True Father launches the First 100-day training at the Belvedere Training Center

On March 1, 1973, the first International Training Session began at Belvedere in Tarrytown, New York. Initiated as a 100-day program for future church leaders, the schedule included forty days of intense Divine Principle study, thirty days of the Victory over Communism (VOC) ideology and thirty days of Unification Thought, a recently published application of the Principle to philosophy. The six hours of daily lectures were interspersed with talks from True Father, fellowship, discussion, examinations, lecture practice, and participation in the ongoing New York City outreach campaign.

In addition to solidifying the U.S. Unification Church, Belvedere Training was the first international training program as it included recently arrived “New Pilgrims” from Europe. One U.S. participant wrote: “Europeans were not the only ones wearing smiles of eagerness and anticipation. Some American brothers were intoxicated in those early days, because we were so many fine people together and Belvedere is the most holy place in America.”

Belvedere Training also afforded intimate access to True Parents who spent much time there. Joseph Kinney wrote, “People who needed internal guidance, or who had spiritual problems, went directly to Father Moon. There was no security on the property; True Parents would just walk around the grounds and the garden, and members could just walk up to them. … The chain of commanders and links between Father Moon and us was extremely short. He spoke to us throughout the day, and he had personal give and take with everybody in the Training Center, even if it was just one or two sentences. If you were lucky, you’d give a testimony in front of him, or he’d bonk you gently on the head or ask you what country you were from. Even if he saw you in a crowd, there’d be some acknowledgment.”