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Founder's Birthday Celebration
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday, February 19, 10:30 AM
The Founder's Birthday
Today we join the celebrations marking the joint birthdays of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, who share the lunar birthdate of January 6th. More than a thousand guests are expected to be present for the festivities.
The Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, known affectionately as Father and Mother Moon, lead a movement active in 190 nations, with foundations and enterprises encompassing the realms of religion, academia, the arts, media, sports, agriculture, technology, ocean enterprises, and more.
Sun Myung Moon was born a farmer’s son on January 6, 1920, in what is now North Korea. On Easter Sunday, 1935, he had a life-changing spiritual encounter with Jesus, who asked him to work for the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. He began his public ministry in 1945. After being imprisoned in a North Korean death camp for three years, he was liberated by UN forces in 1950.
Responding once again to the call of God, Rev. Moon came to the United States in 1971, where he began a series of national revival tours, a tradition that has continued to this day.
In 1990, he fulfilled a pledge that one day he would go to Moscow. There he met with President Mikhail Gorbachev and urged the Russian people to turn back to God.
The following year, he made his first visit in 40 years to Pyongyang, embracing the leaders who had been his persecutors and seeking ways to bridge the gap between the two Koreas.
Today Rev. and Mrs. Moon are proposing a revitalized, renewed United Nations with the help of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), with more than 50,000 diplomats, clergy, civic leaders, current and former heads of state appointed as Ambassadors for Peace.
Among the prominent current initiatives of the UPF is the Middle East Peace Initiative. Thousands of religious leaders have journeyed to Israel and Palestine to urge the children of Abraham to unite in peace.
UPF has also been active in disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. It is fighting against the spread of AIDS and encouraging youth to work for peace through sports and community service. The heart and soul of Rev. and Mrs. Moon’s lifelong ministry is the re-establishment of God’s ideal of the family as the foundation for harmonious societies and the cornerstone of world peace.
The Marriage Blessing movement, beginning with three couples in 1960, has reached millions of couples. Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is also a daughter of North Korea. She was married to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1960, and they have fourteen children.
An internationally noted peace activist, Dr. Moon has spoken at the United Nations and the Kremlin Palace in Moscow and the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and has been awarded a number of honorary degrees for her peace and humanitarian work.
Sun Myung Moon - Milestones
1920 Born a farmer’s son in North Korea, then under Japanese occupation.
1935 Anointed by Jesus in an Easter Sunday vision, he learned of the grieving heart of God and pledged to work to establish God’s kingdom on earth
1948 Imprisoned in communist death camp for preaching the gospel; released by UN forces in the Korean War, 1950.
1960 Married to Hak Ja Han Moon. The heart and soul of their lifelong ministry together is the re-establishment of God’s ideal of the family as the cornerstone of world peace.
1971 Began world ministry in America with the New Hope Tour. The movement grows despite media controversy.
1985 Vindicated after imprisonment on US tax-evasion charges, when 40 church denominations and a Senate subcommittee declare that an ‘injustice’ was done.
1990 Embraced former enemies Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union and Kim Il Sung of North Korea.
1996 Replaced his own Unification Church with a new Family Federation to build one human family under one God.
2005 Launched Universal Peace Federation and began a 100-city, 100-day peace tour to promote interreligious harmony and reconciliation.
2009 Published his autobiographical memoir, As a Peace-loving Global Citizen, and declares a time of new hope for God and humanity in a “Pacific Rim Era.”
2010 Celebrates his 90th birthday together with thousands of family members, friends, Ambassadors for Peace and well-wishers in over 190 nations.
Global Citizen of Peace
Seoul, Korea - June 01, 2009 - Over 3,000 leaders of Korean society and nearly 200 dignitaries from overseas gathered at the COEX center in Seoul to celebrate the successful publication of the surprising new best-seller, As a Global Citizen of Peace, the autobiographical memoir of one of Korea’s best-known and most controversial citizens, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon. Now in his 90th year, the international religious leader was joined at the event by his wife of 50 years, Hak Ja Han, and several of the couple’s 14 children and more than 40 grandchildren. Read More...
Find out more about the Rev. and Mrs. Moon