tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35197101788213592002024-02-19T13:08:08.587+09:00Bp.Isao's memoA Catholic Bishop's blog, Bp. Isao Kikuchi,SVDAbp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.comBlogger329125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-32519792992783217412018-01-20T22:13:00.001+09:002018-01-20T22:18:38.491+09:00Starting anew again in Tokyo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As you have noticed obviously that I could not renew the posts of this blog for quite sometime. Well, I am shifting to publish much more from Facebook recently and have reduced the entry to this blog. You may also follow my Facebook entries as I will publish most of posts in both English and Japanese at the following link: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bpisao">https://www.facebook.com/bpisao</a><br />
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On September 20, 2017, I celebrated 13th anniversary of my Episcopal ordination as Bishop of Niigata. Then I was called by the Apostolic Nuncio in Tokyo on 12 October only to be told that I was on transfer to Tokyo. What a surprise! Tokyo archdiocese has never had a religious as their bishop before and there were numerous candidates for the post to succeed Archbishop Peter Okada. I am not from the diocese and have never worked there.<br />
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As a religious bishop with Vow of Obedience to Holy Father, I had no reason to refuse the appointment so I humbly accepted it asking protection and guidance of Holy Spirit. Holy Father appointed me as Archbishop of Tokyo on 25 October and I was installed on 16 December last.<br />
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Thanks to my past experience as a missionary in Ghana, Archbishop Palmer Buckle of Accra, Bishop Joseph Afrifah of Koforidua and Bishop Gabriel Kumordji of Keta Akatsi traveled all the way from Ghana to join the installation Mass. Caridnal Andrew of Seoul and number of Bishops from other countries were present. I am grateful to all of these brother bishops to gave me encouragement. I am also very much grateful to the President of Ghana who graced the occasion with his message through the ambassador of Ghana to Japan.<br />
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Now I have just started anew in Tokyo. I do not know many of more than 80 diocesan priests of the diocese. I even do not have any idea of the location of parishes. I really have to start from a scratch.<br />
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At this moment, what I have been doing is listening. I will call very first priest senate meeting on Monday, 22. I have already met with the Diocesan Pastoral Council but I think we have to work out and make clear their specific duty in the diocese. There would be no major transfers of priests this Easter. I may have to do one or two but I still need time to know people before making any major decisions. Your suggestion on the administration of the Archdiocese is welcome only if you are member of the Tokyo Archdiocese.<br />
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I will always keep my episcopal motto in my heart which is "Unity in Diversity" As Pope Francis emphasizes no one should be excluded, no one should be forgotten from our diocesan community. Each one has their own unique role to play in evangelization of the diocesan community which is a body of One Christ. Having diversity itself is not so difficult as we are all unique. But to unite these differences would require a bit of efforts of all. Unity would not come from our outfit. Identical thinking or words or deeds would not guarantee the unity which I have been talking about. Only personal encounter with the Jesus would. The same Christ. The same word of God. We have to have our own story of encounter with Jesus and that would unite us as one. Deepning our faith would be indispensable in the mission of the Archdiocese. We deepen our faith, though it sounds quite private efforts to make, not only for our own merit but for the unity of the diocesan community. Our belief and piety is not only for may salvation but for the sake of the diocesan community. That is why I need all of you to contribute through your own uniqueness whatever you can do.<br />
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Finally, I humbly ask all of you to continue to pray for me, not from tomorrow, not from later day but from this moment.</div>
Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-61020972699149573022017-10-08T19:32:00.001+09:002017-10-08T19:32:36.536+09:00Nobel Peace Prize for the ICAN<ol class="_2t4u clearfix" data-pnref="story" data-referrer="pagelet_timeline_recent_ocm" id="u_jsonp_21_p_story"><div class="_5pcb _4b0l">
I heartily congratulate the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize. It would boost efforts of all, though living in differences of methods to achieve the goal or the political affiliations, to abolish nuclear weapons. </div>
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Also it would be great recognition to the world wide movement to encourage governments to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons for which, unfortunately, some countries with nuclear arsenal<span class="text_exposed_show">s and one and only country that was victim of atomic bombs do not show their initiatives to join in. </span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show">By ratifying the treaty on 21 September, Holy See also exhibited its strong commitment to abolish the Nuclear Weapons and to establish long-lasting peace. </span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show">I sincerely hope this award of Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN would make dream of many reality.</span></div>
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Bishop Isao Kikuchi, SVD<br /> President, Caritas Asia </div>
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<a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/09/21/holy_see_ratifies_treaty_on_the_prohibition_of_nuclear_arms/1338124" target="_blank">Link to the Vatican Radio article, "Holy See ratifies treaty on the prohibition of nuclear arms"</a></div>
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-62433163028269765102017-09-10T17:46:00.000+09:002017-09-10T19:06:09.849+09:00On the Motu proprio, "Magnum Principium"Yesterday, on 9th September, while making pastoral visit to Colombia, Holy Father issued the apostolic letter Motu Proprio “Magnum Principium” on the issue of the approval of translations on the liturgical texts.<br />
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You may find English translation <a href="http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/09/09/170909a.html" target="_blank">of the text in this link of the Holy See site</a>.<br />
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In this apostolic letter, Holy Father is granting much more authority to local bishops' conferences on the issue of translation of liturgical texts from Latin to local languages in accordance with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.<br />
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In this regard, Holy Father decided to modify the Canon Law 838 and clarified the role of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and local Bishops' conference. While we have to wait to see how actual practice would be changed as so many liturgical laws and regulations, including the "Liturgiam Authenticam" which set out the principles of the liturgical translation, are still in force and will be affected.<br />
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However, first and most, I am very much grateful to Holy Father to make this decision to grant much more authority over the translation of Latin texts to local bishops' conference as Japanese Catholic Church has been facing difficulties to finally receive approval over the Japanese translation of the current Missal for quite sometime.<br />
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After the third edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated in 2002, the liturgy commission of Japanese Bishops' conference (CBCJ) started their work to translate the Latin text to Japanese. Though I have never be a member of the commission on liturgy, I got to know how difficult it is to translate exactly the same as Latin text while we debated over the results of their hard work during the general assembly of Bishops.<br />
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Present Japanese edition is called "provisional edition" as some of the original section of the first edition of the Roman Missal were not translated such as solemn blessings. So the work of the liturgical experts in the commission was not just revising the existing translation but to start from scratch.<br />
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Then it came to the approval of the texts by the Holy See. As the entire translation is too huge to be reviewed at once, they were sent to the Congregation part by part as Bishops' Conference had given green light to the works done.<br />
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How? Japanese translation was translated back to English to be reviewed by the congregation as there are no one to read Japanese. As the Congregation has their own authority to decide how to review the proposals, they sometimes employ help from Japanese clergy or religious to examine the translation. But, as you can imagine, it takes time. It really takes time.<br />
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I do not want to go deeper into details of our exchanges but there are number of issues over translation to be resolved before we could receive approval on the Missal. It is important to say that the works have been done by number of well trained experts on liturgy and not just by Bishops as such. I should say their hard works are praiseworthy, trustworthy and very much professional.<br />
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I hope with this change by the Apostolic Letter, we might have new translation of Missal as soon as possible in Japanese Catholic Church.<br />
