family and about their activities, and he explored the Divine Principle and the meaning of the Blessing. It is, indeed, joyous news to hear that he and his wife, Joyce Thompson, participated in a pre-blessing ceremony before his death.

The irony is that this giant of a man has been brought down by so prosaic a malady as cancer. A chariot of fire would have been more in keeping with the way he lived. Short of that, I suppose a lightning bolt would do.