True Parents officiated at a series of Interfaith Marriage Blessings centered on the American Clergy Leadership Conference (established in 2000) and their “We Will Stand in Oneness” 50-state speaking tour (2001). The first of these, on May 27, 2001, was an Interfaith Marriage Blessing of sixty clergy couples presided over by True Parents in the Cotillion Room of the Hilton Hotel in New York City, which included, most prominently, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. The second, on April 27, 2002, was a Marriage Blessing of clergy couples, 700 of whom gathered as representative couples at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The third, on July 3, 2002, was the Marriage Blessing of second-generation Christian youth and world religious youth. A member of Congress offered a congratulatory address. World religious representatives, including a Native American chief, offered prayers. There were 40 couples from the Nation of Islam, 20 Sikh couples and 20 Hindu couples, in addition to other groups who “brought their lineages before heaven.”
