Founding member and former academic director, CAUSA International; currently, Visiting Professor of International Studies at the University of Bridgeport.

I first encountered Dr. Bo Hi Pak in March, 1972 when he accompanied Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon on a visit which they made to in Paris, France. What first struck me about Dr. Pak was his amazing capacity to translate both the words and the heart of Reverend Moon in a way that Westerners could grasp. A linguist by training, I was astonished by his proficiency in American English, especially given that he had only begun to study the language at the age of 28.

When I returned to the United States in 1973 to join the Unification community's activities there, I had the opportunity to participate in Reverend Moon's 21-city, 32-city, and 8-city speaking tours in the United States. Later I joined the first Global Team and participated in an evangelical tour with Reverend Moon and Dr. Pak in Japan and in Korea. We usually only saw Dr. Pak from afar. I never could have imagined back then that I would later be provided an opportunity to work directly and personally with such a remarkable individual.

In 1980 Antonio Betancourt, burning with the vision of addressing Latin America's spiritual, political, and social plight, approached Dr. Pak and shared his views and what he perceived as unique opportunities. Dr. Pak immediately understood the validity of Antonio's observations.

Together they went to Reverend and Mrs. Moon and this resulted in the creation of CAUSA International, an internationally based organization which played an important role in exposing the fallacies of Marxist doctrine in the 1980's to a wide variety of audiences. Aware of my ability to speak Spanish, Antonio recommended that I along with several other seminarians come to CAUSA upon completing our graduate studies in religious education at Unification Theological Seminary. Reverend Moon assigned me along with Bill Selig, Juan Sanchis, Peter and Beatriz Steeghs, Mark Willenchek, George Allen, Roger Johnstone, Frederick Swarts, Jean Rondon, Paul Perry, and Bill Lay to multiply CAUSA's educational efforts.

For the next thirteen years, I was afforded the amazing opportunity to work closely with Dr. Pak. It is an experience which has shaped my life of faith and my understanding of what it means to be a public person. There is not space here to enter into all of the details of that experience. Because Dr. Pak sees thirteen as his lucky number, I have decided to summarize what I learned in thirteen points, many of which I hope the reader may sense while enjoying the reading of Dr. Pak's speeches in this volume:

When a person makes a promise or a commitment, one must do absolutely everything to live up to it. Over and over I saw that once Dr. Pak made a promise, he did everything to fulfill it and he usually did.

Before working with Dr. Pak, I was inclined to see things in a very simplistic world of the saved (Unificationists) and the unsaved (non-Unificationists). Through him I learned how God loves and respects people of all faiths and backgrounds. I learned to respect the spiritual accomplishments of those outside the Unification tradition. I came to value their ideas, their input, their sacrifices, and their many contributions which far exceeded my own. I came to appreciate and recognize the many things which all believers have done and continue to do for God and humanity.

Working with Dr. Pak, on literally hundreds of conferences as well as on numerous publications, I saw that his absolute desire was to demonstrate an unparalleled standard of excellence in the preparation and execution of all that he pursues. I have rarely seen his standard equaled elsewhere even though I participated in numerous programs held in conjunction with or under the auspices of heads of state in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the United States. If the Chiefs of Protocol of the United Nations and the Big Seven spent a week with Dr. Pak, they would not go away unimpressed.

In 1987 a group of battlefield-wearied Unification Church leaders came to Dr. Pak to form the American Freedom Coalition. My wife and I commented over many years how each of those leaders became revived under Dr. Pak and the vision of Reverend Moon. Indeed they became like new members. Today several of them have even been invited to fulfill important official roles in state and city government. Almost all of them having become significant community leaders. Through the CAUSA conferences, I also came to recognize that the most maligned groups in the United States were those who vocally opposed communism. On one occasion after another, I saw how Dr. Pak appreciated this constituency at CAUSA conferences and in other encounters. He had the remarkable ability to lift their spirits and remind them of the nobility of their cause. What explains this? Dr. Pak helps others to feel God's and Reverend Moon's love for America, which has its roots in a respect for this nation's Christian heritage of sacrifice and self-denial in the pursuit of "one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."

Dr. Pak has a warm, generous, and embracing nature. Though he can be strict and demanding, there is a remarkable brotherly aspect in his character, which allows one to unburden one's heart with him in a way one might not elsewhere. When he welcomes someone to his office, he devotes himself totally to that person. Those touched by him walk away in peace with a profound sense of having experienced forgiveness, renewal, and the love of God.

I do not know how many times I saw Dr. Pak in a hopeless situation and witnessed how even there he found a cause for hope and exhilaration. Perhaps this was best manifested in 1984 when he was kidnapped, blindfolded, gagged and beaten by thugs and even given the hour of his announced execution. Even in that situation, Dr. Pak's attitude was, "How can I die so that my last words render honor to God and to the work of my Teacher?"

Dr. Pak's positive attitude and total commitment explain how he could reach the highest levels of leadership in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Reverend Moon once said that he is thinking about Dr. Pak every second of the day. I believe that this was because Reverend Moon could sense Dr. Pak's total devotion to realizing the Founder's vision.

In 1985 I was with Dr. Pak in Montevideo. I received a phone call that there was a bomb under a podium where Dr. Pak was speaking. I was told that it would be detonated in 10 minutes. I brought a note to Dr. Pak, warning him that his life was in danger. He read the note, nodded, and then enthusiastically continued with his lecture. The bomb threat turned out to be a hoax.

I cannot begin to count the many times when I witnessed Dr. Pak in tears because of the difficult conditions Reverend Moon suffered in the United States, particularly during the dark days of Danbury. The purity of his devotion deeply impressed me. I believe that this helps to explain why he has served as such an effective bridge between Reverend and Mrs. Moon and those who have expressed interest in their views and activities.

In my thirteen-year experience of working with Dr. Pak, I almost never heard him speak ill of anyone, even those who had clearly mistreated him. He chose to remain silent or even to praise those who had taken advantage of him.

Although our contribution to his efforts were minuscule, I saw how time and again, he gave us credit for successes which were not ours.

Never can I recall a time when I called Dr. Pak and reached Mrs. Pak that she said to me "Why are you calling here? Now is family time." She always called Dr. Pak to the phone. I found in the Paks' family life a beautiful devotion between husband and wife and parents and children and at the same time an exemplary manifestation of the teaching that the individual must live for the family, the family for the clan, the clan for the nation, the nation for the world, and the world for God.

Dr. Pak always emphasized that if people are inspired by his personality and his lifestyle, they needed to understand that he was not always as he is now. He explained how he had gone through a profound change once he had met his Teacher. Later, when I had the opportunity to pursue a few projects directly with Reverend and Mrs. Moon, I realized that because of having worked with Dr. Pak, I had learned so many things that were pivotal to understanding the ideal of True Parents.

Dr. Pak has so often said that on his tombstone, he dreams of only one epitaph: Bo Hi Pak-A Child of God and True Son of True Parents. From my thirteen years of working with Dr Pak, I can testify that he lives as a public person, constantly pushing himself to realize that ideal and, like the Bodhisatva, he helps us to do the same.

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