Sun Myung Moon's Gomyeong (Final Decree) at Clearstone Lodge, Canada, 7:00 am June 14, 1991

True Mother mentions in her memoir Mother of Peace that True Father proclaimed his gomyeong in Canada in the presence of woman leaders. She explains that gomyeong translates as the final decree that a king leaves for his subjects before passing away and then writes as follows: “True Father proclaimed that after his ascension, I would continue our God-given mission and the Japanese woman leaders should take responsibility to support me.”

Thirty years have passed since that important providential ceremony, which took place in Canada. Because I was a direct witness along with a small group of Canadian members, I am writing not only to commemorate this anniversary but also to testify to True Parents for the historical record. The following is based on my diary, letters and reports received at that time.

True Parents had been visiting Canada from June 5 to 9 in 1991, traveling by car from New York. On June 8, while fishing on Lake Ontario, True Father used an early version of a cell phone — a large “field” telephone similar to those used by armies for communication in the At the Holy Ground near Canadian Parliament: field. He called Japan and asked that the wives (from left) Ki-byung Yoon, Mrs. McDevitt, Tetsuko. of the four main Japanese elders come to New Kuboki, True Mother, Noriko Oyamada, Setsuko York for the Day of All Things, a few days Sakurai and Kyoko Furuta; Franco Famularo is in from then. The following day True Parents back traveled back to New York.

On June 12, Robert Duffy, then president of the Canadian Church, and I attended the Day of All Things celebration at the invitation of True Parents at the New Yorker Hotel. As True Parents were walking toward the Grand Ballroom on the second-floor mezzanine, True Mother glanced in our direction and smiled. We immediately looked at each other and nodded while simultaneously expressing aloud, “They are coming back to Canada.”

Clearstone Lodge near Cobourg, Ontario, during the time True Parents spent in Canada and Father declared his Gomyeong

At about 6 pm the following day as we had nearly completed our drive back to Toronto, Mr. Peter Kim,

True Parents’ personal assistant, called with an urgent message — True Parents were departing East Garden at 8:00 pm by car bound for Canada. Our intuition had been accurate, and a mad rush ensued to prepare for their return. In an era prior to widespread use of the cell phone it was quite a challenge, but our Canadian brothers and sisters responded with dedication.

At 3:15 a.m. on June 14, True Parents arrived at Clearstone Lodge, the Canadian church property near Cobourg, Ontario, on Rice Lake, having driven through the late hours of the night. On this second visit, they were accompanied by the wives of the major leaders of the Japanese Unification Church: Mrs. Tetsuko Kuboki, wife of the president of the church in Japan; Mrs. Noriko Oyamada, wife of the vice-president and president of the Women’s Federation for Peace in Asia; Mrs. Kyoko Furuta, wife of the president of Happy World Japan; and Mr. Setsuo and Mrs. Setsuko Sakurai, prominent Unificationist leaders in Japan.

After a short rest, True Parents gathered the Japanese elders just before 7:00 am in the living room of Clearstone Lodge and quietly and True Father fishing with members discreetly held a special ceremony. No video or audio recording exists as nobody was notified. A few Canadian members watched through the narrow glass panels on either side of the closed door and made notes of the verbal reports given later that day to my wife and other Japanese members by the Japanese elder wives, as the entire ceremony was conducted in Japanese. These first-hand accounts served as the basis for later historical reports.

During the ceremony, True Father prayed and asked True Mother to pledge that she would continue his messianic mission after he died. True Father then asked True Mother to pledge, in Japanese, that she would do so before the Japanese representatives as witnesses. After True Mother had done so, True Father explained the significance of holding the ceremony in Canada as follows: I [True Father] represent the true Adamic figure. True Mother represents the true Eve, and the four Japanese women are the key representatives of the worldwide Eve nation, Japan. Since Canada is an extension of England, the original Eve nation, this ceremony is being held here.

Many years later, in April 2017, three of the Japanese elders were interviewed by the Japanese Unification History Department and elaborated about the ceremony as follows: True Father and True Mother stood facing each other while the four Japanese women lined up behind True Father. Mr. Sakurai stood at the two o’clock position to the right of True Mother. True Father first offered a prayer in which he comforted God for the two-thousand-year history of Christianity that could not receive the True Parents and pledged to establish a new foundation as the Bride of Christ for the sake of the new providence. True Father explained that Mr. Sakurai represented Christianity. True Father then led a pledge in Japanese followed by True Mother as the Original Eve and the four Japanese wives as Cain- type Eves.

True Father then encouraged True Mother and the four Japanese women to establish deep unity because this ceremony represented the beginning of a new era in True Mother’s public mission. Shortly thereafter, on September 17, 1991, True Mother began the first of her public speaking tours in Japan.

Establishing unity

In a personal letter, dated November 1991, written in Japanese to my wife Chizuru and me, Mrs. Kuboki explained how she and the elder sisters understood the heavenly mission of Canada after their sudden, unexpected visit. Indeed, it was sudden as the elders only had time to take their purses and passports with them before traveling by car to Canada with True Parents. Shortly after the Gomyeong Ceremony and breakfast, True Father went fishing for salmon and trout on Lake Ontario until sunset with a small group that included Robert Duffy, Michael McDevitt, Mr. Sakurai, Peter Kim, Mike Templeman and myself. True Father provided deep guidance in English to us about many aspects of the providence–a rare experience to say the least.

True Mother’s public mission

On the following days, June 16 and 17, True Father continued fishing while True Mother and her party visited the Thousand Islands region on Lake Ontario and then Toronto. In the evening, True Parents

gathered us to share testimonies and then had us all sing, with the finale sung by True Father himself.

