The Mother Unification Church Member Publicly Speaks Out

This is an account of my experiences appearing on a T.V. talk show and a radio talk show. Upon hearing that Marie Torre of Channel 2, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was interviewing two sets of parents of Unification Church members on Tuesday, June 8, I called the channel to inquire if anyone would appear for the Church. The producer of the show asked me to go to the station the next day to see if they could add me to the program. It was decided to include me that day.

With some trepidation, I went on the show. One parent, Mr. Ward, tried to rile me by telling me I was a dupe and so on. He sat beside me on the program and tried to upset me by needling. I managed to remain calm, however, and my mother and friends said I acquitted myself with poise.

The Wards and the other couple talked about the usual complaints. They mentioned “zombies,” going without sleep, not enough to eat, and not having enough clothes. They said the Church didn’t give the members time to think. They talked about Mr. Moon not being ordained, about his wealth. Mr. Ward went on to say the Church should be stamped out, that it was militaristic, had a Nazi salute, and was Fascist. He also said he couldn’t see his son when he went to New York and that they were told they were not suitable parents.

It was difficult to remain calm through all this, for Mr. Ward was very excited, very belligerent. He seems to be incensed because he spent a lot of money on his son’s education at Notre Dame and thought he was “wasting his life.” He was particularly annoyed because his son was involved in the “menial” task of cleaning streets.

I said I saw no “zombies.” On the contrary, I never saw more alert, energetic, or more wonderful young people. At one point, Mr. Ward asked me if Mark was deceitful. Of course, the answer was “No.” He seemed to feel deceit was being used by those in the field fundraising.

I was asked my thoughts on the Second Coming by Marie Torre. I replied I would like to think more about that. Mr. Ward said he would pay my way to New York if I would go with him to see if he could see his son. My answer was that I would discuss this with him after the program. However, he didn’t approach me about it.

I was introduced as a parent who was happy her son was in the Church. I had an opportunity to say the members were not children, but were adults, and that though most parents would like their children to live down the street from them, the world was not like that today. Mr. Ward laughed loudly when I said the members were adults. I went on to explain that I had had only good experiences. Mark talks to me on the phone about every ten days. I feel he has a perfect right to choose his own religion.

I told them that we learned at the New York Parents Conference that the fund-raisers were not told to tell lies about why they were raising money and we were told to let the Church know if we heard of it. I said we could ask any questions we wanted to and the answers were not ducked.

The other couple had their daughter, Judie, with them. She had been deprogrammed by Ted Patrick. Judie said she wasn’t allowed to make close friends while in the Church, but her mother told me afterwards that she missed her friends and often cried for them. Judie said no one was given time to think for themselves because they slept so little and were kept so busy, and that was why they were “glassy-eyed” and “zombies.” Judie is now under psychiatric care.

The program was an hour one and I was on for 15 minutes. I was also on an hour-long radio program on WLOA, Braddick, Pennsylvania, with Kevin Kelley. This was a very satisfactory program because we had a good opportunity to present the Church’s point of view. The interviewer was sympathetic. She asked pointed questions, naturally. After the program, she told us she was pleased with the results because she didn’t have to work hard to draw us out. She even said she would like to attend a few lectures.