The Words of the Kiely Family
|
|
The Words of the Kiely Family |
New
York family at Holy ground
Dear Family,
New York greets with much love and joy. We are eager to tell you about the many blessings we experienced during the past few months and which we cherish very highly.
First and foremost, Miss Kim, Neil Salonen, and Travis [Jones] spent a weekend with us during November and joined us in our first FLF conference at Riverside Church. The conference in itself was mostly an educational experience for us, since not many people showed up, which was partly due to our ineffective advertisement techniques and also because of the time limit. To this may be added the fact that FLF has only been created recently and consequently is not yet widely known. However, we are keeping working on it in every possible phase to improve our knowledge as well as effectiveness. On Saturday evening, however, which was after the conference, we had a very pleasant get-together with a few people who were studying the Divine Principle and desired to meet Miss Kim. It turned out to be one of our most enjoyable nights we had ever had. Among other things, many people displayed hidden talents in telling jokes and singing songs. On Monday morning we got up very early to be at Holy Ground at 5.00 a.m. to celebrate Children's Day. This was a most memorable hour for us. We were standing there with our flashlights, praying and singing. Miss Kim prayed too, and then she briefly spoke to us. What affected us most was the importance she put on the mission of our Master's family, which clearly made us aware of the fact that we are not alone in our struggle, but that somebody else is struggling much. Much harder since the mission of our Master and his family is so much greater.
Most of us went to Washington over New Year, and all of them came back with many new ideas, refreshed, relaxed with glowing eyes. We then started a 40 day fast to lay a foundation for 1970 and also to get ten new children for Father during the next three months.
I myself went to Montreal, Canada during the Semester recess, and I had some very memorable experiences. I was staying with some friends of mine who are part of an international missionary lay movement, the International Catholic auxiliaries, who are most beautiful persons. Although they themselves were not too receptive for the Divine Principle -- since they already have so much-they did listen with interest. It was there that I met a theologian to whom I gave our red book to read. After a few days, I contacted him via telephone, and he invited me to his place for a discussion. He was extremely nice and open and even invited some of his students to join in our discussion. We talked for about 4-2/1 hours. He had difficulties with our interpretation of the Bible, of history, and also with the Second Coming. Nevertheless, he did not refrain from mentioning to at the end, "Now I feel as if I had spoken too one of the first apostles," by which, of course, I was very flattered. Mohammed from Algeria was another of my students, who listened with great interest while he, on his part, explained the Korean to me. He is planning to New York sometime in order to get acquainted with us.
Witnessing and teaching all by myself in Montreal was an overwhelming experience! Besides, it was in French. Happily some of the people also knew English, so when I had forgotten a word in French, they could help me out. Father thinks of everything, you know. Being all by myself really strengthened me, knowing that I was the only one at this point and that place through whom Father was able to work. He really provided me with energy, zeal, and courage, and even love.
Now I am really eager to set up a center all on my own, somewhere and sometime in the future. I can hardly wait for that moment to come.
Here in New York, Barbara Mikesell and myself are planning to continue teaching to Divine Principle on the campus of City College with more dedication and strength than before, while the others witness anywhere and anytime. We really teach a lot these days. I would like to add that because of my experience in Montreal I became much more open and free to teach as well as to witness I suppose. It's because of the action of give and take between Father and His child.
Father is definitely very sorrowful about his lost family, and as long as his children suffer, Father cannot rest. So, let's go ahead and bring him joy very quickly!
Love and Monsei to all of you, until soon, I hope.
In their name,
Maria Pascher [Kiley]
Nanette
Semha [Doroski]
New York City is the center of the art world. Artists come from all over the world to find their fame, sell their work, and to be among many other artists who share with them the same views and feelings on art. In New York one of the main characteristics of art is that there are always various schools of thought. The style or media the artist chooses to work in is formulated by his philosophy. As groups of artists come together in New York to discuss various truths, realities and observations about life, man, and society, those that have similar points of view live closely together, work in the various styles with the same message and thus from a school of thought. This seems very close to a Principled life. Since 1900 we have gone through more schools of thought than we've had in all of history. In "Art Nouveau", for instance, we had the artist turning to nature, in "Dada" and "Surrealism" the artist was disillusioned with life and absurdity in art prevailed, for everything became a distortion for the artist. With the advent of "Pop Art" the artist perceived society laying importance on industrialization; so we have paintings of Campbell soup cans and sculptural "Floor Burgers" which are approximately 4 ft. high and 6 ft. wide hamburgers which sit on the floor. In "Pop Art" man is asked to except illusions. One of the most current schools is "Neo-Realism" in which the artist wonders at what is to be believed. All of these and other periods have had great impact on New York; for in New York more art movements have had their birth.