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At the same time, I sincerely hope this direction of granting much more authority to local bishops' conference may be extended some other issues such as selection of new bishops.Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-8052957705699546882017-04-17T17:22:00.002+09:002017-04-17T17:22:23.057+09:00Happy Easter @ Niigata Cathedral<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I wish you all Happy Easter!</div>
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During the Easter Vigil Mass in Niigata Cathedral, 9 people were baptized and confirmed. Nine sounds very small to some but that was the biggest number of a group of baptism in my Cathedral. Congratulations to those newly baptized.<br />
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Following is a rough translation of my homily during the Easter Vigil.<br />
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Happy Easter to you all.</blockquote>
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What we are celebrating this evening is the very basics of our faith, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without his resurrection, there would be no faith of ours. As St.Paul wrote in Corinthians "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith"</blockquote>
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In the reading of the letter to Romans today, St. Paul emphasized importance of those who are baptized to be "buried with him through baptism into death" in order to live a new life in Christ.</blockquote>
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Therefore, celebration of Easter is not only to commemorate the very basics of our faith which is the resurrection of our Lord but also, as one to live a new life in Christ, to be buried and raised with Jesus Christ. If we would like to be buried and raised with him, then we have to know what death and resurrection of Jesus really mean to us today.</blockquote>
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This evening, we have listened to the story of Exodus from the Old Testament. Liberation for Israelites from slavery in Egypt were achieved through actual transition from present life to the new one by making physical move to the new land. It was achieved through transition from old life to new life. That was the Passover. However, the Passover could not complete instantly but was achieved through continuous challenges such as leaving Egypt and wander around the wilderness for 40 years.</blockquote>
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Our Lord Jesus went through tremendous agony before he ended his life on earth but he overcame the power of death and moved into the new life. This is the new Passover. Gospel today tells us that risen Lord did not keep on staying one place but, rather, told disciples that he was moving to Galilee. That was not the beginning of the way of safe life for disciples but sufferings in Evangelization, even to risk their lives. </blockquote>
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We are to move on. We are not to stay at our sfe refuge. We are to always face challenges. If we would like to be buried and raised with Christ, then even in the midst of challenges we should not lose our hope in faith and keep moving on.</blockquote>
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Catholic Church in Japan has just celebrated the beatification of Ukon Takayama. Niigata Diocese has 53 Martyrs of Yonezawa led by Blessed Uemon AMAKASU. Those blessed martyrs and others persevered through persecution and had risked their lives in order to find the way which would lead them to the new life in Christ. And their life became true witness of Gospel to many. </blockquote>
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We do not face such persecution in 21st Century in Japan. Unfortunately in other parts of the world, so many lives are exposed to great danger because of their religious faiths. Some takes advantage of religious teachings to violently deprive of human life. It is not acceptable for any religion to ignore the dignity of human life and teach their faithfuls to kill others. We have to remember those in such danger of life at this moment especially people in Syria. I do not believe that exercise of force to solve international conflicts to be justified.</blockquote>
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In Japan today, we also have another style of difficulties to maintain our faith. That is attack against our inner spirit so that we are tempted to withdraw into the inner world.</blockquote>
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As you know, Holy Father has been emphasizing that no one should be excluded and mercy of God to be brought to all. It is not because Christians are kind people. It would be very nice that all of us, Christians, are kind people. But that is not the reason why Holy Father has been telling us these. The reason behind is that, in this modern society, we are facing difficulties to maintain the value of God and that reality of the society is attacking our soul. Attack against our soul has much more negative effects than actual physical attack over us because it makes us passive, inactive and to bend to peer pressure. </blockquote>
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Our action based on our value such as being merciful to others or accepting anyone and not to exclude are sometimes considered as foolish and naive in modern reality. Sometimes such criticism makes us to think that it is better to keep quiet than being criticized as dreamer or idealist. It makes us to keep our mouth shut. What a negative power such attacks have.<br />The risen Lord is calling us to take action, to face difficulties, to live into new Passover and do not remain in comfort of safe refuge. </blockquote>
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<blockquote>
The Easter candle is shining in the darkness. It is telling us that the risen Lord is light of hope for people living in darkness. And this evening, we received fire from this candle to ours. Therefore, we are all called to bring this light of hope into all over the world. That is our mission. That is our vocation. We have so many good news to share.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Let us pray to the risen Lord that he might grant us courage to shine the light of hope in darkness. Let us pray to the risen Lord that he might grant us courage to embark on our journey of facing challenges. Let us pray to the risen Lord that he might grant us patience to continue to persevere through people's indifference to the gospel message. And let us pray to the risen Lord to grant us mercy so that we can share it to others.</blockquote>
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-55927729475982554402017-01-10T20:54:00.001+09:002017-01-10T21:08:00.827+09:00Christmas season completed with the Baptism of the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
In many countries including Japan, the Epiphany is celebrated not on 6 January but on nearby Sunday which was on 8th this year. Therefore Monday after the Epiphany which is 9th is the feast of Baptism of the Lord which ends the liturgical season of Christmas.<br />
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Also 9th January this year is a national holiday to celebrate and congratulate those who reached 20 years of age. They are now considered as adults. So congratulations for those who have celebrated the feast this year and may God bless you and guide you through your life, life of responsible adults.<br />
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Now for the feast of Baptism of the Lord, Gospel of Mathew was read during the Mass. Jesus approached John the Baptist who had been baptizing people in the river Jordan asking John to baptize him.<br />
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John the Baptist, of course, had deep self understanding of his own vocation which is to prepare the way and proclaim that the Christ was coming. So it was quite natural for him to refuse the request of Jesus. He might have thinking this way; oh no, it is completely up side down to do such thing because it is against common sense that master should not ask his servant to do so. It is quite natural reaction of a man with common sense.<br />
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But Jesus told John that " allow it now". Then Jesus added that " for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness"<br />
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What does he mean by "to fulfill all righteousness"? That means justified before God and not to follow common sense of human. We can see such example in gospel of Luke chapter 18, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. In the face of common sense, the Pharisee is much more just than the Tax Collector. But judgement by God does not based on the human common sense. God has his own righteousness and quite often that is completely contrary to human common sense.<br />
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That is exactly the life of Jesus himself. Jesus challenged human common sense and showed us that priority has to be given to the righteousness of God which leads us to the life justified before God.<br />
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Therefore, whenever we make any decisions in our life, we have to take time to know what God wants us to do. For this we need to exercise spiritual discernment. And many times, the spiritual discernment draws conclusion contrary to the one based on the human common sense.<br />
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Lat year December during the general assembly of Japanese Catholic Bishops, we, Bishops, made number of decisions. Among them are the decision to revise the message published in 2001 on the theme of human life, titled "Reverence for Life"<br />
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Human life which is the precious gift from God is facing all kinds of crisis from its beginning to the end in this modern world. So the message of the reverence for life is very much important for all the people in Japan and not only for Catholics. Entire chapter had been revised and Bishops gave approval for the revised edition to be published.<br />
