Sydney, Australia—An audience of around 50 people, made up of Ambassadors for Peace and youth and community leaders, attended a one-day Oceania Leadership Conference held on August 18 at the Oceania Peace Embassy. The theme of the conference was “Providing Vision and Leadership for Nation-Building and Peace Through Ideal Families,” and it concluded with a World Peace Blessing ceremony.
The conference was emceed by Jynene Helland and opened by Oceania Regional Chairman Shang Seon Park, who welcomed the participants. Rev. Soon Teck Lim, leader of the Australian chapter of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, gave the first presentation, “The Need for Universal Principles. This was followed by “Give and Take Action, the Purpose of Life, and Human Responsibility,” presented by a guest speaker from Brisbane, John Adamedes. Gregory Stone, UPF-Oceania secretary general, concluded with “The Root Cause of Human Conflict and Suffering and the Significance of the Marriage Blessing.” The audience responded positively and thoroughly enjoyed the presentations.
The afternoon concluded with a presentation on the meaning of the World Peace Blessing followed by a blessing ceremony. One main Ambassador for Peace couple served as the representative couple for the ceremony, with the audience also participating. A youth choir helped to support the ceremony with two lovely songs.
This Oceania Leadership Conference was a very successful groundbreaker for further conferences and interfaith blessing events planned in the near future.