In all of the arts; dance, music, drama, painting, sculpture, film and the various new media; New York is pulsating with statements made up by artists that are constantly evaluating their existence. In the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance and Gannerist periods most art was very religious, because people still had concern for religion. Today religious art is not fashionable, for the greatest artist and filmmakers are disillusioned with the Church's irrelevance and the hypocrisy in the way Christians are leading their lives. There will not be another Renaissance of Religious Art until the new age is progressed to the point where it has touched the hearts of those that create. I pray that this will be soon, for the artists of the world especially those who work in the mass media have so much influence on the minds of men.
In New York there are at least twenty to thirty formal champagne openings each month in one or another of the many hundreds of galleries. The most intellectual, cultural and wealthy people of New York focus their attention on artists and their insights. If all artists were focused on Father and told His Message through their work the great minds of the world would quickly be influenced.
David
Charnow
Would you believe the continual fumes and haze in the air? Remember the traffic jam that for hours held all the cars still? Think panic when the subway stopped for half an hour or more between stations. Think of the thieves on heroin. Think of the pain of the anxious displaced.
Compete in that center of talent for your job. Walk that cement all day long. Be careful at the corner. Watch for pickpockets. Would you believe the sunless streets of endless giants of buildings? The hurry? The rush? Be impressed. Believe.
This is New York.
Note: This was written by a young man now studying with us. It is the view that many have of this city. However, since Dave has been coming to the Center, he commented that everything has begun to look different -- even the subways seem beautiful.
Beth
George
During these times of intoxication, mingled with anxiety, the New York center exists as a place of stability in the middle of a sea of turbulence. It is here that we are attempting to establish a zone of liberation for those within and without, here and near. The guidelines are sketchy, but we have a few;... seeking itself is part of our life style, we are fellow travelers on the road in human solidarity with every man who seeks a fully human life....in Father. The Way is not outside us; nor is it hidden; nor is it the prize at the end. It is within us; we are there, the
Kingdom is now.
"The way is near but men seek it afar. It is in easy things but men seek for it in difficult things." a Zen saying, the primacy of love, which leads to sharing, to listening, to dying, to giving one's life for your brothers and sisters.
...new asceticism. Instead of renouncing or even overcoming the world, me propose to transform, to dare to create a new thing. If Father is the revelation of creativity, we must not blaspheme him with our deadness and immovability, the personal and the communal; a kind of partnership, with room for privacy and commonness.
It is within this zone that we are attempting to establish a balance between structure and freedom; schedules and responsibility. We need the structure for support, to give an idea of limits. But there must also be room to develop an awareness of what needs to be done and the maturity to do it. The balance is a very delicate one. Too much structure can cripple and maim. No structure can lead to chaos and confusion. In the next few lines, I would like to share with you, how we are beginning to create that balance.
We begin by scheduling the basic necessities, with everyone getting a turn at food shopping, cooking, and cleaning. There are two people assigned to do the shopping for each month. When it comes to cooking that food, we are most fortunate in having 7 women in the center, thus giving each of us a turn at preparing dinner. Everyone has a turn cooking Sunday morning breakfast -- brothers included. The last household task is housekeeping. Our 8 room apartment is divided into smaller sections, with each person responsible for his area. Saturday evening is the time set aside for a general cleaning -- up and preparation for Sunday. It seems that if we order ourselves and our home, the evening before, the expectation and openness for Sunday is increased.