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In addition to this, Bishops gave approval to the proposition submitted by myself as the president of Caritas Japan and also one in charge of the rehabilitation exercise of Catholic Church in Tohoku area after the massive quake and tsunami in 2011. The proposition is to extend so called "All Japan" of Catholic Church to support local people in the Tohoku area to fully rehabilitate from the disaster till the end of March, 2021 which is 10 years after the disaster.<br />
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Mainly, three prefectures have been badly affected namely Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima which are all in Sendai Diocese. Catholic Church in Japan has been working on the rehabilitation support activities in all these three prefectures with number of volunteer bases. Through our activites, we felt that Fukushima needed much more attention. Because of that, a new volunteer base and a community facility has been built in the premises of Haramachi Catholic Church in Minami Soma city and renamed as the Caritas Minami Soma from the Caritas Haramachi Base. Tokyo Archdiocese is the main thrust to organize activities in Minami Soma and this new facility is the visible sign to local people of the commitment of Catholic Church in Fukushima to accompany people for many more years.<br />
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Tohoku area is gradually recovering, though it is in snail's pace. However, Fukushima needs much more time and attention. As the Catholic Church in Japan committed to accompany local people of Fukushima, we staretd to share the complex feeling of them especially of anxiety for unclear future vision. It is taking too much time to restore the local communities and, as majority are aging, it is something like the race against time.<br />
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I do not have proper words to explain feelings of people but it is not the assurance from the scientists or nuclear expert which expels anxiety of people. Situation is much more complex as no one could see real effect of the nuclear accidents with naked eyes. It is the matter of feelings and conviction much more than the scientific facts. That is the reality of nuclear accidents. As no one is able to see the effects of the accident, invisible damages have been caused in Fukushima which has been tormenting so many people up till now and torn apart local communities. Nuclear accidents should not be measured by numbers alone but also by emotional damages of affected people.<br />
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This experience in Fukushima made us, Japanese Bishops to issue again after 5 years a message calling abolishment of the nuclear power plants, though we fully understand existence of so many different opinions over the issue and of quite convincing explanation of the experts on necessity to use such technology. And this time we are calling of abolishment not only in Japan but also all over the world. Sound too much? But we should stop here and rethink about what has been happening in Fukushima. <a href="http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/jpn/doc/cbcj/161111e.pdf" target="_blank">You may read the message in English. Follow this link</a>.<br />
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Relying on the Nuclear Power technology must have been accepted as inevitable solution for near future energy strategy in many countries. So our message might sound quite fantasy. But based on the idea of Pope Francis in the "Laudato Si" we said following in the message.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We are convinced that to overcome this situation humankind, as the image of God, must
return to a right relationship with nature, a relationship suitable to the common good of
humanity and nature. Humans are naturally able to live happily in peace if they do so
harmoniously in relation to themselves, to others, to the natural environment and to God."</blockquote>
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No matter how absurd it sounds, we are convinced based on our own spiritual discernment on the issue, we have to give priority to re-establish harmonious relationship with others, the natural environment and God even though it might mean to us to change the way how we sustain this modern society. This relationship has been torn apart in Fukushima after the accident.<br />
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Through this message, we also want to share with all the people in the world what we have been experiencing and feeling through our accompaniment with people affected by the accident in Fukushima.<br />
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The message is not only meant for Japanese audience but also addressed to "all the People of Earth, Our Common Home." Therefore Japanese Bishops are now trying to communicate with other Bishops Conferences to share our concern over the nuclear technology. We know very well that in many countries already utilizing them are convinced that the technology would be the solution for the global warming. In fact, I do face quite a number of criticism over our position while I attend meetings in Europe. It might be the best solution for the global warming at this moment but, in long run, we should consider our responsibility for future generation. The message says these.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"• Nuclear fission rarely occurs naturally on earth, and when it is brought about
artificially, the energy released is vastly greater than the forms of energy that sustain
life, and also vastly greater than the conventional energy generated through
combustion of fuels;<br />
• Nuclear fission produces unstable radioactive waste that we do not yet possess the
technology to dispose of or stabilize;<br />
• Once a serious nuclear accident occurs, the lives of people in the immediate area are
radically disrupted, and the resulting environmental damage from radiation will
spread beyond borders and across time."</blockquote>
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We have to seriously do our spiritual discernment to know the best way to take.<br />
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-38846155142497225412017-01-05T12:00:00.000+09:002017-01-05T12:00:17.038+09:00New Year Pastoral Letter, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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2017 New Year Pastoral letter<br />
<b><i>"Power of Christ gives us life"</i></b><br />
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<i>"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Cor 12:9)</i><br />
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My Dear Sisters and Brothers of Niigata Diocese,<br />
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I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.<br />
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Shocking incident happened on July 26 last year in a social welfare facility for mentally handicapped, Tsukui Yamayuri-en, in Sagamihara city, Kanagawa prefecture. As you know well, a young man killed 19 people living with mental handicap and injured 26 more. Our knowledge of what really happened there are limited as our information on the case has been brought to us only through news media. However, through these limited information we have heard, a big question repeatedly echo through my mind. "Who does really have the right to judge value of human lives?"<br />
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Remembering those people violently killed, though quite long time has passed, I still feel great pain. Consider how much pain and fear caused by this young man have been tormenting so many in Japan and, more than that, all over the world. <br />
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What shocked us most is not what this young man actually did but, moreover, his motivation. Not only justifying his action of killing these innocent people, he said, seriously, that there were no value for these handicapped people to live and spending money to support them were dissipating or waste. I do not have his exact wording but he also said something like mercy killing for the handicapped people were for the benefit of the society. How did he acquire this kind of thought which does not pay any respect to human life? Moreover, we found out that there have been quite a number of people, in anonymity in the Internet world, sympathetic to this young man's opinion. This is much more disturbing.<br />
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Obviously for us, Christians, it is only God who has the right to judge the value of life. It is not we who has the right to make such judgement but God who created human life and has given it to us as a gift.<br />
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Such judgements as who should live or who has value to survive, we are not allowed to make. It is only God who makes such judgements. God has created this world and entrusted human life to us as a gift. Moreover, according to the Book of Genesis, God created us as his own image so that each one of us have precious value as the image of God. That precious value, we call the Human Dignity. We do not have any rights to strip off such precious value from the Human Dignity granted us by God.<br />
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Pope Francis in his Encyclical "Laudato Si" points out that "the culture of relativism is the same disorder which drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects, ...."(123) Then Holy Father in the same Encyclical points out the reason of this phenomenon sayingt "the harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation as a whole was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations." (66) We want to be humble enough to acknowledge our limitations and be courage enough to keep distance from attitude of boasting our human ability. So that we will follow the word of St Paul which is "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses." When we acknowledge our limitations then Christ's power, finally, could work through our weaknesses and we would be able to live.<br />
