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THOUSANDS OF UNIFICATION Church members got married in a mass wedding in South Korea today – the first since the death of their “messiah” and controversial church founder Sun Myung Moon.
Some 3,500 identically-dressed couples – many of mixed nationality who had met just days before – took part in the ceremony at the church’s global headquarters in Gapyeong, east of the capital Seoul.
Thousands of couples
Mass weddings, some held in giant sports stadia with tens of thousands of couples, have long been a signature feature of the church and one that “Moonie” critics have pointed to as evidence of cult underpinnings.
Sunday’s event carried a special resonance, with Moon’s 70-year-old widow Hak Ja Han presiding for the first time without her husband who died five months ago, aged 92, of complications from pneumonia.
The church’s mass weddings began in the early 1960s. At first, they involved just a few dozen couples but the numbers mushroomed over the years.
In 1997, 30,000 couples tied the knot in Washington, and two years later around 21,000 filled the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. Nearly all were personally matched by Moon, who taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity, mismatched couples and dysfunctional societies.
Many were married just hours after meeting for the first time, and Moon’s preference for cross-cultural, international marriages meant that they often shared no common language.
Nervous
In recent years, matchmaking responsibilities have shifted towards parents, but 400 of the church members married on Sunday had chosen to be paired off a few days before at an “engagement ceremony” presided over by Moon’s widow.
“Yeah, I was pretty nervous,” admitted Jin Davidson, a 21-year-old student from the United States, whose Australian father and Japanese mother were matched by Moon.
“Then all of a sudden she popped up in front of me, and I said okay,” Davidson said of his Japanese bride-to-be, Kotona Shimizu, also 21.
We struggle a little to communicate right now, as I speak no Japanese at all, and she only speaks a little English, but we see it as an exciting challenge and proof of our faith.
Those who choose to be matched by the church must confirm under oath that they are virgins, and after their wedding the couple must refrain from sexual relations for a minimum of 40 days.
In a sign of the church moving with the times, Lisa, from Trinidad and Tobago, first met her bridegroom, Hubert from Poland, on Skype after being put in contact by family and church friends.
Hubert visited her family in December and the couple decided to attend Sunday’s event in South Korea to receive the blessing of “mother Moon”.
“I’ve been waiting for him all my life,” Lisa said. “Language isn’t such an issue. We’re connected by the church.”
The ceremony was held in the same vast, covered stadium where Moon’s elaborate funeral was held on September 15.
The musical warm up acts were an eclectic mix, including a rousing version of “Libiamo..,” the drinking song from La Traviata, some Buddhist chanting and a children’s choir singing “Oh Happy Day”.
Hak Ja Han entered to the strains of Handel’s Hallelujah chorus and led the couples in their vows. Another 12,000 couples around the world took part via a live Internet feed.
Revered by his followers but denounced by critics as a charlatan who brainwashed church members, Moon was a deeply divisive figure whose shadowy business dealings saw him jailed in the United States.
The teachings of the Unification Church are based on the Bible but with new interpretations, and Moon saw his role as completing the unfulfilled mission of Jesus to restore humanity to a state of “sinless” purity. While it claims a worldwide following of three million, experts suggest the core membership is far smaller.
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You can thank Leo and his sugar tax for that one.
@techman: Increased income for the state, reduced level of sugar consumption, and 43 jobs created for West of Ireland. I’ll thank Leo, brilliant news!
@techman: No you can’t.
@Pat Bateman: once
@UK Hurling Bloke: typo.
I meant it’s either increased tax intake
or sugar lower sugar consumption
You don’t get both at the same time.
People buy less sugary drinks => less tax comes in
@techman: BS. Coca Cola are constantly consolidating their business due to modern production methods. I worked with them for about 7 years. They are constantly changing as all companies do to stay competitive. Unions are not the priority of any private sector company, nor can they. Otherwise they’d end up like the Civil service. Overstaffed and overpaid.
@Pat Bateman: You good at Maths bro? They are closing a plants resulting in the loss of 82 jobs, 42 will be transferred, so may not go more job losses. 0 created from that.
@Dave.: the 82 jobs that are going to be lost are in Athy (Kildare), the 43 that are being created (with first refusal for the Athy lads) will be in Ballina (Mayo). That does mean job creation for the west (at a cost to the east).