Sunday is greeted at 5 a.m. when stillness finally shrouds the city and we can listen to the quiet. The words of the Children's Oath are whispered over our island -- words that will continue the re-creation, making all things new. Perhaps in this silence, our city will come to a realization of her emptiness, an emptiness that aches to be filled with new life.
We gather at 10 a.m. for Sunday Service. The leadership for Sunday, as with our Wednesday evening prayer meetings, is rotated. Witnessing follows the service, so people will return for either the 2 p.m. or the 4 p.m., lecture-discussions of the Divine Principle. If Sunday is inconvenient, then there is always Tuesdays at 8 p.m., -- or any day and time, for that matter.
My attempt to tell you of this center by telling you of our activities leaves me with strong feelings of incompleteness. How can I ever begin to share our essence -- the deep feelings of care and concern we have for each other, and all those who come near? It is like describing the surface of a river, when you can never capture those depths where the strength lies. How can one talk truly about a man when only his skin is mentioned, and never his heart? I can only trust that you know of those layers where words can never go.
It is there that we most truly live.
In all that has been mentioned, from the earthly to the spiritual kingdom, the framework is broad and general. Each person must fill in the spaces and provide the colors. Each one will give the Sunday Service or the prayer meeting a very different flavor, spotlighting a most unique aspect. Some will tell us of the bright yellows of sunshine, or the pinkness of pastels, Others will remind us of the earth, with their greens and browns. or there will be the blackness of soil and all of its richness. The colors are myriad and are here, to be used as needed. The canvas is slowly being filled in, and thus far, it is most beauteous.
Joan
E. Dorfman
Dear Family,
Up until the time I was about fifteen it never occurred to me not to believe in God. As I grew up, somehow I gradually lost my feeling for God, and I felt nothing in His place. My life came to be separated from the very thought of God and there was no connection between us. I believed in man and I wanted very badly to believe in myself and my art. I wanted desperately to believe in something.
As I grew up I stopped being able to express my feelings because of a fear of what they were. I stopped being able to hear my feelings and they gradually became cramped away inside. There wasn't any give and take between my spirit and my body and so they separated and both got lost. My spirit was buried and my body could go nowhere without it. Everything I did was more a desire to be that which I did rather than to express what I was.
About six months before I met Principle I became jolted and bumped out of sleep through the use of drugs. I became aware of the separation within myself, and of the distance between me and all life around me. I began to look for reality and direction. My art work became a means of positive searching rather than something I was doing because I hadn't thought of anything else.
While I was in art school I had a roommate Ellen whom I cared for very much. we both had in common the fear of becoming close to people. We had the same problem in coming close to each other but we kept at it. Towards the end of the school year, Ellen had a small but very intense revelation in which she saw that people would always be together and they would never die. Although I wanted to very much I couldn't understand what Ellen said. Soon after, Ellen left for Virginia Beach and I went home. In a few weeks Ellen was back again carrying the Divine Principle within her. While she had been away tier revelation had begun a small root in my mind. Somehow I too came to know that people were supposed to be together. I knew that the world was not supposed to be the way it was, and that it had not always been that way, and that something had happened to change it. It was a big realization for me at that time, and it made me feel very happy and I smiled a lot even on the subway. When Ellen came back to tell me about the Unified Family it was as if I had been set up.
Through the summer I went periodically to the Philadelphia center to be taught Divine Principle by Barbara Mikesell. I rarely understood anything Barbara said but I was struck very much with her. I saw truth through her rather than through what she said.
I was drawn to the center very forcefully without understanding why. when I heard the conclusion I had no idea what it meant, but when I went back to school in September I knew that somehow I had gained something. Somehow I had assimilated truth from the center and I wanted to use it. I knew that I wanted to follow through on what had been begun in my mind and in my life. I remember thinking that before I met the family I didn't know how to live.
I am from a Jewish background. My parents always told me to stay with my own kind. They said that the Jews had to stay together for strength and to insure that the heritage would never die out. I don't know what will happen to the Jewish Heritage. I pray that all religious groups, cultures, and races will come together and that all of the beauty of each one will remain.
