The End of an Era: Farewell UTS

Photos courtesy of Tomo Torikai

“My testimony to this property is that it’s holy grounds, because the hand of God has been present here, influencing the United States and the world,” said Dr. Michael Mickler, a Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) alum and professor for 34 years. “This property is very tied up with the providence of America and the providence of the world.”

Dr. Mickler shared highlights from the Barrytown campus’ long history and the seminary’s founders, True Parents, during a special “Farewell UTS” Sunday service held at the school property on Aug. 13. The Barrytown campus is being sold under structural changes within the Unification movement. Dr. Mickler said when the doors to UTS, first opened in September 1975, there were stages of great historical preparation that made it possible. He spoke of the property’s significance and its original owners, the Livingston family, who held vast amounts of land throughout the Hudson Valley in the 1700s and 1800s.

Founding Stage 

“Robert Livingston was one of America’s Founding Fathers,” Dr. Mickler said. “He was one of the five who worked with Thomas Jefferson to draft the U.S. Declaration of Independence. He later became the highest judicial official in New York state.”

In 1789, Livingston gave the Oath of Office for America’s first president, George Washington. He also served as the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1801 to 1804. “[In 1803], he, along with Benjamin Franklin, negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, which tripled the size of the United States from the Eastern seaboard all the way to nearly the West Coast,” Dr. Mickler said.

Livingston also connected with Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, and together they created the first commercially successful steamboat to travel the Hudson River and open up trade. Later, the Barrytown property was purchased in 1860 by the Aspinwall family — relatives of the Roosevelt clan, who produced two U.S. presidents during the early 20th Century.

Presidential Stage

“At eight years old, Theodore Rooselvelt came to the property and started his lifelong diaries here,” said Dr. Mickler. “He also began his collection of animals, insects, birds, and reptiles on this property ... His collection was later housed in the Museum of Natural History in New York City, which his father established.” With his great love for nature, Theodore Roosevelt implemented America’s national parks system during his presidency. “If you look at it, that whole development began on [the Barrytown] property,” Dr. Mickler said.

Faith Stage

In 1929, John D. Rockefeller built a school on the Barrytown property for the Christian Brothers Monastery. They ran it for about 40 years until 1970, when the school closed. “At that time, the Unification movement purchased the property,” said Dr. Mickler. “The providence for the property [then] moved beyond the national level to the world level.”

World Stage

Missionaries — largely from Japan, Europe, and America — prepared to support True Father’s “One World Crusade” and trained for world missions at the property, initially called the Barrytown International Training Center. Then, in 1975, the era of UTS began — a time of “sacrifice,” Dr. Mickler said, when many of the movement’s leaders were pulled from the front lines of mission work to attend the seminary. 

“When that first class was graduating in the spring of 1977, True Father wanted to give them an experience that they would never forget,” Dr. Mickler said, “and that was the great CARP fishing campaign at Tivoli Bays north of campus ... It was an unbelievable experience ... where he baptized the seminarians symbolically as they went out into the field.”

Dr. Mickler recalled the “big battle” of the seminary’s early days to be recognized by the state with a school charter permitting them to issue graduate degrees. “That was a 15-year battle,” he said, “and we later had a battle to get our accreditation.” But public recognition from theologians, as well as other faith and civic leaders, helped UTS achieve victory.

The seminary produced many of the movement’s affiliate organizations as well, such as the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), and has long been at the forefront of preparing many young Unificationist leaders. “The youth spent so many winters and summers on this property for workshops,” said Resfred Arthur, FFWPU-USA Northeast secretary general, as he noted the recent 19th Annual Blessed Culture and Sports Festival (BCSF) held there attracted about 600 young participants.

“STF and GPA [have trained at UTS],” Dr. Mickler said, as the property quickly became a hub for many of the movement’s activities and events for people of all ages and backgrounds. “This has been the most important development on this campus in the 21st Century,” he said.

Other Unificationist leaders shared their personal stories about the school and how the property has touched their lives in various ways. FFWPU-USA Northeast Director Rev. Naokimi Ushiroda, a UTS graduate, recalled participating in “at least 40 different workshops” at UTS over the last 20 years, and how he met his wife during a workshop there and later got married on the property.

For BCSF Director Denthew Learey, “[UTS] has really become a spiritual home for me,” he said. As a teen, “the first time I met God was here,” he shared. “It’s been such a meaningful place for so many of my generation.”

As Unificationists bid farewell to the Barrytown property, a new chapter emerged with the HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership (HJI) name change, 43rd Street Manhattan campus, and evolving educational tracks. 

You can learn more about the Hyojeong International Graduate School here.