Dropping In On The Moonies In The Time Of Covid
By Lisa Mildred
This is the third essay in a series by Lisa Mildred about getting up close and personal with cultic groups. In her last essay, Lisa paid a visit to Amish country.
I've had a cursory knowledge of the group commonly called the "Moonies" for years, and had always dreamed of going to one of their mass weddings. During the pandemic shutdowns, I had the free time to really dig deep into my affinity for cults, which meant watching lots of documentaries. A few of those documentaries were about the Moonies, and upon learning they had congregations located close enough for me to visit, I decided a couple masked-up road trips were in order.
I'd learned that much of the Unification Church's action was located in Tarrytown, New York, about two hours from where I was living at the time. I found their website and asked if they were having in-person services. A very accommodating member of their staff got back to me about their CDC-compliant in-person services, which happened every other week and were streamed online, as well. He made it VERY clear to me that I was welcome to visit.
A few weeks later, it was off to Tarrytown. After stopping in nearby Sleepy Hollow to see the famous cemetery where Washington Irving's headless horseman supposedly tied off his steed, it was off to Belevedere Estate for the Unification Church's evening service.
The Moonies lovely sanctuary.
Belvedere Estate is the magnificent property where the leader of the Moonies, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, lived with his wife and more than a dozen children whenever he was in the United States. Well, there was also a stretch of time where Reverend Moon lived in Danbury, Connecticut. Because he was in jail for tax evasion.
I pulled up and saw the stately home and discerned that it looked only slightly run-down compared to what I saw in the documentaries. Moon died in 2012, and while his wife is still running the show, the church doesn't have quite the same following, or the same funding, that it had in its hay day.
The fellow I'd exchanged email with had explained to me that they now rent out the facility as a wedding venue or place to film movies, which occasionally helps pay the bills.
The church service was held in the building adjacent to the mansion, which used to be a carriage house way back in the day. Once inside, I immediately recognized the room from footage I'd seen of Reverend Moon and his wife, or, as they're known to their followers, "True Father and True Mother."
My guide found me, and took me back outside where everyone was mingling. He introduced me to the pastor, a man from West Africa who had been converted by Unification missionaries when he was a young man, and had risen up through the ranks. I met several older couples, all the product of Moon's arranged marriages from the seventies. Most of these couple were either interracial, or between two people hailing from different countries of origin. Moon picked their spouses for them, and they’d all joined their hands in marriage at the mass weddings they used to hold at Madison Square Garden.
One of the Moonies mass weddings, pre-pandemic.
As a religion enthusiast, one of my biggest dreams is to attend one of these mass Moonie weddings, which are now held in their own specific arena in South Korea. They are not legal weddings, but more of a religious blessing ceremony. Think about it. Weddings are fun to begin with, but imagine if there were thousands of brides and grooms! That's as festive as shit can get! It was pretty thrilling for me to meet some of these couples who'd faithfully heeded Moon's call for "unity" in marriages that nobody else would expect to succeed.
The setting for a modest Moonie service.
Masked up and seated six feet away from everyone else, the service began inside. The pastor read off announcements, and mentioned that they had a very special visitor this week. He motioned toward me, which I was definitely not expecting, and asked me to stand up. I would have preferred to crawl under my chair, but I stood up and gave everyone a wave and a smile that they certainly couldn't see from beneath my mask. Fortunately, the mask also covered up that I was blushing.
Throughout the service, whenever anyone went on the stage to sing or pray or preach, they bowed to a photo if True Mother and Father before stepping onto the stage. This ritual reminded me of how Orthodox Jews kiss their fingers and touch a mezuzah as they move from one room to another, or the way catholics make the sign of the cross while entering a cathedral.
A photo of mom and dad.
There were several instances of singing worship music throughout the service. The music was lively and chipper and put everyone present into a better mood, as music often does. One song involved chanting "unity, unity, unity" over and over again. The singing was always my favorite part of summer camp and youth group gatherings. I still feel nostalgic on the rare occasion that I hear a worship song from my upbringing. Music brings people together and heightens emotions, so it's an excellent tool for indoctrination.