After I heard Principle, the concept of universal truth came and lodged itself in my head, and nothing could have been more logical to me. I knew that if there were any truth that there was only one that applied to all people. And I knew that it was absolutely necessary that there had to be truth, and that it was right that we should know it. I have so much before me to do and be and grow to. To learn how to love, to learn how to be a forceful positive creative part of the world. Now instead of searching through art I will search through direct living and art will fall into its place.
When I first moved into the Unified Family, I lived in the Philadelphia center. I lived there for four and a half months. Now I am in huge New York City and discovering the people here. There is a never ending stream of them to witness to. So many of them are interested. I pray we can set up a strong foundation in New York with many different kinds of people. I feel that very shortly the New York center is going to double, then triple in size. The spirit here is very expectant.
I pray that I can fulfill my life by understanding and accepting and living my part in the world. I pray that I can learn God's love and use it right.
In Their Names,
Joan E. Dorfman
Dennis
Cormier speaking
Although we have been teaching the Divine Principle in New York for several years, bringing Father's truth to the city, we have just begun a new phase of the establishment of His kingdom. All of us discovered the work of the Freedom Leadership Foundation last September when we attended a series of conferences at the Washington Headquarters. Inspired by the efforts of our family in Washington, we initiated a similar program ill New York to fight Communism and totalitarian world views in our own country and abroad. This became quite a task for us, but we spend whatever time we can each week becoming acquainted with the reality of international Communism, while deepening our awareness of the political situation in the United States and abroad.
Besides the most important task of educating ourselves, we have begun to contact other groups whose aims are similar to those of the Freedom Leadership Foundation. We have found many friends who are trying to build a better world and to stop the spread of dialectical materialism. Since movements like ours are not always taken seriously in New York, we are looking to discover where our efforts will have the most effect.
In November we held our first meeting at Riverside Church to publicize the creation of a new FLF chapter in New York. Many days were spent writing invitations, preparing speeches, previewing movies, printing programs. Many of these tasks were new to us, but the hours we offered were beneficial to the future work of FIE. Miss Kim, Neil Salonen, and Travis jones joined us from Washington as we made final preparations; with so much encouragement from them, we held a successful first meeting, which included speeches by Betsy O'Neill [Jones], Hal Mackenzie (from New Haven center), Travis, Neil, and myself; two movies dealing with the reality of revolution in the United States; and a lively discussion afterwards.
Since November, several members have also handed out leaflets on busy streets with information about the war in Vietnam, and the spread of Communist aggression in South East Asia. One Saturday morning we walked along streets tucking pamphlets into the door handles of every car. Several days have also been spent in attending lectures, workshops, and study weekends in order to better acquaint us with Communist aggression.
As we grow and become stronger, we know that the FLF will become a vital force for Father in establishing the outer, physical reality of his Kingdom. Our results are sometimes small, but our desire is limitless. As we lay the formation stage of this new work, we feel Father inspiring us to establish a world where true freedom under God can be shared by everyone of our brothers.
These activities have begun to bring new friends to our center, which doubles as an office and meeting place for FLF activities. Several FLF associates have started to study the Divine Principle.... they are strong, good people whose talents and hearts Father eagerly seeks, longing to be one with them. Perhaps by our efforts to establish the physical reality of the Kingdom of God, they will discover Father's greatest desire for union with them.
Our work has been concentrated on two main political issues during the last four months: 1. the war in Vietnam and 2. the growing Communist influence in the affairs of the Middle Fast. We are learning by joining efforts with established foundations and organizations just how to organize a political movement; how to hold meetings, seminars, and public conferences; and how to use newspapers, radio, and television more effectively. Soon, our efforts will be most rewarding as the Freedom Leadership Foundation takes an increasingly significant role in the training of leaders and in the molding of America's future.
We join our brothers and sisters throughout the world in this most important new aspect of Father's work, and we ask that they will pray for our efforts in the name of our Father, n whose Heart is our lasting Freedom.
Dennis
Cormier
I sought him in ashes down long narrow
streets, Down Streets paved with sorrow,
But searching in sorrow,
I found him in joy... Allelu!
