This week in history, April 5-11:
- Parents’ Day is established (April 10, 1960)
- The Women’s Federation for World Peace is inaugurated (April 10, 1992)
- The Interdenominational Conference for Clergy visits Korea for the first time (April 10, 1985)
- True Parents’ are married at their Holy Wedding (April 11, 1960)
- True Mother is on her two-week American speaking tour (April 1-16, 1998)
APRIL 1-16, 1998
True Mother Goes on American Speaking Tour
True Mother embarked on a 16-city speaking tour from April 1-16, 1998 under the banner: “Blessed Marriage and Eternal Life”. Read the full story and watch historical footage here.
APRIL 10, 1960
Parents’ Day Established
True Father at the 47th True Parents’ Day celebration.
Parents’ Day was the first Holy Day established in the Unification tradition. True Father established it on April 10, 1960 (March 15, according to the lunar calendar). Unificationists observe Parents’ Day—now designated as True Parents’ Day—on the first day of the third month of the Heavenly Calendar. The establishment of Parents’ Day followed True Parents’ engagement on March 27, 1960. It signified that God had finally established His first son and daughter as the True Parents of humankind. True Father later stated, “Parents’ Day is the first time since God created all things and humankind that there is one balanced man, one balanced woman, balanced in love, to whom God can descend and with whom He can truly be.” Following Parents’ Day, True Father established Children’s Day (1960), Day of All Things (1963) and God’s Day (1968) as Holy Days. They were set up to celebrate the emergence of the True Family and the foundation upon which a new world can take shape and a new history begin.
APRIL 10, 1992
Women’s Federation for World Peace Inaugurated
The Women’s Federation for World Peace, chaired by True Mother, sponsored “Sisterhood Ceremonies” during the 1990s.
On April 10, 1992, True Mother delivered the keynote address before a filled Seoul Olympic Stadium at the inauguration of the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP). In her speech, True Mother testified to “the reappearance of the True Parents … the conclusion and final fruit of human history.” She stated that “women have the mission to give proper guidance to men who lead lives of moral decadence and disorder” and noted, “the Women’s Federation for World Peace must someday develop into a federation of families for world peace.” Established on the foundation of the Women’s Federation for Peace in Asia, WFWP has become a women’s organization of international scope with members in 143 countries. In 1994, more than 200,000 Korean and Japanese women “came together to create sisterly ties” on thirty-eight occasions under the auspices of WFWP. In 1995, WFWP sponsored “sisterhood ceremonies” between some 8,000 Japanese and American women, culminating in dramatic “bridge crossings” which were moving to many participants, including former first lady Barbara Bush. She and her husband, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, subsequently accompanied True Mother and spoke in support of WFWP on a six-city speaking tour of Japan. In 1997, WFWP received general consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). As only 11 percent of religious NGOs associated with ECOSOC attain “general” status, this was a signal achievement.
APRIL 10, 1985
First Interdenominational Conference for Clergy Visit to Korea
ICC participants pray at the Rock of Tears in Pusan.
Prior to his release from Danbury Federal Correctional Institute, True Father asked American members to focus on educating 70,000 ministers, and on that foundation to send 7,000 ministers to Korea. This request led to the creation of the CAUSA Ministerial Alliance, the 300,000-videotape project, and, beginning in April 1985, the Interdenominational Conference for Clergy (ICC) seminars. Under the theme “Rev. Moon and Korea in the Providence of God,” 64 ministers from 21 denominations attended the first “advanced seminar on Unificationism” from April 10 to 19, 1985. From 1985 to 1988, the U.S. Unification Church sponsored 38 ICC seminars for 7,069 American clergy and religious leaders who traveled to Korea and usually Japan. The “meaning of the 7,000” was connected to the time of Elijah, when throughout Israel God prepared 7,000 people who had never bowed down to Baal (I Kings 19:18). The visits preceded significant breakthroughs in Korean society, including the 1988 Seoul Olympics and eventually True Parents’ meeting with North Korean President Kim Il Sung in 1991.
APRIL 11, 1960
True Parents’ Holy Wedding
April 11, 1960 (March 16 by the lunar calendar) marked the historic day in the Unification tradition of “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” True Parents joined in holy matrimony in the Chungpa-dong headquarters church. Wedding decorations were put up in the main hall, the walls and floor were covered with white cloth, and a platform was erected. When preparations were completed, True Father consecrated the hall with salt. This began the church tradition of consecrating belongings with Holy Salt.
As described by Rev. Young-hwi Kim, True Mother, dressed in a white hanbok (the traditional Korean dress) with a long wedding veil over her head and ornaments befitting a bride, came down the stairs from the second floor, arm in arm with True Father. A chorus of “Song of the Banquet” was their wedding march. The ceremony was carried out twice, first in the Western style with a wedding veil, and then in the Korean traditional style with a blue silk hanbok, square belt and black hat for the groom and a bridal headpiece and Korean royal dress for the bride. The offering table for the Holy Wedding was set up according to revelations received from Heaven, with some forty kinds of food in cylindrical columns. After the meal, celebrations were held in the same hall, joyously highlighted by True Parents’ dance. True Father said that because of this ceremony, the Principle and the existence of the Unification Church would become known throughout the entire world, and the Will of God would be accomplished.
This Week in History briefly lists significant events in the history of the Unification Church, the lives of the Founders, and world events that are momentous to Unificationists. Most items are marked according to the solar calendar. Items marked “H.C.” correspond to the Cheon-gi or Heavenly Calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. This installment covers the week of April 5 – 11.
Contributed by Dr. Michael Mickler, professor of church history at Unification Theological Seminary