The Words The Kwak Family
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The Words The Kwak Family |
It is a great pleasure for me to meet with you once again and to bring you greetings from the Reverend Moon. This Fourth International Congress marks a milestone for PWPA International. Over the past six years we have established an international network of scholars through PWPA chapters throughout the world. The first four International Congresses are a valuable gift from the Reverend Moon to the PWPA leaders who have worked to organize a PWPA in their own countries.
At the First International Congress of PWPA in Seoul, Korea we had the opportunity to meet with the Reverend Moon directly and receive his vision of a world of peace centered on God, absolute love, and mutual understanding and respect among all of humankind. He spoke of the creation of a world educational network with over 70 universities, and a major international publishing program which would produce textbooks for students around the world.
The reports I have received of your activities contain so many precious stories of your virtuous and selfless efforts. In just a few years, PWPA chapters have sponsored hundreds of meetings all over the glove. We have produced numerous books through our publishing facilities on all six continents. As a network, we are rapidly expanding our knowledge and forming a new international community centered on universal values.
At the Second, Third and Fourth International Congresses of PWPA we have been able to further develop our friendships and share our experiences, while at the same time we have had numerous opportunities to meet and learn from experts on the world's major social systems. The international outlook and the knowledge of successes and failures of various social strategies can help you to bring leadership to your countries. Many of you are consulted by your nation's leaders. You are also in a position to guide junior scholars and your students. There is no doubt in my mind that you can make an important contribution to the betterment of your nations.
While we have been developing the Professors World Peace Academy, the Reverend Moon has been working in several areas to bring about a world of lasting peace. These areas include: the search for absolute values, the development of science and technology, a "Headwing" political avenue which can have appeal in both the East and the West, an international financial network, and a unified media which exists for the sake of the world.
At the center of Reverend Moon's efforts has been the development of men and women of character and true families. In the large international marriages he holds, people of all ethnic groups become relatives. They learn to resolve conflicts like brothers and sisters, through love and unity rather than violence and division. All of you have met some of the young people who follow the Reverend Moon's teaching. Many of them have been selflessly raising the money that has made national PWPA activities possible.
The New World Festival will be a new level of Reverend Moon's work. It is his desire to bring together the fruits of all these efforts into one global festival which addresses all aspects of culture. At the New World Festival there will be an ICUS Conference, a World Media Conference, performances by members of the Artists Association International (AAI), trade exhibitions, a gathering of many of the world's religious leaders, athletic events, a Mr. and Ms. University Pageant, an international marriage ceremony, and the creation of a new international family association.
I'd like to spend a few moments to expand on the thought behind the New World Festival, since I regard each of you as important to the success of this great event.
Clearly, the New World Festival, far more than an intercultural celebration, will be a broad and powerful effort to directly address the central problems plaguing human society. Problems like the breakup of the nuclear family, divorce, teenage pregnancy, the shattering of ethical and moral standards throughout society, and the resulting instability of the individual character. Truly, the instability of the individual and the family become the indisputable cause of many kinds of societal damage. All of you, I am sure, realize the centrality of the family in the teaching and work of Reverend Moon. The family event, a very large international marriage Blessing, will take a very important place in the New World Festival. This is because we recognize that the consecration of ideal families, built around high moral values, is crucial to the future of our nations and world. Finding the right political system does not, finally, represent the cure-all and be-all for our large human family, especially in the all too prevalent case of men and women deeply damaged by early experiences in the home and in youth long before entering the mainstream of society.
In Unification terminology, marriage is called the "Blessing." The central core of this Blessing is the vow given by both man and woman, not only to one another, but first and most importantly to God -- the unchanging source of moral value and eternal, universal goodness and love. In a sense then, this Blessing is not merely the marrying of man and woman, but the consecration of a full devotion to God, and the receiving of God's Blessing as a result of that pledge of devotion. In the 32 years that I have had the privilege of working with Reverend Moon, I've never seen him waver in the teaching of high moral and family standards. Furthermore, I believe he is realizing those same standards through his life and work.
Everyone recognizes modern society's need for a turning point -- this pivotal point is rooted in the individual and family center, beyond sectarianism, on God and universal principles. Thus, the great international marriage Blessing ceremony at the New World Festival will also serve as the root event of a new international family association.
The New World Festival, secondly, will address in an unprecedented way the needs of the society beyond the home and family. In the last decade of this century, our humanity, like never before, must establish the ways and means to much greater international cooperation and coordination in areas such as information exchange, technological development, the preservation and wise use of natural resources, and the very critical issue of environmental protection.
Certainly the areas of concern I've just mentioned are known to the large majority of our world's leaders today. But still many problems continue to proliferate -- why?
A major reason is that so many barriers are yet persisting in the individual and collective mind: political barriers, nationalistic barriers, and the ugly walls of racial and religious bigotry. These barriers have to be torn down once and for all by a human race which has clearly become conscious of itself as one family, brothers and sisters under God as their parent. Once we are willing to live unselfishly for that highest good, barriers will fall and humanity will solve its problems in an environment of God- centered love and respect.
Before this Fourth International Congress finishes, you'll be hearing much more concerning the New World Festival and, most importantly, what each of you can do to help. For now, however, let me underscore again the significance of the international marriage Blessing that will take place as a central event. I want to ask you to share about this most revolutionary vision after you've returned to your countries, especially with young men and women who would like to make a concrete commitment toward a better world by becoming candidates for this Blessing.
The New World Festival is planned to be in Seoul, Korea in August of 1991, just two years from now. It is my hope that you will join with me to help make this a most inspiring and successful event, an event which will help point our world toward peace and happiness in the 21st century. The foundation which Reverend Moon has helped lay in all these areas I've mentioned can become a vehicle in which your nations can all participate as our world becomes a global community. It is envisioned that this festival will take place every three years and that it will become Reverend Moon's ongoing contribution to all projects which he has founded.
I would like to again ask your assistance in finding young people and VIP's in your nations to participate in this global event. This is a massive undertaking. Mr. Neil Salonen will be the major coordinator for the New World Festival events. In addition, we have asked for the assistance of regional coordinators to assist him in making preparations for the festival. These coordinators have been invited to this PWPA Congress to work with you and gather ideas about how we might proceed in your regions. They will be a central distribution point for promotional materials, information gathering and logistical arrangements in your region.
I hope you will agree with me that this is a most exciting project, one that can help create the world of peace and human fulfillment that we all long to see. I look forward to working with you on the New World Festival. May God bless you all.