In addition to singing, there was praying in both English and Korean, as well as a sermon. The pastor delivered a compelling message about the value of the Church's interracial marriages in the effort to achieve unity around the world. He urged the young people to consider if their heart's are ready for a marriage that will further this mission. As a white lady who's never quite been able to make it work with white men, I could certainly appreciate that sentiment, but I don't think I'll be marrying a stranger any time soon.
After the service, plenty of people were eager to mingle with me. I met people from all over the world and was invited to join the Church's free introductory course, which was being offered via Zoom twice a month.
There is quite a bit of division among the Moonies, which have broken into two Sects. The Tarrytown Moonies follow Moon's wife, true Mother. The Newfound Moonies, follow Moon's son, Sean. I wanted to ask the pastor here in Tarrytown for his opinion on this division. In chatting with him after the service, I was surprised when he made use of the word "cult" in a non-committal way to describe the Newfound sect. He said that if Pastor Sean had had issues, he should have stayed and worked to fix them, rather than leaving to form his own group. It seemed ironic that earlier everyone had been chanting about unity.
As the congregation dissipated, the fellow who had answered my guide lingered to show me around. He turned out to be just as accommodating in person as he'd been online. He introduced me briefly to his daughter, who was due to get married as soon as things were ironed out with the pandemic. After that, he took me up to the mansion so I could see the inside of the building where Reverend Moon had resided.
The digs of Reverend Moon.
He explained to me as we approached the building that I was only able to see the first floor, because the upstairs was currently being used as a private residence for a visiting church leader. I saw said church leader's flip flops in the lobby when we walked in. It created a hilarious contrast with the high ceilings and fancy furniture.
He took me through one palatial room after another, recounting details of how the decor has changed over the years and various movies that had filmed there. This fellow had worked for the Moon family for many years, and had memories of his own children playing with Moon's many children outside on the spotless lawn.
High ceilings and flip flops.
After touring around the culty castle, we sat on the porch of the building where the ceremony had been and this gentleman proceeded to be very patient with me as I asked him a shit ton of questions.
I was full of curiosity about his daughter's upcoming marriage. With Moon dead and gone, how had she been paired with her husband-to-be? Does True Mother handle the pairings now that he's gone? Would there still be mass weddings during Covid?
The man explained to me that when Reverend Moon got too old to be a matchmaker for all his followers, it became the responsibility of parents to find spouses for their children. This led to setting up an online dating site, specifically for the Unification Church, so families could shop around for the perfect spouse with which to "unite" their child. When his daughter said she felt ready for marriage, him and his wife went online and found her a nice Moonie from the Midwest, who would be moving to Tarrytown to marry their daughter and build a life together.
A glance at a Moonie “dating” website.
As for their blessing ceremony, he told me that things were currently up in the air. They'd like to wait until it's safe for there to be a mass wedding in person, but that they hadn't ruled out the prospect of joining one via Zoom. I asked if, in the event of an in-person blessing, I could be invited. He said yes. It was the best news ever.
Before I left, I was gifted with a copy of True Father's autobiography, as well as True Mother's. The man warned that me he isn't wild about these English versions, because he felt the translations lost a lot of the spirit from the original Korean writings. I haven't read either, so it's no skin off my nose.
With the emergence of the vaccines, I got back in touch with this accommodating gentleman to check on the wedding situation. He informed me that his daughter had attended a Zoom blessing ceremony, and would be getting legally married at a later date. Because he knew how important it was to me, he sent me a link so I could watch the ceremony. It wasn't in person, but I'm very pleased to say that in so far as it could be accomplished during the pandemic, I lived my dream of attending a Moonie Mass wedding!
In my next piece, you'll read about my visit to Newfoundland, Pennsylvania where I visited Sanctuary Church, the home of the *other* Moonies. And lots of guns. Stay tuned.
True Father with our masked reporter in the background.
