Mother Moon Embarks on Pilgrimage Bus Tour of the United States

Immediately following the successful Women’s Federation for World Peace’s (WFWP) 20th Anniversary program in Las Vegas, “The Turning Point,” Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, affectionately known as Mother Moon, began a pilgrimage tour of the United States, visiting important historical and religious sites in a grueling journey that will cover about 2,700 miles in just one week.

Throughout her special 40 days of attendance to her late husband, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, in Korea, following the Seonghwa (“Ascension”) ceremony on September 15th, Mother Moon has been emphasizing the importance of returning to the founding spirit of the Unification Church. She has continuously reminded us of the early days when members lived with a very close connection to her and Father Moon, or “True Parents,” and where churches everywhere were filled with the Word of God and the teaching of the Divine Principle. She also took time during that period to visit many of the holy grounds, workshop sites and church facilities where Father Moon had invested so much throughout his 75 years of ministry in Korea.

Now, it’s America’s turn. Right after concluding the 40-days vigil in Korea, Mother Moon came to Las Vegas, the city that Father Moon chose as his special focus in the final years of his life. At the WFWP event, Mother Moon again emphasized the importance of restoring Las Vegas from “sin city” to a “shining city” that honors God.

This week, she has been visiting some of the historical holy grounds and other sites across the country where True Parents have poured out so much time and effort during their 38 years in the United States. “Mother Moon wants to reconnect with roots of our traditions in America,” says Dr. Chang Shik Yang, continental director of the United States. “And she wants to recall the days when she and Father visited all fifty states in the early years, and during the Day of Hope Tours of the 1970s.”

Mother Moon is accompanied on the pilgrimage tour by Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the new Unification Church President in the United States, and by his wife Yeon Ah Moon. Kwon Jin Moon and Sun Jin Moon’s families are also in attendance together with other members of Mother Moon’s family, the “True Family,” Dr. Yang and a few other leaders.

“It is a tough schedule,” said Dr. Yang. “We are averaging around 500-600 miles a day, which is many long hours on the bus.”

Typically, the group makes three or four short stops a day, visiting not only holy grounds and church sites, but also significant sights, both natural and man-made, that had inspired Father Moon, a great lover of nature and admirer of human ingenuity during his work here in the United States. These have included natural wonders such as the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, as well as great feats of engineering such as the Hoover Dam and the St. Louis Memorial Arch, which was just being completed when Father Moon had first visited the city in 1965.

So far the tour has visited Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Missouri, with upcoming stops planned for Niagara Falls, Boston, and Gloucester, where Father Moon had fished for tuna for so many years. The final visits are expected to include Bridgeport University, just now emerging from the aftermath of “Superstorm” Sandy (the entire student body was briefly evacuated) and the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, before returning to East Garden in Westchester, New York.

by Dr. Michael Balcomb.

Lake Mead