Making a Conscious Shift for Peace: Cornerstone for Peace Seminar (WFWP USA)

Written by: Katarina Connery

When you hear the word “family” what do you feel? Maybe you feel a sense of warmth, love, comfort, and belonging. Or maybe it’s a more painful feeling of disappointment, loneliness, or weighty expectations. Or perhaps for many of us, it’s more a combination of happy and loving moments but also experiences of shame. Our family experiences have a huge impact on who we eventually become, whether we are stunted in our emotional growth or can become well-rounded, mature adults with a greater chance at success in life. However, there is not one person who chooses the family (or lack thereof) they are born into.

How can we create a wider culture and social environment where every family is fully able to grow healthy, every member of the family is reaching their full potential, and the relationships within the family are happy and healthy? These and other questions were explored and discussed at the Cornerstone for Peace Seminar on January 6, attended by 58 women and men.

The evening seminar kicked off with WFWP USA President Angelika Selle outlining the unique aspects of WFWP’s vision and founding, in particular how it relates to marriages and families as a crucial part of peacebuilding. Given the current status of dysfunctional families, she posed the question many people these days ask themselves: Why marry at all? to be explored and answered in the seminar based on the unique universal teachings of the WFWP Founders.

They believe that “The family is the school where love for humanity is taught and learned. When children who are raised in the warm love of their parents go out into the world, they will care for people in difficulty in the manner they learned in their home.” With peaceful families, we can lay a substantial foundation to creating more peaceful communities and world.

As main presenter, Vice President Katarina Connery, noted, building healthy relationships is a very real challenge. While we are intended to learn to love and live for others within the family, the reality is many families are schools of suffering. We need a fundamental paradigm shift, a new vision for marriage and family. Rather than seeing it as only for our own happiness, we should approach it also as a cornerstone to contributing to peace in the world. Mrs. Connery presented the transformative formula developed by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her husband, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, which has helped thousands of couples around the world make such a shift and experience substantial renewal in their marriage and family: The Marriage Blessing. Participants were excited to hear the very clear and detailed explanation of how this reset formula has helped make a meaningful difference in how many approaches work on themselves and their relationships.

After the presentation, President Selle and Mrs. Glenda Lambert, WFWP USA Southwest Regional Coordinator, answered several thought-provoking questions from the audience. Questions of how to even prepare well and grow yourself before entering into a marriage relationship, how the Marriage Blessing is unique from other marriage enrichment resources, how to consciously and intentionally change patterns of the past, and more were discussed.

While some might say that marriage is on the decline and people might question why marry at all, this seminar left participants feeling that the future is more hopeful. There are universal principles, which, if applied and practiced in our daily lives, can bring substantial and sustainable peace: peace in our families, peace in our communities, and peace in the world. The movement of women and men who are committing to a change in mindset, heart-set, and lifestyle is growing and growing.

If you are interested in learning more about the Cornerstone for Peace or attend a future program, Click Here. You can also enjoy a recording of the seminar on January 6 yourself here.

Participant feedback:
“Loved this wonderful presentation! Well put together; expressed the feminine aspect of Heavenly Parent, even seen through the images displayed on the slides. Loved the family analogy of foundation, pillar, and beams. Thank you so much for offering such inspiring and heartfelt presentation!! Awesome job!!”

“Very warm and heartistic. Very clear, sincere and truthful. I liked the slides and pictures were warm.”

“First of all, graphics, design, music are very balanced and appropriate to the topic. President Angelika Selle and Katarina gave a very clear intro and presentation…A lot of hope for the future also for young women from different backgrounds”

“The opening remarks and background describing WFWP's Mission given by Mrs. Selle was excellent. The Cornerstone for Peace seminar made good use of the concept of buildings: pillars and beams. It was clear and uplifting with readily transferred connections to life.”

“The key point for me was when Katarina pointed out that the give and receive relationship has no end and no beginning. It is a circle, there is no counting and comparing, that is how it is intended.”

The next Cornerstone for Peace Seminar will be held on Saturday, February 19, 2022.