@Dave.: I’m good at maths Bro. 3 hour commute each way from Athy to Ballina means it’s highly unlikely people will decide to transfer to Ballina. So like I said, it will create jobs in the west.
@Pat Bateman: ehh can they not move house to follow the job. Lots of people relocate fpr work purposes.
@Michael Fehily: you obviously never worked in the lower grades in the Civil Service look up the starting pay of a Clerical Officer and get back to me. 18 years to get tp the top of that scale!
@GerryCummins: Ehhhh they can yes, but its still creating a job in the West, regardless of who decides to fill that vacancy.
@Pat Bateman: idiot
@Brian harris: Are you going to point out a flaw in my point? Or are you just going to name call?
@UK Hurling Bloke: I have absolutely no idea why my reply to you has been deleted.
@Pat Bateman: is it possible to dislike comments?
@Ellen Breen: No, that feature was removed years ago
@GerryCummins: I actually did work as a clerical assistant at the age of 17 when I left school. I left , The work was quite honestly boring . I enjoyed the constant coffee breaks , morning and afternoon , and of the flexitime and overtime,,,None of which exist in the private sector. The really frustrating thing was when I was working in the civil service , there a number of lazy individuals who simply got away with doing nothing all day. Another phenomenon which wouldn’t happen in the private sector..
Ah sure Leo will get 40million a year out of his tax. The people that lost their jobs are just collaterol damage.
@colm mc sweeney: But there is new jobs being created also?
@colm mc sweeney: nothing to do with sugar tax for a variety of reasons you can’t see
@Pat Bateman: I’m not saying this has anything to do with the new sugar tax , they may be creating 43 new jobs in Mayo , but they are making 82 people redundant in kildare .
Even Leo’s spin team would have struggled spinning that into a positive .
@colm mc sweeney: Did you actually read the article Colm. Nothing to do with the sugar tax, but hey, don’t let the facts get in the way for empty rhetoric and complete lack of thought.
@Clinton Baptiste: Unfortunately Leo or his Spin team don’t have control over the operational decisions that private companies make
@Pat Bateman: If only they would remember that , when some company announces that it’s creating jobs .
@Pat Bateman: What Planet are you on , Planet Leo ,, how muc are you being paid to sput this crap, are you a member of FG ?
Thankfully Leo and his Spin team dont have controll over private companies .. If they did, they would over-staff the company, be overpaying people and compaanies would run at a loss, which would have to paid by the Tax Payer
@Irish Bob: Planet Earth, €0 and no. What part of what I said do you take issue with?
I work for coke and I can tell you this was on the cards for a long time. People in athy were shocked that drogheda plant closed before them 10 years ago. Their is no one there that will be shocked with this news. It has zero to do with the sugar tax or the government
@Dec: Has it got to do with Coke zero then ?
Don’t keep us in suspense .
@Clinton Baptiste: it’s more than a feeling whatever it is!
For all those who advocate higher taxes on business it should be noted that Coca Cola manufacture their concentrate in Ireland only because of our low taxes. The concentrate is then sold to Coca Cola abroad. That allows Coca Cola to say the profit is made in Ireland as it is the secret recipe that makes the profit. These profits are then taxed in Ireland. If we increase taxes every single job involved in the concentrate part of Coca Cola will leave. Then Ireland will buy the concentrate from abroad add water (and less sugar) and sell it making no profit in Ireland and pay no tax. So net Ireland would lose jobs and tax income
Sugar tax on drinks are just a precursor for further taxes in the name of our health.. FFG will continue to rape the people to ensure the bankers gambling debts are payed off..
@Willy Malone: What an utter crock of absolute tripe.
@Willy Malone: what gamble it was a 100% certainty that the blackmailed government would dump the bill on the taxpayer. The Ponzi money system has restarted again not one change. Still making up money that doesn’t exist. And when it collapses again you better pay us higher taxes and hand over your assets or there will be no (made up) money at the ATMs for nurses and teachers.
No photo op for heather humphries at this bad news story but she will no doubt pop up in mayo to announce the new jobs.
Let’s hear from the indies on this one roll on elections
Things don’t go better with coke!
Work for Coke what do you expect. Work for tobacco what do you expect, work for oil… and so on through all the industries that leech us, insurance, pharma, and blah blah the list is endless… get a state job!
Instead of a can of Coke kids can scoff Haribo jellies
Same sugar kick without the cost
Absolute nonsense tax
cheaper places i’d imagine
have your say