My name is Dennis, one of your new brothers in the United States (New York City). Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, a small city in the northeastern section of our country, I found the Divine Principle in a park one afternoon as people gathered to meet and sing. Because of this meeting which God awaited for so many years, I have come to experience Him and my family in a very special way. Although I had come from a Roman Catholic home and had begun studies for the priesthood, I had really come to doubt my relationship with God and had just about abandoned that relationship before hearing these new words of deep truth and power. In an attempt to reach other people, I had begun to work with young children as a counselor and teacher, 'but I discovered that even children needed more than their adult friend could offer them. They needed to know God just as I needed Him, just as He wanted me to love Him.
Palm Sunday was such a terrible day last year, for it came at the end of many weeks of despairing that man could never love man, that I might never be able to love and be loved, because of the confusion and barriers that blocked our relationships. Just as I felt that there was no hope of a loving relationship with anyone, especially God, and just as I was ready to abandon my search for the Kingdom, Father has covered me with a shower of love and power. I want to shout His name from every street corner.
Betsy O'Neill [Jones'] eyes glowed with such strength and tenderness when she first stopped me in the part to talk about Divine Principle that I followed right behind her that afternoon as she promised to share a way to fulfill those dreams that were just about to be abandoned. As Betsy taught me chapter after chapter, all my secret hopes found reality in this positive, creative blue print for the future Kingdom of God with man. I promised Father that first night to dedicate my life to bringing Him into the lives of other men, if He would give me the courage and wisdom to understand the depths of this truth. Since then, Father, you have been bringing new surprises every day. After spending several days with Miss Kim and our Family in Washington, I learned that keeping this promise would demand, as it did from everyone, a life of blood, sweat, and tears.
And so, Father, I pray that I can work with you in the establishment of your Kingdom in New York City. In this city of bright lights, glamorous places, and people, and in the city of cultural, economic, social, political, and structural giants, there is also fear, despair, and hatred. The dirt on the streets, the riots that flare occasionally in our inner city are just the signs of many people who feel a great sickness in their hearts.
We really share your joy, Father, as each new man and woman begins to free himself from darkness, the darkness that hides You and their brothers. We have great dreams for our city...we have begun the work of opening people's eyes to see the joy in responding to your love.
Father's work takes all forms in New York...one particular way that is bringing people to our center, is visiting them in their homes, churches, and clubs, talking, witnessing, and making new friends. Many people come to our center because they want to experience that which is helping us to grow closer to other man. And so it is not uncommon to see a full living room, people singing and sharing their hearts with our family. Often in our new friends we find people who are really prepared to understand your word, Father, and who only need encouragement to fulfill their own responsibilities. We hope that these good people will be able to see by our friendship and daily life the reality of the Divine Principle, and that they will see the very strength and love that you want to share with them. I am also trying to overcome my fears of stopping people in the park or on the streets or anywhere to share with them the Dawn of a New Age... but when I begin to stutter, You provide the extra boost needed to extend the invitation to visit the center and hear first chapter. I am looking for ways to witness to your truth, Father, not only by trying to teach, but also by trying to reflect your Kingdom in my attitudes, talents, and daily life.
I still feel like a young person when I stand beside strong and deeply dedicated brothers and sisters; and yet every person who comes into the center helps us to grow as we teach them, share their concerns and tears, and pray with them. Give us the courage to grow quickly, Father... to reaffirm our dedication each day... never to turn back, but to walk steadily forward "with a father's heart."
Love in our true Parents
Mary
Penn
Dear Family,
Every night as we gather for prayer on our living room rug making the four positions, we think of you in Korea, longing to help you do your part and also desiring your help in doing our part. Sometimes I get a strong feeling that we need more Oriental members in our country to balance our materialism with their spiritualism, and vice versa.
We know this happiness on a spiritual level the world needs to bring about this ideal balance. So, to make this a reality we hope some of you will consider our country and come to love with us. In the meantime we will work harder in the spirit to come home to our true Fatherland.
