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H.J. Moon: Inauguration Speech as Chair of UPF
Written by Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, International Chairman, UPF
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Excerpts of address at the inauguration of the new chairman of the Universal Peace Federation
Seoul, Korea, November 18, 2009
Rev. Hyung Jin Moon served as International Chairman, UPF from 2009 to 2012.
I would like start by expressing my deepest gratitude to my father, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon for entrusting me with the honor and responsibility to serve as the new international chair of the Universal Peace Federation, which he founded in September 2005.
I would also like to thank the UPF Board of Directors for their endorsement, and in particular I want to recognize the outgoing chair, Rev. Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak, and the co-chair, my elder brother Hyun-jin, for the efforts they have made in the development of UPF during its first four years. I am also grateful to all the UPF staff and volunteers who are working hard in their respective nations to build networks of people dedicated to peace.
Throughout his life, my father has been educating people in this nation and around the world and has been working for peace in many ways. He has founded many different institutions and supported many different projects, but his fundamental desire for all of these is for people to inherit God’s love.
This is why he has often said that peace cannot be brought about solely through the efforts of the United Nations, the United States, or any other nation, far less by the work of any one organization like the Universal Peace Federation.
It is my fundamental conviction that an ideal world of peace and unity cannot be established by human effort alone. It requires faith. To build a world of peace, we need to elevate our faith to a higher level and learn to see each other with our spiritual eyes, eyes of love and acceptance. Only then can we build One Family under God by receiving the marriage blessing and forming families of peace centered on the true love of God.
As I take on this new responsibility, I think of myself first and foremost as a student and as a learner. Many of you know that I studied comparative religions at Harvard University and was engaged in spiritual training before I became entrusted with this latest responsibility, and I will continue that training.
As we begin a new chapter in the work of the Universal Peace Federation, I would like to again express my deepest gratitude to all the leaders and volunteers of the UPF, and to Ambassadors for Peace for their sacrificial dedication to the task of building a world of peace and unity. Let us move forward to realize that great ideal!
For a report of the inaugural event, click here.