Press Release: A Different Kind of Pilgrimage to Korea for Young Members of FFWPU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For many young people a pilgrimage to South Korea means taking in places, food and culture with a trip to a Korean skincare store, or to see the latest K-Pop sensation. However, for hundreds of young people from across the UK, Europe and America who are members of the FamilyFederation for World Peace and Unification, it’s a somewhat different experience. Those aged 16-39 will be making a religious pilgrimage to the land where their faith was born.

The HJ Youth Pilgrimage is a special 21 Day Workshop taking place from August 4th to 24th 2024 at HJ Heaven and Earth CheonBo Training Centre in South Korea. The pilgrimage will dive into spirituality and the Divine Principle. There will also be an opportunity for pilgrims to travel aroundSouth Korea, visiting important religious sites and there will be a chance for those attending to meet the True Mother, Hak Ja Han Moon who is the wife of the founder Sun Myung Moon.

The Training Centre is a place prepared by the founders to allow people to find their true selves.There, our members will connect deeply to the Heavenly Parent’s Heart through Cheonshim WonVigil Prayer (Cheonshim Won means The Garden of God's Heart), Chanyang Yeoksa (sessions for the removal of evil spirits) and talks on topics covering the mission of our True Mother Hak JaHan Moon. Attendees will visit sacred sites and significant landmarks that hold historical importance to the organisation and its founders, the True Parents. And this year those attending will experience the Summer Great Works session, commemorating the 12th Anniversary of theHoly Ascension of True Father Sun Myung Moon who died in 2012.

Dr Michael Balcomb, Director of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (UK):

“This pilgrimage to Korea is an opportunity for the younger members of our faith to learn more about their roots and understand the journey of the True Father and True Mother. It will be aspiritual experience giving them the chance to understand what life was like for our founders.Seeing their home, and understanding their vision and what they worked towards. How better todo that than to see the objects and memories they were surrounded by. Last years pilgrimage was an unforgettable experience - and this years is set to be another life changing visit for the attendees.”

Media Contact

For further information or to book an interview please contact Emma Rushton at Roseleigh Media on roseleighmedia@gmail.com and copy in pr@ffwpu.org.uk

Further Information

If you would like to see more on the pilgrimage, please find this link to a documentary made by our American counterparts https://youtu.be/ZzRXyObfyQQ 

Notes for Editor 

• The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, previously known as the Unification Church was founded by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in 1954.

• It became known as The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) in 1997 and aimed to be a new broader based evolution of the Unification Community as an alliance of people who generally share the vision of building God-centred families as the basis for healthy communities, stable societies and a peaceful world.

• When Sun Myung Moon, the founder, was just 15, Jesus Christ revealed to him that the end of the age was fast approaching. Moon took the revelation to churches in Korea but they were dismissive. He gained a small group of followers and preaching in the Communist-held northern part of Korea resulted in his being thrown into a harsh labour camp. On his eventual release, he fled as a refugee to South Korea, where he met his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon (or Mother Moon.) The couple were married in 1960 and continued their public ministry together.

• The church’s mass weddings began in the 1960’s with just a few dozen couples getting married, but this has grown over the following years to the ceremony it is today.