Mrs. Kuboki also elaborated in the above-mentioned letter how the four Japanese women were to support True Mother as True Father’s successor and how, shortly after the Canadian ceremony, the four Japanese elders participated in a special ceremony in Korea on July 1, 1991. She explained that they had no idea why they were called to Korea and wrote, “When True Parents start a new phase of God’s providence, they don’t say anything and make the conditions quietly and quickly.”

One evening, Mrs. Oyamada shared her testimony of how a few years earlier the Women’s Federation for Peace in Asia had been founded in Japan with herself as president. True Father set a goal that the Asian Federation gain a hundred thousand members. Therefore, in the summer of 1991, the Japanese woman leaders planned a large rally to expand membership, reserving the NK Hall in Chiba with a capacity of seven thousand people for September 17, 1991. Although they invited several important entertainers, they had not been able to find a principal speaker.

Mrs. Kuboki wrote in her letter that Mrs. Oyamada received an inspiration, based on True Father’s words, that True Mother should be the main speaker. When the Japanese elders While visiting the Canadian Parliament in 1991, cautiously asked True Father, he immediately Mrs. Oyamada exclaimed, “True Mother should agreed saying, “That is a good idea. True speak here!” She did so two years later Mother should go to Japan.” He asked True Mother to do so, and although True Mother was surprised and initially hesitant, she determined quietly to do it based on True Father’s strong desire.

Mrs. Kuboki wrote that she felt that God had been preparing the women’s era from the time they had been in Canada a few months earlier. She elaborated in her letter that until then (1991), True Mother had been standing behind True Father and had never appeared in the forefront. Suddenly, True Mother stood at a public event before a large audience of important women in Japan, and although she was nervous, she brought tremendous success. True Mother embraced the audience and amazingly delivered her public speech to a fully packed hall in the Japanese language. “True Mother brought success and revived Japan.”

True Father was pleased with True Mother’s victory in Japan and directed the expansion of the Asian Women’s Federation, so on October 31, 1991, an inaugural gathering was held in Korea, followed by a rally for fifteen thousand people on November 20. Then, on November 30, our True Parents visited North Korea. The foundation was set for the inauguration of the Women’s Federation for World Peace on April 10, 1992. Mrs. Kuboki concluded her November 1991 letter with the following: “Truly I think that since we returned from Canada God’s providence centered on True Mother started so fast. I feel that as the Eve nation, this is the final mission that I would like to fulfill.”

In a second letter dated April 1992, Mrs. True Parents with Canadian members and the four Kuboki shared about the victorious visit of prominent Japanese woman leaders who were to True Parents to Japan between March 26 and support True Mother and her mission April 1, 1992, and explained how True Parents’ meetings with important leaders, such as former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and Mr. Shin Kanemaru, solidified the foundation in the Eve country. She expressed her concern that if Japan failed her mission to accept True Parents, True Parents had prepared Canada to carry on the mission. Later, in 1996, True Parents would establish three nations, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Canada as daughter nations of Japan.

True Parents’ personal care

Their final full day, Tuesday, June 18, 1991, proved to be an especially significant day for the Canadian Church. It was also the 23rd anniversary of the opening of the first center in Toronto, in 1968. As before, True Father went fishing early in the morning while on that day True Mother remained on the Clearstone property with the Japanese elders. At True Mother’s request, dinner was served on the front lawn of the property for everyone. It was a warm summer evening, and as about forty members sat in a circle around a small fire, True Father asked that each husband share some words about his own wife. Once the husbands had done so, True Father himself commented about each couple, providing insights on their situation or character. It was surprising that, although True Father had spent little time with each person, he was very much aware of each person’s strengths and weaknesses.

On a personal note, I’d like to testify to the tremendous concern our True Parents demonstrated for our couple’s struggle with infertility for almost ten years by then. On the final evening, True Father initiated a total restructuring of the Canadian church and personally directed me to attend the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS). True Mother was concerned that our couple had no children and mentioned it to True Father, who then asked my wife to stay in Canada while I went to New York. As we returned to the main building, True Mother encouraged our couple to not lose hope and practically advised us both to try a combination of Oriental and Western medicine to solve our infertility. A few days prior to my departure for UTS, miraculously True Mother speaking during the Founding Rally of we discovered that we were expecting our the Women’s Federation for World Peace in April daughter. Truly divine intervention! 1992 in Korea The rather jovial exchange on the front lawn continued for some time, and then True Father began speaking about the future development of the Canadian church. He said, Suppose I came here and stayed here every day. What do you expect I would do with all of you? If I stay here for one month, I will send all of you pioneering. What do you think, do you want to see your country, Canada, particularly the Unification Church Movement, progress and develop or not? If you just stay still and follow the pattern you have been keeping, how can you expect that there will be development?

Before departing Canada, True Father provided more guidance about restructuring the church. Then in the late morning after breakfast on June 19, 1991, True Parents and their party began the eight-hour drive back to New York, stopping at the observation tower at Thousand Islands with their staff, the Japanese elders and three Canadian leaders. While observing the beautiful scenery, True Parents continued giving us advice and counsel. They once again demonstrated that they are truly our parents. In conclusion and looking back on an event that happened thirty years ago, it is clear that True Parents were united then as they are united now. Those of us who were privileged to witness the Gomyeong Ceremony and attend True Parents during their time in Canada have engraved the memories in our hearts.

True Mother then embarked on the very public segment of her mission from 1991 onward, and we have been witnesses to a story that some may have not known. Those of us who were blessed by True Parents and could witness True Mother in Canada, continue to pray and support her as she forges ahead to realize the Heavenly ideal that God, our Heavenly Parent, desperately dreams of and True Parents have labored tirelessly to accomplish. Praise be to our True Parents forever!