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In this regard, I also would like to point out that we should keep in our mind mercy of God and its boundlessness while we observe critically such reality of the society.<br />
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In the Bull of indiction of the Jubilee of Mercy, "Misericordiae Vultus," Holy Father points out that "the Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God." (12) Mercy of God, of course, has to be preferentially brought to oppressed, vulnerable and people in sorrow. But, at the same time, Mercy of God has to be brought to the people whose lives are based on values contrary to God. Why, because God is inclusive and not exclusive. Mercy of God embraces all.<br />
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Therefore, the Church which announces the mercy of God should not exclude the people who adhere to value set contrary to Christian value but, in the mercy of God which would be manifested by our communion, should be inclusive one. We want to be a Church of accepting and not excluding. We want to be an accompanying Church to try to find the better way to take in mercy of God.<br />
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<b><i>Following the example of Blessed Ukon Takayama</i></b><br />
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Holy Father has given approval on 22 January, 2016 to the beatification of Ukon Takayama as a martyr and the beatification ceremony will take place on 7 February, 2017 in Osaka-Jo Hall at noon. Holy Father has appointed Cardinal Amato, the prefect of the Congregation of Causes of Saints as his delegate to preside over the Mass.<br />
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Almost four hundred years ago during the time of Christian persecution in Japan, Ukon Takayama chose to remain faithful to Christ and in return he lost everything including his position and fame as Daimyo (feudal lord) and, moreover, his own country as he was exiled to Manila where he died. The Church recognized him as a martyr because he had lost everything for the sake of the faith.<br />
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We are living in the world where majority puts importance on the relative value rather than absolute one especially in moral judgment, or appreciates the ad hoc solutions as if majority does not care about future generation. Contrary to this modern attitude, Blessed Ukon Takayama tells us that the truth must not be thrown away even if one has to sacrifice everything. Blessed Ukon Takayama shows us how we should live as a man with dignity not only as a Christian but also as a human.<br />
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Immediately after his death in 1615 in Manila, veneration of his heroic life as a exemplary Christian has started in Manila. Since then almost 400 years has passed and Japanese society has changed. There is no more persecution of Christians. But in this modern world, do we have adequate answer to the very basic question on our life; why do we live? Blessed Ukon Takayama's life tells us that he always tried to stand at the side of God to make any decisions and did not do so from his own position. Priority was always given to the cause of God. The ad hoc decisions had no place for him as he humbled himself in front of God to try to search the way of life as God commands.<br />
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<i><b>Establishing Parish statutes and restructuring the diocesan districts.</b></i><br />
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I have asked all the parishes in the diocese to begin the discussion over revising or newly establishing the Parish Statute before the end of January, 2018.<br />
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In many cases, most of parishes in the diocese have, according to their history and situation, an organization to run the parish. And in most of these organizations or structures have their own statutes or rules. I do understand the reality of our diocese that difference of size of communities make such organizations and their rules differ from each other. In some cases, I understand, as the size of parish community is too small, said organizations or structures sometimes lack any written rules but have been run by mutual understanding. <br />
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Since question was raised over the Parish Statutes during the recent Diocesan Pastoral Council and the Priests Senate, I asked the diocesan office to make a research. As a result of it, we found out that we have variety of rules in our diocese but many of them are for the Parish Laity Council or Parish Lay Apostolate Council.<br />
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Needless to say, there is no problem of existence of such Laity Council in parishes or, I should say, such organizations in Parishes have important role to play.<br />
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However, at the same time, as the Parish community should be formed by both laity and a parish priest or priests appointed by a Bishop, I would say that an organization of laity, such as Parish Laity Council, could not represent entire parish community.<br />
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That is the reason why I asked each parish to begin the process of establishing the statutes of their Parish based on the guidelines and the model statute prepared by the Diocese. There is no need to abolish existing laity organizations and their rules. Or you may decide to start completely anew. Following the guidelines and taking into account of each particular situations, kindly complete the new statutes by the end of January, 2018. I count on your cooperation.<br />
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At the same time, I would like to put emphasis on the role of the parish priest. Parish priest should run parish not only by his own ideas and decisions but also through dialogue with parishioners. Dialogue would provide both parish priest and parishioners opportunity to find better way to walk together. One of the intentions of the present exercise of establishing parish statutes is to involve everyone in the parish to this dialogue.<br />
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In addition to this exercise, I have asked district superiors of Niigata, Shibata and Nagaoka to find out general opinion over restructuring of these 3 districts within Niigata prefecture. I thought that the restructuring of local communities by government is also affecting the system of the diocesan district. I would appreciate if each of these three districts to complete study of opinions by the end of September, 2017. Based on the opinions of districts, I will come out with a proposal.<br />
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To conclude the pastoral letter, I would like to share number of information with you.<br />
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Our one and only seminarian, Mr. Shuta Oka is spending his first year in the National Major Seminary. Kindly keep him in your prayer. Kindly also continue to pray for vocation so that many more youth would decide to be priests or religious. <br />
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As in the past, on the first Sunday of Lent, the Rite of Election would be organized in the Cathedral for all the catechumens in the diocese who would be ready for baptism during this Easter season. This year it will be on 5th March at 9:30 am in the Niigata Cathedral. Because of the distance in our diocese, not all the catechumens could join the rite in the Cathedral. But if it is possible to come to Niigata on the day, you are most welcome.<br />
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Finally, I make my pastoral visit for Niigata, Shibata and Nagaoka districts in even-numbered years and for Akita and Yamagata districts in odd-numbered years. Therefore, in year 2017, I will make pastoral visits for Akita and Yamagata districts. Usually I leave it to parish priests to propose date of such pastoral visits in order to avoid any conflicts of activities in parishes. Kindly contact the Diocesan office as early as possible.<br />
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May God bless you all in Niigata Diocese. May God of mercy and love guide you and protect you through out this new year, 2017.<br />
<br />
1st January, 2017<br />
Bishop Isao Kikuchi, SVD<br />
Bishop of Niigata<br />
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-64632694425462510932016-12-30T21:46:00.001+09:002016-12-30T21:46:56.440+09:00Christmas Message<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just made a quick translation of my homily from Japanese to English of the midnight Mass on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord at Niigata Cathedral, 24 December, 2016.<br />
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On the night when Jesus was born, according to the Gospel of Luke, the Angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds living in the field keeping watch over their flock. The Angel declared to shepherds that "I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you." Then the Angel continued; "you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger"<br />
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Prophet Isaiah also declared in a similar way telling us that "for a child is born to us, a son is given us" and that is "abundant joy and great rejoicing" for people.<br />
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Gospel of Luke and Prophet Isaiah both spoke about great joy given to us and that joy is symbolized by a new born baby. That great joy is, according to Isaiah, joy of finding light in darkness. Therefore Isaiah wrote that "upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone." And a new born baby is symbol of that light and joy.<br />
