The Words of the Henry Family |
July 20, 1984, 11 p.m., Father and Mr. Kamiyama check into the Danbury prison accompanied by Mother, some of the elder True Children and leaders.
On July 18, 1984, Judge Goettel denied Father's and Mr. Kamiyama's motions for a reduction in sentence, instructing them both to report to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut on July 20.
On June 11 the judge had granted an unprecedented extension so that the date Father was required to report to prison was postponed from June 18 to July 20. This was to give Father's new attorneys the chance to familiarize themselves with the case and to research sentencing alternatives to confinement. The judge had seemed very open to considering other appropriate alternatives, so we went forward with our work with great hope and desperation.
On July 11 we submitted our motion, which asked the judge to eliminate incarceration altogether from Father's sentence or, as an alternative, that Father be allowed to voluntarily and temporarily leave the country. The legal papers explained that this kind of temporary exile would be the least burdensome form of punishment for the millions of church members throughout the world, and for all of the humanitarian projects which Father founded and guides and, above all, for True Mother and the True Family.
But on July 18 when the judge entered the courtroom, his mind was apparently already made up. He asked very few questions, but glumly listened to our arguments and the government's brief and inconsequential response. Then he denied our motions in their entirety. Col. Bo Hi Pak did the unbearable job of calling True Father with the news. As soon as Father came on the phone, Col. Pak burst into tears. When Col. Pak and Dr. Durst arrived at East Garden a couple hours later, still in anguish and pain, Father reprimanded them, "What's the matter? Don't you believe in the Living God?" Father said that going to prison is, for him, just like moving from one prison to another. For years he has been imprisoned by his responsibilities in East Garden.
The next day Dr. Durst held a press conference where he read a statement from Father. Father himself spent the next day's meeting with church leaders, especially the eldest Korean and Japanese couples. On July 20 Father had dinner at East Garden with the True Family, spending perhaps the longest period of time they have had alone together in years. Father gave his farewell speech of encouragement to the members gathered at East Garden and then drove off with Mother to Danbury.
Father arrived at the prison at 10:59 p.m. and was whisked inside so quickly that most of the news media, who had been waiting there for up to 24 hours, missed it completely. Afterwards the media followed Dr. Durst's car to a school nearby, where there was an impromptu press conference. With Dr. Durst were Earl Trent, attorney for the American Baptist Churches and author of the National Council of Churches amicus brief, as well as Dr. Franklin Littell, a Methodist minister, Professor of Religion at Temple University and president of the National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust. Both men had driven up from Philadelphia together, Dr. Littell coming back from a trip to Israel just ten hours before.
Mr. Trent commented:
This is a sad day for the religious community in America. Reverend Moon has not done anything that other religions haven't done. We are fearful for what this means to other religions, especially new minority religions.
Dr. Littell added:
This is an important event in the history of religious persecution. The moral failure on the part of the United States Supreme Court to consider Reverend Moon's case will go down in history as similar to the Dred Scott decision. This is to the greater glory of Reverend Moon and to the shame of America.
That same day in Philadelphia about one hundred people had joined together to march and hold rallies at City Hall and Independence Hall to protest Father's jailing and government interference with religious liberty. One of the ministers, Rev. Wycliffe Jangdharrie, pastor of the Reformed Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania, was arrested after he refused to identify himself when being served with citations for demonstrating and passing out leaflets without a permit. He was outraged that he was prohibited from exercising his freedom of speech in front of the Liberty Bell, of all places. To many this incident simply underscored the significance of Father's case.
Father received scores of telegrams and letters from key religious and civil rights leaders expressing their solidarity with him. On July 21, The New York Times even carried an article entitled "Unification Church Gains Acceptance," quoting only our own spokespersons and omitting, for a change, any negative rebuke.
The prison officials have been very impressed with Father, saying he has been extraordinarily cooperative. Father made a request that the prison chapel be opened from 3:00-6:00 a.m. One of the prison chaplains, deeply moved that someone would be so sincere about their life of prayer, remarked that if everyone were praying from three to six in the morning there wouldn't be anyone left in prison. The other inmates are also very friendly, offering to help Father with his English or, commenting that he appears a little bit overweight, to get back in shape. Father is already the new ping pong champion at the camp. He is a celebrity if not a hero. One of the inmates who was very kind to Father and Mr. Kamiyama was recently released, and has actually gone up to Gloucester to fish with our brothers and sisters.
Father and Mr. Kamiyama are of course allowed a limited number of approved visitors, including the True Family and major church leaders. However, Father has asked that no one ever try to visit or call the prison without making special arrangements through Mr. Hyo Yul Kim. If you write, all mail to True Father should be sent do Mr. Hyo Yul Kim, P.O. Box 54, Irvington, New York 10533.
Under normal circumstances, considering the provision for statutory "good time," Father should be released in approximately fifteen months, and release could be even earlier if parole were granted. Despite the disappointment that the legal team and all our members must feel, Father's attorneys are committed to bringing Father's vindication, no matter how long it takes.
Although much good will certainly result from the indemnity that Father is taking on by serving a prison sentence, this certainly must have been only an alternative course. The hearing in which our motions were denied was held in Waterbury, Connecticut, where the judge was sitting for just a few weeks this summer; ordinarily the hearing would have been held in the Federal Court Building at Foley Square.
When the hearing was finished we stopped back at a nearby hotel where the lawyers had been preparing and Col. Pak and Dr. Durst were waiting for the result. They both had been praying there the whole time with Ae Chun Cho candles. I gazed out the window, and first to my bewilderment and then to my wonderment, I discovered one characteristic unique to Waterbury. In the city is a replica of the Holy City of Jerusalem. On top of a hill overlooking the city is a gigantic, solitary cross. Truly nothing could symbolize more for me the incredible sacrifice our True Father has made for us and for eternity.