Born in Brazil, at the age of 12, Paulo-Juarez Pereira went with a Dutch missionary of the Carmelite Order to study for the Catholic priesthood. He completed high school with the priests, went through a one-year period of novitiate to prepare for monastic life, and then professed the temporary vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity. Paulo then studied philosophy, and was sent to Rome to study theology, arriving in Rome in September 1963. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican was in progress. Great luminaries of the Catholic Church had come from all corners of the world to take part in the Council. The pope at that time was Saint Paul VI.

After living with the temporary vows for four years, Paulo felt called by God to change from the path to celibacy and instead go to the United States with a permanent visa of green card to get a BA from the University of San Francisco. The Vietnam War was in progress, and upon graduation, Paulo was drafted into the US military in February 1967. After serving as an enlisted man for one year, Paulo was awarded a direct commission as Second Lieutenant and received paratrooper training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Paulo then worked for a year as Platoon leader in the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A year later, Paulo received orders to go to Vietnam, arriving there in April 1969. Paulo was stationed in Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon and in An Khe, where he worked as Executive Officer of a signal company in support of the 4^th Infantry Division. After serving in Vietnam for one year, Paulo went back to the United States and was honorably discharged in April 1970. Paulo went to San Francisco, California, and there he met members of the Unification Movement under Mr. Sang-Ik Choi. After learning the Divine Principle, Paulo became a lecturer and was engaged in various missions.

Missions in the Unification Movement

- Pioneer Missionary in San Mateo, California (1971)

- Missionary in Brazil, as part of five pioneers that went to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela (1973-1977).

- Paulo was blessed with Linda Lee Marchant with the 1800 Couples in February 1975.

- The providence in Brazil was extended with the arrival of three missionaries from Japan (Mr. Toru Nishiwaki, Mr. Tomoishi Sogo, and Mr. Koji Ozeki) and one missionary from Korea (Rev. Hyong Tae Kim).

- Paulo was blessed with Linda Lee Marchant with the 1800 Couples in February 1975.

- Paulo received permission to apply for admission to the Unification Theological Seminary and was accepted in September 1977.

- After graduating from the Unification Theological Seminary in 1979, Paulo worked with CARP at Yale University, under Dr. Richard Panzer’s leadership.

- Paulo went to Korea as part of a training program under Dr. Sang Hun Lee in preparation for CAUSA mission in South and Central America.

- After training in Korea, Paulo worked as assistant to Dr. Sang Hun Lee in producing Unification Thought books. Paulo worked as Executive Director of the Unification Thought Institute, with an office in New York City (1980-1995). Books Produced at UTI in New York:

• Explaining Unification Thought (1981)
• Fundamentals of Unification Thought (1991)
• Essentials of Unification Thought (1992)
• The End of Communism (1993)
• Evolution Theory to a New Theory of Creation (printed in Japan).
  

- CAUSA: While working at UTI in New York, Paulo also traveled as CAUSA trilingual interpreter and lecturer in various countries in Central and South America (1980-1988).

- Spiritual Path: Paulo went through a 40-year spiritual path from 1977 to 2017, following a kind of Moses course. Since 2017, Paulo has returned to witnessing again.

- During his 40-year course, Paulo divorced after being married for 21 years. After a period of two years, Paulo married Ann Louise Dempsey. Paulo and Annie will be completing 25 years of marriage later this year.

- Sanctuary Connection

• Paulo encountered the Sanctuary movement through connections with members of the Los Angeles Sanctuary group, who invited him to participate in Zoom reporting and worshiping activities during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
• John Alexander in Los Angeles recommended that Paulo should contact Dr. Richard Panzer, which resulted in an invitation to take part in reporting meetings on Mondays under Dr. Panzer’s leadership. Paulo had worked with Dr. Panzer in 1980.
• Through Dr. Panzer’s recommendation, Paulo encountered the Brazilian Sanctuary movement and began attending Zoom meetings in Brazil on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

- Brazilian Harvest: Brazil is a field ripe for harvesting. The nation of Brazil is filled with opportunities. The Sanctuary Movement has easy and productive affinity with Brazilians. The nature of Brazilians is joy and hope. Those traits are precisely what the Sanctuary group offers. Here are a few points:

• Under the presidency of Mr. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil went through a spiritual awakening centering on Evangelicals.
• Prior to January 2023, Brazilians went out in the streets by the hundreds of thousands in a festival of love and sharing, where people sang songs and took positions in front of military buildings, acting peacefully and leaving the streets clean. Nothing was destroyed. Those demonstrations have been called the largest in world history.
• It is remarkable that Mr. Luís Inácio Lula da Silva started his mandate as President of Brazil by declaring the Brazilian people “the enemy.” Not a good omen for Mr. Da Silva, since, constitutionally in Brazil, all political power resides in the Brazilian people.
• Brazil is ripe for a harvest. The Catholic Church can no longer communicate well with Brazilians—especially now that Pope Benedict XVI has passed away.
• Evangelicals are anxious to form broad connections based on the three great institutions that Communists fear most: the family, the free market, and religion. The Second King places those three institutions as central to the Sanctuary goals.
• Evangelicals in Brazil are open to a country-wide revival declaring that men are men, women are women, and children should remain so until they grow. I request that an expedited process of the Holy Blessing be facilitated for Brazilians so that the blessings of God can descend upon that nation. Brazilians will then find hope and will be filled with joy again.
  
  

Testimony of Dr. Paulo-Juarez Pereira, Part 1; 12-29-2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCEfksT6SFM

Testimony of Dr. Paulo-Juarez Pereira, Part 2; 1-5-2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwEFVSxqgXM&t=7s

Testimony of Dr. Paulo-Juarez Pereira, Part 3; 1-19-2023

https://youtu.be/NAyFkZQZZNA

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More about him: 

https://paulojuarezpereira.com/about/
https://paulojuarezpereira.com/about/vietnam-war