Large wedding ceremonies since 1960 – door to true marital love
For more than 60 years, Father and Mother Moon have organized large wedding ceremonies in order to realize God‘s family ideal. People from all races, cultures, religions and nationalities participate. After Sun Myung Moon’s death in 2012, his wife Hak Ja Han has officiated at the major international ceremonies.
Since 1960, millions of couples have been blessed in such large wedding ceremonies as a way to realize their desire to achieve the eternal ideal that true conjugal love represents, and at the same time raise their children with an absolute and unconditional parental love.
Among the many who have had their marriages blessed by Father and Mother Moon, there are thousands who asked Father Moon to choose a spouse for them. He had received from God the ability to see the individual’s spiritual character and inherited qualities. This enabled him to suggest with whom a person was best suited, and what kind of partner one would need for his or her spiritual growth. That tradition came to an end some years before Sun Myung Moon left this world in 2012.
“While marriage counselors and parish priests are wringing their hands over the breakdown of family life, the Unification Church is doing something about it. The God-centered family is not merely a nice slogan or a spiritual ideal suggested by the church leaders. It is the essential core of community among the faithful of the church. It is also a deeply motivated system for restoring marital fidelity and family stability to modern society.”
(Marriage, Family and Sun Myung Moon, article by Father Joseph H. Fichter (1908-1994), Jesuit and sociologist of religion, published in the Jesuit magazine America 27th Oct. 1979.)
Couples who are already married within the framework of their own religion also participate in these ceremonies. They do not need to change their religion, but on the contrary find that such an experience gives them the opportunity to deepen their marriage and sacrifice it to God, as they renew and strengthen their faith. At the same time, they also decide to realize God‘s ideal in their family.
There are many who have come to positive conclusions after closely studying the life of families of believers who base their marriage on Father Moon‘s teachings and tradition. In the above mentioned article, Jesuit sociologist Father Joseph H. Fichter (1908-1994) writes about the impressions he got when he studied the couples who have chosen this path. He says that a pragmatic sociologist might very well have concluded that the Family Federation:
“has discovered an effective family plan. [….] one has to recognize its systematic program for the restoration of ‘old-fashioned’ morality, its emphasis on chastity before marriage, prayerful preparation for marriage, a readiness to accept guidance in the choice of a partner, marital love reflective of love of God, transmission of spiritual perfection to children.” (Fichter)
The New York Times writes that the Family Federation’s
“teaching on marriage does not exalt the romantic, personal side of a marriage. Marriage, according to Mr. Moon, is more than a man and a woman seeking the blessing of their church on their decision to live together. With as much fervor as other world religions stress celibacy as a means to a godly life, Mr. Moon writes that marriage is necessary to complete one’s godly duty of seeking perfection in individual and communal life.”
(“Marriage Seen As Godly Duty”, article by Charles Austin, The New York Times 2nd July 1982, section B, page 1.)
We hold seminars on the meaning of the marriage blessing. You do not have to be a member of the Family Federation to participate.
“Large Wedding Ceremonies” – text: Knut Holdhus
