The Netherlands Chapter of the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace, including the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification

The Huize Glory, Bergen regional celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Unification Movement in the Netherlands, on December 22, started somewhat differently from previous meetings in other regions, in that guests were first invited for a Christmas dinner, of Chinese cuisine.

Sometime after eight o'clock, Rudi Rijntjes changed his cook’s hat for his M.C.’s one, beginning by explaining how Huize Glory was a place to talk and share together, for workshops and conferences, and that the power of our movement was the ideal of family.

The ever inspiring UPF introduction video was then shown, and Christopher Davies, who’d been introduced to sing a song, commented how he’d been ashamed to see Britain missing from the country list at the end, and sad to see The Netherlands also missing, but that a brave judge in Amsterdam had overruled the Dutch government so the UPF-NL meeting had been able to go ahead with Dr Moon, and Britain had also opened its borders. When he had met the Unification Movement over 30 years ago, the emphasis in witnessing had been on "spiritual truth", and when he had asked about the importance of hearing all of The Divine Principle lectures, it had been suggested that he pray about it, and he had then "received" "The Sparkle Song", which he sang.

Rudi introduced Wim Koetsier, very personally saying thank you for his continuing leadership and loyalty to his mission, for some thirteen years, while also raising a family.

Wim recounted how the movement in The Netherlands had been pioneered by Teddy Verheyen and how his dream had led to the purchase of Huize Glory. In those days, we had been often called The Unified Family, but the official name, Unification Church, seemed to focus on the individual uniting his or her mind and body. The name had later been changed to the Family Federation, emphasizing the importance of unity in the family; and the later Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP) had looked out further, to peace and unity in the world.

IIFWP’s campaign for reform of the United Nations was important. Human Rights were central to the founding ideal of the UN, but this is not so today. Before being accepted as members, states should be required to show their human rights situation, but "Red" China had replaced Taiwan, which has a far better human rights situation. The Dutch government criticized the United States on the basis of rumors, but did nothing when presented with substantial information about China: ABN and other banks and companies were eager to benefit from China’s economic development and presumably no-one wanted to risk being excluded.

Turning to Huize Glory, he mentioned how we had been running it since 1972, and that it had mostly been maintained by voluntary work. Officially, some four million people were involved in voluntary work in The Netherlands, but while it was encouraged by the Government, more and more rules and regulations discouraged people and sometimes made it impossible: and he illustrated this with a story he’d heard from a firefighter.

We were then shown a video of how Dr Moon’s meeting with President Gorbachev in Moscow in 1990, at which he pledged help for the spiritual renewal of what was then the Soviet Union, had led to the extraordinary success of the International Educational Foundation throughout the countries that had constituted the USSR and, further, in China, where tens of millions have attended courses organized by IEF, with the blessing and cooperation of the government.

Rudi Rijntjes spoke about his experience in presenting IEF material in Croatia when he had been there preparing for the UPF inauguration in Zagreb, and then returned to The Netherlands to thank everyone for coming, and to thank and introduce many of the guests and helpers by name.

Truly refreshing refreshments were served and Carlos Figueroa delighted everyone with some Latin American songs.

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