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Celebration of the birth of our Lord is also the celebration of new life given to us which brings us joy and hope. We celebrate because God was incarnated in the same life as ours as human to show us that the human life has divine dignity. Moreover, through the mystery of incarnation, Jesus lived the life of serving and saving others which makes us to ponder deeply about the meaning of life given to us by God as gift. So today we celebrate and at the same time think about meaning of human life.<br />
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Gospel of Luke told us that Angel of the Lord after appearing to shepherds proclaimed that "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."<br />
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This proclamation of Angel teaches us how we should live the God given life. We should imitate on earth the perfectness of God in heaven and try to live lives according to will of God. St. Paul in today's second reading saying by the same token that the grace of God is "training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age."<br />
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Then proclamation of Angel told us that living life according to will of God means living in Peace.<br />
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Again and again in the Church we have been saying that Peace of God is not only absence of war or conflict but much more than that. Peace of God means that the order of God is realized. When the original order in which God has created this world is re-established, then real Peace will be established.<br />
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Therefore through celebrating birth of Jesus we also contemplate the meaning of our life and also contemplate the possibilities to establish real Peace in this world which would be re-establishment of the order of God. <br />
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Pope Francis In "Laudato Si" points out that "the harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation as a whole was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations. (66)"<br />
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When we look back the year 2016, we should realize that we have been disrupting the harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation by our actions. And we have been creating completely different type of order based upon our arrogance and lack of humility. The order against will of God has brought destruction of Peace and threat to the human life, rejection of helping others, indifferent attitude to cry for help which tempt us to exclude vulnerable people.<br />
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Without any efforts, we would be able to find a lot of examples of incidents of rejection, exclusion and indifference in today's world. Throughout the year 2016, so many such incidents happened all over the world.<br />
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Peace in Syria. Holy Father has been making fervent appeal for peace in Syria to political leaders all over the world. He also has been appealing to all of us to help refugees number of times. On April 16, he even brought 3 Syrian refugee families from Greece to Rome to show us what we should be doing.<br />
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Despite Holy Father's repeated appeal for peace and action to help vulnerable, what is the reality? Political leaders talk about cease fire and peace, negotiation made and agreement has been reached number of times. But in meantime, suffering of people continues. Especially children are suffering the most. Hospitals are bombed and so many lives of innocent people are still in danger.<br />
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Japan is not an exception. What happened in Sagamihara in July made us to think about meaning of human life. 19 handicapped people were killed and 26 injured in a social welfare facility for mentally handicapped in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture. The crime was committed by a lone young man who used to work in the same facility. He justified his action saying that what he did was for the good of people as handicapped people had no value to live. Supporting handicapped people are waste of money, according to his claim. What surprised me is that, particularly in the Internet world, there are quite a number of people who showed sympathy to this claim. What are we talking about? Who gave us authority to make judgment over value of human life? We do not have such authority. Life belong to God. <br />
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God gave us this precious life. Life is the precious gift for all of us. Then what would be the God's design for human life? How does God want us to live? We have to take time to ponder on the meaning of life so that we might be able to "reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.<br />
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In the world where we live today is filled by so much of malicious intentions and indifference attitude which do not pay due respect to human life.<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-19002224918938941542016-12-26T16:59:00.002+09:002016-12-26T17:02:49.880+09:00I wish you a blessed Christmas.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My dear friends,<br />
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I wish you all Merry Christmas and blessing for the coming year, 2017.<br />
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Bishop Isao Kikuchi, SVD<br />
Bishop of Niigata, Japan<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-85257848552281876642016-08-13T16:29:00.001+09:002016-08-13T16:29:49.607+09:00Ten days for Peace: Is peace really possible?Catholic Church in Japan has been observing ten days for Peace from 6 August to 15 August since Pope John Paul II had visited Japan in 1981. Why it is from 6 to 15 August? It is because Hiroshima was bombed by the atomic bomb on 6 August, 1945 and the government accepted the unconditional surrender to allied forces on 15 August of the same year. And Nagasaki was also bombed by the atomic bomb on 9 August of the same year. Experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is enough for Japanese people to remember misery and atrocity of war and also the experience to accept unconditional surrender which was unavoidable at that time is also enough to remember hardships and great loss people had experienced during and after the WWII.<br />
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It is rightly correct to insist and assert that war has to be avoided or nuclear weapons should be abolished based on our negative experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And needles to say but the Japanese constitution in article 9 stipulates the government to outlaw war as a means to settle international disputes. But because we often contemplate about Peace based on our kind of victim mentality, our claim for peace has been just saying "No" to actual fighting and do not go deep into the real meaning of Peace. What is Peace? That has to be asked to all of us in Japan today.<br />
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In the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church in 489, it is said that "<i>In biblical revelation, peace is much more than the simple absence of war; it represents the fullness of life"</i><br />
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Going back to the Pacem in Terris of the Pope John XXIII, he began the encyclical by saying,<i> "Peace on Earth, which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after, can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order."</i><br />
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So what we have to strive for is to find out the divinely established order. Maybe we may say that we have to try to find out the world which God desires for.<br />
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That reminds us that if we seek for Peace to be established today, then just calling for "No War" is not enough but, rather, we have to tackle with wide range of issues which prevents the divine order to be realized. Any kind of human misery existing in today's world is preventing realization of the divine order. Any kind of injustice existing in today's world is preventing it. Any restriction of freedom is preventing it. Any kind of alienation or exclusion is preventing it. Any environmental degradation is preventing it. So many issues to be tackled to establish real peace.<br />
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Because of recent growing tension between our neighboring countries, such as over territorial disputes or by actual missile tests, we do hear some voices calling more tough measures should be taken by the Japanese government. And that voices are getting stronger. It seems that some voices are calling immediate solution over these situations.<br />
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Then we should remember what was written in the Pope Francis' "Evangelii Gaudium" in 222 & 223. "<i>Time is greater than space."</i><br />
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<i>"This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult and adverse situations, or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time."</i><br />
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What was said by the Mayor of Nagasaki, Mr. Taue on 9 August during the Peace memorial Service is really telling us something to be considered. Though he was talking about abolish of nuclear weapons, what he said was the general principle of establishing Peace.<br />
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"<i>The history of nuclear weapons is also the history of distrust.</i><br />
<i>In the midst of this distrust between nations, countries with nuclear weapons have developed evermore destructive weapons with increasingly distant target ranges. There are still over 15,000 nuclear warheads in existence, and there is the ever-present danger that they may be used in war, by accident, or as an act of terrorism.</i><br />