In Their Names,
Mary Penn
Maria
Pascher [Kiley]
Dearest Family,
New York is a city which has been opening her arms tenderly, welcoming people from all over the world, Arabia, Russia, China, Europe......giving them hope when it would have meant the end of their religious or political convictions. Thus New York has been and still is an asylum for refugees, politically and religiously persecuted persons, even, for gangsters. Consequently, New York became the melting pot of many races, cultures, and religions. New York, with its harbor and airport, is the world's most renowned gateway to Asia, Africa, and Europe, not only welcoming visitors, students, and immigrants, but also sending its "envoyees" all over the world. It is the center of America's trade and industry where people busily engage in making the best deals, go to the best universities, and love to enjoy themselves the most. Many people are tense and "high strong" because they do not find enough leisure time for reflection and meditation, and all too often they are unable to cope with their emotions realistically. New York is really Father's trouble spot. More than any other city, it needs the waters of purification. Father's healing love. Behind all the corruption, misery, and sinfulness is Father's beauty hidden. It is our task to see and find Father's beauty in each individual person we meet, to have it revealed to themselves. Oh, Father, how great you are and yet so amazingly humble, loving the lowliest of your creatures, the most sinful one!
Since we meet each day people of nearly every race and nationality, of every religion and ideology, our Center reflects, of course, the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the city. It is indeed a "pool" of the world. Greece, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Costa Rica and, of course, America are represented. Americans themselves are derived from Irish, Lithuanian, English, French, and African origin. No other country, I suppose, reflects this variety. Then there is the religious aspect to be considered. Most of us were originally Catholics, Others Protestants, Greek Orthodox and Jewish. We surely can learn a lot from one another! Who would have thought it possible a few years ago that such a variety of personalities, of such different cultural and religious backgrounds could live together in peace and harmony, except for Father.
Our mission in New York is tremendous, even frightening. Many youngsters and university students take drugs, others are greatly influenced by Communism and hardly open to anything else. It is such a dreadful experience seeing Father's children wasting away their lives. We have to learn so much and grow so much to really be able to meet them with Father's love and compassion. Besides, we also have to cope with the reality of materialism to which many are devoted or addicted.
New York is a city of many possibilities, but also of a million of problems. These are Father's problems, and consequently ours; but also Father's possibilities and therefore most certainly also ours.
The Lord said
"Say, "We"
But
I shook my head,
Hid my hands tight behind my back, and said,
Stubbornly,
The Lord said, "Say, 'We";
But I looked
upon them, grimy and all away.
Myself in all those twisted shapes?
Ah, no! Distastefully I turned my head away,
Persisting,
"They."
The
Lord said, "Say, 'We'"; And I
At last
Richer by a
hoard
Of years
And tears,
Looked in their eyes and formed
the heavy word That bent my neck and lowed my head;
Like a shamed
schoolboy then I mumbled low, we,
Lord.'
(Kane Wilson Baker)
It is so important that this "I" does, in fact, become a "We." New York is the gate to the world, it is the world in microcosm. So is our Center, and we feel this more and more. The Unified Family is the Family of one, but New York, so far, is the Family of many, it is divided and corrupted, lonely and frustrated in its isolation and division. Father hasten the coming of Your Kingdom, so that your suffering and our suffering may soon end! We certainly promise to do our part.
Love and greetings to all of you and especially to our True Parents.
Maria Pascher [Kiley]
Peter
Mariouglou
The heaven endures forever and the earth is eternal. Why are earth and heaven enduring and eternal? Because they do not live for themselves therefore they can live forever,
If you follow the way you may travel all over the heaven without harm. You will find peace and you will find quietness. You will pause for music and food, no harm to any. But the way itself has no flavor, the way itself has no sound, but the way itself can be seen; use it, it is never ending
You rode a yellow horse,
I rode
white one,
and his was black,
Horses, three colors,
but our
hearts were one.
One of the advantages of being born on the Lower East Side is that you are born an "adult." I simply mean that at a very early age you are made a participant in the problems of the adult world around you.
I saw a boy about eight years old, standing beside his father's stand. I still remember the expression of that boy's face as he listened to his father discuss a proposed purchase with a customer. He watched his fathers every move and oh, how sad the boy looked when the customer walked away without buying! The whole thing amounted to pennies, but the boy looked up at his father with deep sorrow, as if to say, "Don't worry, we'll sell the next one."
May we too be as sensitive.