Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church was first held in 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han, shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the Unification Church. Moon matched all of the couples except the 12 who were already married to each other from before joining the church, which was officially founded in 1954. Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern with all participants Unification Church members and Moon matching most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing held outside of
World Mission Society Church of God authoritarian groups, and director of the Cult Education Institute -- describes the WMSCOG as "a very intense group... similar to the [[Unification Church]] [of] [[Sun Myung Moon]] -- the "[[Moonies]]" -- comparing WMSCOG indoctrination methods to those of the Unification Church (which, like WMSCOG, originated in Korea). Ross says that the WMSCOG has driven members into "bankruptcies because of excessive donations," and says some have lost their jobs to "excessive demands" of the group and associated "sleep deprivation.” Ross says that members often are sent to group housing and shared apartments -- becoming isolated and alienated from family and friends,