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<i>One way of stemming this flow and turning the cycle of distrust into a cycle of trust is to continue with persistent efforts to create trust. In line with the peaceful ethos of the Constitution of Japan, we have endeavored to spread trust throughout the world by contributing to global society through efforts such as humanitarian aid. In order that we never again descend into war, Japan must continue to follow this path as a peaceful</i><br />
<i>nation</i>."<br />
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Though I do not deny the right of self defense by Japan, what we have to pursue today is not to enhance our military capability to establish adequate deterrent forces against any possible military advance but to foster the cycle of trust among nations. For that, much more diplomatic efforts are needed. I really expect our diplomats to work harder and tactically to try to involve more countries into the cycle of trust. Also for us, Catholics in Japan, to try to work much more to disseminate the idea of true peace, the Peace of God so that this country to be a champion of the integral human development in today's world to realize the divine order.<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-68261396678509153612016-07-28T12:16:00.001+09:002016-07-28T12:17:25.237+09:00On the Sagamihara murder caseAs I had returned back from PNG in the evening on 26 July, I got to know the mass murder of 19 disabled people in Sagamihara that morning. 26 more people were injured. I was deeply shocked to hear the case and, more over, I was absolutely stunned to know that the suspect was justifying his action against disabled people as something to "save" them as "mercy killing".<br />
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First and most, I offer my sincere condolence to the family of victims and pray for eternal rest of those 19 people whose lives were violently taken away. And I pray that merciful God may extend his hand to those injured and to those terrified and give them consolation and quick recovery.<br />
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Probably there is no need to repeat the same points again and again but let me say it again. Based on our Christian faith, it is not for us to measure the weight of human life. It is only God, God who created our human life and gave it to us, who has right to do so. <br />
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Who is allowed to continue to live. Who is worth to survive. Such judgments are not for us to make. If we do so, are we not too arrogant before the God who created the human life? Moreover, God created us as his own image, therefore, all human lives has its own importance and value as the image of God. That is what we call the Human Dignity.<br />
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Already many people have made their comments against the discriminatory judgement and violent action by the suspect over people in weak position in the society. When we talk about the people in weak position in the society, it should be inclusive concept of all kinds of weakness and not only of physically disabled people. It includes those people discriminated as different or foreign, facing economical difficulties, facing health problems, facing obstacle of social systems, facing cultural barriers and more. In a sense, all of us are facing or holding some kind of difficulties in the society and that means we all have potential to be a person in weak position in the society in one way or other.<br />
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That is why we have to help each other. That is why we have to support each other. If we don't, then we, human being, may not be able to survive.<br />
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I hope through facing the reality of this sad and terrible incidents in Sagamihara, we all in Japan would have yet another chance to think about the meaning of our lives and value of the human life. Then, I hope and pray, we would keep in our heart the value of mutual support to create one human family.<br />
<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-20593014404973295652016-07-04T23:51:00.001+09:002016-07-04T23:51:06.344+09:00Bangladesh. I want to cry for the people in the country.Though there have been so many incidents of terrorist attacks such as suicide bombing or attacks over innocent people happening all over the world, and though my heart is full of pain when ever I hear such incidents, this cruel and merciless attack over innocent people at a restaurant in Dhaka made me feel terribly sad.<br />
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First and most, among 20 hostages who was killed by terrorists were 7 Japanese. Because of involvement of these 7 Japanese among the victims, we, people in Japan, are suddenly forced to realize that Japan is not isolated from rest of the world. In this globalized world, no country can be isolated from world affairs but has to be involved and to make active and positive contribution. I am not talking about military involvement of Japan as such as some people are suggesting. But Japan has to realize that we have to be involved in peace making process of this complex world as responsible member of this one common house.<br />
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According to the Asahi Shinbun, a Japanese news paper, one of the victims, Mr.Hiroshi Tanaka, 80, was a Catholic and a team member of teachers of catechism in one of parishes in Tokyo. What a pity to loose such dedicated Catholic.<br />
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What makes me feel so sad is that these 7 Japanese victims were all working for the development projects in Bangladesh. They are people full of compassion for people in need. They are people full of courage to go out ones comfort zone to face challenges in completely different culture. They are people who find happiness in lending their hands to others in difficulties. They are people who could think globally and act beyond national boundaries. They are people who could be mindful to take care of our common house, the earth. What a pity to lose these wonderful fighters for true development and alleviation of poverty from this world.<br />
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Contrary to these people, those who conducted this terrible attack over innocent victims could not go beyond their limited world. They were living in their own world which was completely isolated from rest of others.<br />
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Of course, it is not acceptable to use name of God or any religion as excuse to take other people's life. True religious all agree that God is for life and not for death, is for peace and not for violence, is for protection of dignity of human person and not for destroying them.<br />
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In this globalized world, we are not able to sustain our lives without helping each other. We are not able to maintain our common house without putting our wisdom together. We cannot concentrate only on our domestic agenda and ignore other people's need. We cannot retreat into our own world surrounded by our selfish barrier to only to think about ourselves. We got to work together for betterment of all.<br />
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The victims were people who could break this barrier and go far beyond it. But the terrorists were not. Between the victims and terrorists, there are huge distance of difference in how they lived, between the life to take care of others in need and the life to ignore others to realize one's own agenda.<br />
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I want really cry for victims of terrorists attacks, not only for these 7 Japanese victims but also for all other innocent souls of such incidents all over the world. But I want cry much more for people in Bangladesh who lost at least seven good brothers and sisters from Japan who compassionately thought of betterment of lives of people of the country. Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-25331493380679179522016-05-09T11:17:00.000+09:002016-05-09T13:06:33.608+09:00Caritas Solidarity Conference in Nepal <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was on 25 April, 2015 when Nepal was hit by magnitude 7.8 earthquake which took over 8,000 people's life and injured over 20,000.<br />
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Immediately after the disaster, Caritas Nepal together with Caritas Internationalis started relief activities under complex political situation and geographical hardships. One of the member organisation of Caritas confederation, Caritas Australia has been asked to accompany Caritas Nepal while others such as CAFOD from England/Wales, CRS from the US and many other Caritas member organisation have been involved in the operation. Caritas Japan is also contributing financially to the operation.<br />
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To commemorate the first anniversary of the disaster and evaluate Caritas response, a conference was organised by Caritas Nepal from 25 to 27 in Dulikhel, outskirt of the capital, Kathmandu.<br />
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More than 60 participants were welcomed by Bishop Paul Simick, Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, and Fr. Silas Bogati, the executive director of Caritas Nepal and vicar General of the Vicariate who has been working with Caritas for a long time.<br />
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Other participants included Cardinal Tagle, President of Caritas Internationalis, Archbishop Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal, Bishop Stasiuk, Deputy Chair of Caritas Australia, Bishop Rawsthorne, former CAFOD chair and many more from Caritas member organisations.<br />
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Though Catholic Church is absolute minority in Nepal; with only seven thousand Catholics (by the way it is just the same as my diocese, Niigata), it seems that its charitable activities through Caritas Nepal has been highly appreciated by the national government. Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Mr. Aananda Pokharel was present at the beginning of this 3 day solidarity event to congratulate and show appreciation to the Caritas activities and to Catholic Church. It seems that Caritas Nepal and other Caritas member organisations working together with Caritas Nepal after the disaster are well appreciated by local authorities and created good relationship with them.<br />
