The latest Unification Movement Worldwide News

         
by Willis Witter

THE WASHINGTON TIMES
SEOUL
February 8, 1999

Thousands pledge to be faithful to each other in the ceremony
performed in Seoul's Olympic Stadium.

SEOUL - A Hindu swami draped in orange, a papal delegate in black and
leaders of six other faiths showered a sea of 37,000 white-veiled
brides  and blue-suited grooms yesterday with prayers for eternal bliss
in the  latest, largest and perhaps final mass wedding by the Rev.  Sun
Myung  Moon.

With satellite and Internet links to more than 165 nations, a purported
360 million couples from islands of South Pacific to tiny villages in
rural Africa joined the spectacle at Seoul's Olympic Stadium on a
sunny  winter afternoon.

"Happiness in marriage requires a generous self-abandon-ment, endless
tolerance, gentleness and politeness of heart," said Shivamurthy
Swamiji  of Bangalore, India, spiritual leader of more than 10 million
Hindus, in  an opening prayer.

He spoke from a red-carpeted stage to a stadium ringed with brides and
grooms, some of whom had met only days earlier.

Banners suspended from tethered red, white and blue balloons flapped in
a gentle breeze high above an arena that overflowed with spectators,
each draped in identical white souvenir scarves.

The wedding followed a three-day World Culture and Sports Festival at a
downtown Seoul hotel with more than 400 guests from more than 100
nations.

The festival focused on a proposal by Rev.  Moon to bring leaders from
the world's major faiths into the United Nations.  The idea stirred the
imagination of some participants.

"It's worth exploring," said former Secretary of State Alexander M.
Haig.  "How could anyone be opposed to it?  It's like being opposed to
motherhood." However, the idea might arouse worldwide opposition from
an  array of both religious and irreligious, liberal and conservative,
as an unacceptable joining of church and state.

Conference organizers concede the concept remains vague.  But when it
came time for Rev.  Moon to perform his 15th in a series of mass
weddings that began in 1960, representatives from the world's major
religions joined the Korean evangelist in a show that would arguably
top any Super Bowl  halftime performance.

Yesterday's wedding, or "Bless-ing," as it is known in the Unification
Church, underscored the evolution of what was a once a private,
esoteric ritual for devout followers of the 80-year-old Rev.  Moon to
an ecumenical event open to people of all faiths.

Participating clergy sharing the podium included Rabbi Herzel Kranz,
chairman of the American-Jewish Assembly; papal delegate Emmanuel
Milingo; the Rev.  T.L.  Barrett from the Pentecostal Church of
Philadelphia; and leaders from Orthodox Christian and Sikh faiths.

After they spoke, Rev.  Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, dressed in
white and gold robes, prayed and sprinkled holy water on couples
closest  to the podium.

"Do you, as mature men and women who are to consummate the creation of
God's ideal, pledge to become an eternal husband and wife?"  Rev.  Moon
asked.

"Yes," roared the crowd before exchanging gold wedding bands.  Prior to
yesterday's ceremony, he paired 12,000 couples using pictures submitted
by church members, most of whom had not met until days before the
event.

A mass wedding by Rev.  and Mrs.  Moon is not legally binding.  Couples
agree to arrange later for a private ceremony, either secular or
religious, before beginning married life.

The ceremony also included 25,000 married couples, many if not most of
whom belong to faiths other than the church founded by Rev.  Moon in
1954.

Some church members choose to forgo the matching, fall in love with
their own mates and marry outside the church.

Two years ago, Yumiko Fujita, 23, a Unification Church member who lives
near Tokyo, met and married her husband, Cho Ho-sung, 25, a Korean who
was studying in Japan at the time.

"I'm not a member of the church but I do believe in the principle that
marriage is both sacred and eternal," said Mr.  Cho.  Said Mrs.
Fujita:  "I chose my own way, but I didn't forget about the church."

Of those participating by satellite and the Internet, nearly all are
members of other faiths.  None is required and few are expected to
join  the Unification Church.

The ecumenical shift began with a 1992 Blessing ceremony of 40 couples
who were already married in the Muslim faith.  Instead of sipping a
thimble-size cup of wine, part of the ceremony, a special nonalcoholic
"nectar" was created for the event.

They were not asked nor expected to change their faith to
Unificationism but simply to become better Muslims, a church press
release said.

Participants, whether church members or not, made four vows: to make
God a central part of their marriage, lead a monogamous life, raise
their children to do likewise and dedicate themselves to serving
humanity.

Church members regard Rev.  Moon and his wife as the "true parents" of
mankind with a mission to complete the work unfinished by Jesus
Christ.  At a wedding banquet last night, he said each couple "should
become true parents."

The Blessing is central to the church's theology, which places the
family in a central role as a catalyst to promote world peace.

The conference that preceded the event brought more than 400 guests
from more than 100 nations to Seoul.  Participants included Albert
Reynolds, former prime minister of Ireland; Susan Ford Bales, daughter
of President Gerald Ford; former Canadian Governor General Edward
Schreyer; Kenneth Kaunda, founder and six-term president of Zambia; and
Victor Savinykh, one of the first cosmonauts in the former Soviet
Union.