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Based on our experience of disaster in Japan and also on my own encounter with so many victims of natural disaster in different<br />
countries, it is obvious that it will take quite a long time for victims to recover normal life as before the disaster both in rich and developed countries and in poor and underdeveloped countries.<br />
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Materially speaking, people in rich countries such as Japan have advantage in receiving relief goods without much delay and in abundance. However it does not mean victims in rich countries have advantage in psychological compensation because, in many cases in rich countries, human relationship in local community has been lost in individualism or local community itself is not so much in function any more far before the disaster.<br />
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As one of the program for the 3-day event, we visited one of the hard hit area in Nepal. The village I visited was called Balthali with nearly 190 houses severely hit by earthquake. After one year of the disaster, people are still living in shelters unable to reconstruct their houses. Compare with those shelters in Japan, victims in Nepal are to live in really bad situation. However, people had not lost their hope for future. Though they have been facing terrible difficulties and delay of official assistance, they are confident to rebuild their life in due time. It is only from my guess<br />
but these confidence for future in Nepal is coming from sense of security and mutual support by relationship within the local community. In any case I am really amazed by the resilience of the earthquake affected people in Nepal.<br />
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Registration of victims by government to receive necessary financial assistance to rebuild their houses are still going on after one year. Caritas with other NGOs are working with local authority to set up enrollment center to assist local people to prepare documents for registration and also to provide information on earthquake resistant building plan.<br />
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There are NGOs or other official agencies with full of skills to provide<br />
immediate relief goods after the disaster. Though Caritas might be one of them, Caritas is characterized by its long term commitment to the people long after the disaster. It is because the Church is always there with people and our charitable activities are based on the very characteristics of being Church.<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-79987493073658585862016-04-16T15:11:00.000+09:002016-04-16T15:11:20.724+09:00Yet another massive earthquake in KumamotoKumamoto in Kyushu had been hit by massive earthquake on 14 April which took lives of 9 people. Then at 1:25 am today, Saturday, yet another massive earthquake of magnitude 7.3 hit the area. This time, damage caused by the quake affected much wider area than the 14th one.<br />
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According to the reports, as at this moment, 15 more people lost their lives and around 1,000 injuries.<br />
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As at yesterday, we thought the damage was contained in small area of Mashiki town but this morning quake caused damage in much wider area, including neighboring Ohita prefecture.<br />
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At 2 pm, Japan time, today, Saturday, Bishop Miyahara of Fukuoka called a meeting of relevant members of the diocese to discuss about the plan to be help of those affected in the area. Caritas Japan is waiting to hear from this meeting of Fukuoka diocese to decide what step should be taken next.Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-49751770534024715182016-04-15T10:19:00.001+09:002016-04-15T10:25:38.438+09:00Massive earthquake in Kumamoto, Japan<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Massive earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit Kumamoto prefecture, Kyushu island, last night at 9:26 pm Japan time. According to the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "arial new" , "ms p ゴシック" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 21.6px;">meteorological bureau, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "arial new" , "ms p ゴシック" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 21.6px;">scale of an earthquake was measured as 7. Measured 7 earthquake does not happen so often even in Japan. It was only in 1995 in Kobe, 2004 in Niigata and 2011 in Tohoku. So it was quite strong earthquake. However, as its epicenter was inland, there were no fear of Tsunami.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "arial new" , "ms p ゴシック" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 21.6px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Since then till this morning, there are more than 100 aftershocks including very small ones. At this moment, according to news reports, 9 people lost their lives. May they rest in Peace. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">There are also number of reports of injuries and quite many houses are destroyed. Caritas Japan is continuing to gather information from the area at this moment. Kumamoto prefecture is under Fukuoka diocese and Caritas Japan will continue to communicate with the diocesan director of Caritas. As for Catholic Church facilities in Kumamoto, there are no serious reports of damages at this moment, though we do not have any information of members of Catholic community in Kumamoto. As far as what we see from TV reports this morning, most of damages are concentrated in one town, Mashiki.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , "ms pgothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Usually, for such emergencies, local government together with national government is ready to offer assistance to the victims without any delay. Self Defense Force, police and fire department in general are well trained and well eqquiped to take immediate action once such disaster happened in Japan. Local NGOs have their own role to play at this moment, however, other NGOs from out side the area would have much more role to play for rehabilitation phase of the disaster.</span>Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-1217142754216423012016-03-28T12:17:00.002+09:002016-04-07T20:34:18.365+09:00Happy Easter @ Niigata Cathedral<div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">Happy Easter !</span></b><br />
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May the light of peace and forgiveness shine in the darkness and may the Risen Lord's hope and power bring new life to everyone.<br />
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During the Easter Vigil on 26 March in the Cathedral Church of Niigata Diocese, 4 people received baptism and 2 were received to the Catholic Church from other denomination. All these 6 also received sacrament of Confirmation.<br />
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At 7 pm, the Vigil Mass started at the main entrance area of the Cathedral with blessing of new fire and candle. The paschal candle was brought into the church by Fr.Ngaji, SVD, assistant pastor, who also sung Exsultet. After the several readings and Gloria with sounds of bell ringing, gospel was read by the pastor, Fr. Raul.<br />
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Then after the homily, 4 catechumens were called to the front for baptism. Three ladies, mother and two daughters, and a gentleman who is a school teacher, were baptized by myself. Then 2 candidates, a husband and wife, who had been baptized at a protestant community long time ago, recited the creed and received into the Catholic community. And I confirmed all these 6. Thank God we have now 6 new members in the Cathedral community which has been facing decreasing number of members because quite majority of them are over 80 years old today.<br />
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Next day, on Easter Sunday, the Cathedral was almost full. Well, that means there were around 160 participants in the Mass. Number of them attend Mass only once or twice, Easter and Christmas, a year. So what I can say is the 160 would be the reality of the size of this community despite, according to the official register, 700 supposed to be the number of the members of the Cathedral community.<br />
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While we were observing Holy Week this year, number of sad incidents happened around the world. There were several bombing attacks in Brussels, execution of 2 inmates in Japan on Good Friday and bombing an a park in Pakistan on Easter Sunday which killed at least 67 people.<br />
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In the first reading of Easter Sunday, Acts of Apostles, Peter was giving his strong witness on Jesus Christ. We can imagine how they, disciples, felt after the killing of their Master. Fear, anger, hatred or regret. But Peter was talking about none of them. Rather he emphasized that those who believe in Jesus will receive forgiveness. Peter was changed to live new life as he met and believed in the Risen Lord. He was now more living in the old life of fear, hatred, anger or regret, but now he is living with forgiveness of the Lord, the face of Fathers's mercy.<br />
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What violence produces is fear and sadness which in turn produces anger and intent on revenge. Revenge just creates vicious circle of violence which, as history proves, has been destroying so many people's life and put so many innocent people in danger of life. That is not the world which God wants us to realize. And it is a terrible contradiction to capitalize name of God as excuse of using violence for any kind of solution of the problem as God is the one who created our life with so much love, love which forced God himself to die for us. Then how can God allow us to destroy life?<br />
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At the time of Easter, what we have to proclaim is forgiveness brought into us by Risen Lord who invites us to live in new life filled with mercy of God. <br />
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-51562741080080197142016-03-25T14:14:00.001+09:002016-03-25T14:14:17.594+09:00On Good Friday in JapanOn this very sacred period for us Christians, Paschal Triduum, and particular on Good Friday, it is quite unfortunate to note that Japanese government has executed two convicted people this morning. It is also unfortunate to note that the Japanese government has record of executing 4 convicted people on the Christmas day in 2006.<br />
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Though I know, according to the government explanation on the issue, the quite majority of general public in Japan supports government position on maintaining death penalty and, I know, quite number of Catholics in Japan also support this position. Therefore it is not easy task to realize Japan without death penalty and it seems almost impossible to abolish this system.<br />
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However, we, as member of one body of Jesus Christ, should give heed to our Shepard, Holy Father, on this particular issue. On 21 February this year after the Angelus, Holy Father appealed again to abolish death penalty. Holy Father said that “the commandment ‘You shall not kill’ has absolute value, and covers both the innocent and the guilty.” Then he continued saying “I appeal to the conscience of the rulers, so that we achieve an international consensus for the abolition of the death penalty.”<br />
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This call for abolishing death penalty has been repeated by previous Pontiffs despite the official teachings of Catholic Church do not forbid it.<br />
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But for Pope Francis, it is much more than repeating the same appeal as his predecessor. This is the Jubilee Year of Mercy. So he appealed to the world leaders saying “I propose to those among them who are Catholics to make a courageous and exemplary gesture that no sentence is executed in this Holy Year of Mercy.”<br />
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It is true that Japan is not Christian country and our government is very much secular government with strict separation of religion and state. And it is true that our national leader is not a Catholic, though the number 2 in the cabinet is. And it is true that the execution is decided by minister of Justice who is also not a Catholic. So they have no obligation to consider Holy Father's appeal. However, only a few days ago on 19 March, foreign minister of Japan, Mr. Kishida, paid a visit to the Holy See and met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, inviting Holy Father to visit Japan to pray for Peace in Asia and the World. When thinking about the seriousness and insistence of Japanese government to invite Holy Father to Japan, for which Japanese Bishops are also working on, I am a bit surprised to note the timing of today's execution. In any case, despite popular support for the death penalty in Japan, I have to repeat the appeal of Holy Father to abolish the death penalty in respect of human life. Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-57323814688127450712016-02-23T11:22:00.000+09:002016-02-23T16:56:32.273+09:00Ash Wednesday @ Niigata Cathedral<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ash Wednesday for this year's Lent was on 10 February and I presided over the 10 am Mass in the Niigata Cathedral with more than 40 faithful who managed to join the Mass despite of very cold and miserable winter weather.<br />
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<i><u>Homily of the Mass on 10 February.</u></i><br />
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A few weeks ago, Holy See made announcement of a good news for us, the Japanese Church. The good news was the approval of martyrdom of Justo Ukon Takayama by Holy Father. I hope his beatification will take place soon, maybe early next year in Japan.<br />
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Justo Ukon Takayama was a ”Daimyo" or a feudal lord of 400 years ago. He was exiled to Philippines with his entire family because of his Christian faith in the end of 1614. He died in Manila on 3 February, 1615 because of tropical disease.<br />
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Last year, there was a symposium on Ukon and one of the speakers said something like following.<br />
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After Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun at that time, decided to expel Ukon from his position because of his refusal to abandon the faith, Ukon's friends tried to persuade him to avoid conflict with his master, Hideyoshi. But Ukon did not give any heed to these advice saying he wanted to hold his honor as "Knight of Jesus Christ". Then he told his friends that there was not a thing to be altered in the matter of God. When his entire possessions, title and honor were confiscated, Ukon happily accepted all these as sacrifice for God in thanksgiving. He even thank God that now he became a man receiving mercy from others. Moreover, even in that situation, he did not forget to share what he received with other people in much more need. The life of Ukon is surrendering everything to God and that is the life of martyrs.<br />
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As you have noticed, Ukon was not executed such as our 53 blessed martyrs of Yonezawa who were executed by the local government at that time. Ukon died of tropical disease in exile. Holy Father, however, recognized Ukon as a martyr. This decision teaches us that martyrdom does not exclusively mean the fact that someone was killed because of the faith.<br />
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Ukon for his part sacrificed everything of his possessions, fame, honor and title for the sake of maintaining his faith. He even accepted these fact in joy of faith and became a witness of God to others through his words and deeds. That is the life of martyrs. That is why he is a martyr and his life teaches us the modern meaning of martyrdom.<br />
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"There is not a thing to be altered in the matter of God." What would be the meaning of such resolution of Ukon for us today. We often make compromised choices mostly affected by relationships with others in order to avoid complications in our lives so that we may be able to survive through modern world saying these choices are down-to-earth or based on the realistic judgement. In these circumstances, we often make compromise with our faith as we give priority to "realistic choices". Ukon's resolution in faith is telling us who live in this complicated realities that there are other choices to make. Ukon is the modern witness of choosing dignified way of life.<br />
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Be that as it may, it is not easy for most of us to choose such strict and unforgiving way of life as Ukon. Human weaknesses invite us to choose the way of compromise.<br />
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That is why Prophet Joel reaches us with his tender words.<br />
<span style="background-color: #e0e0e0; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial"; font-size: 19.5px; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #e0e0e0; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial"; font-size: 19.5px; line-height: 28px;"><i>"Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity"</i></span><br />
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Our heart will be in peace as we remember that we are wrapped around by mercy of the Lord.<br />
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As we are celebrating the Jubilee of Mercy, Holy Father, in his Lenten message, invites us as follows.<br />
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<i>"In the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I asked that “the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” </i>(<i><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/papa-francesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html">Misericordiae Vultus</a></i>, 17).<br />
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Then Holy Father teaches is how we should spend the season of Lent.<br />
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<i>"For all of us, then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favourable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practising the works of mercy. In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited; in the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated". </i><br />
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On Ash Wednesday during the Mass, we receive ashes on our forehead. While receiving ashes, let us try to feel our smallness as compare to greatness of God. Let us try to feel the necessity to humble ourselves in front of our Creator. We are weak and always in need of help of God which is Divine Mercy and God is always with us and always ready to enfold us with his mercy. But we should not be a person of simply receiving gifts but be a person of sharing. That is why we need to share mercy of God to others through our "corporal and spiritual works of mercy" and that is also evangelization. So what can we do during this lent season in our society?<br />
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At the same time, as I have mentioned, it is not a easy task to be like Ukon Takayama who lived the life of martyrs in great joy and maintained his resolution which was "there is not a thing to be altered in the matter of God." Our faith, in many cases, are not solid like Ukon's faith but rather indecisive、easy to give way to temptations. We are weak being. However, though we are weak, God never forsake us. We are in his hand of mercy.<br />
<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-44692365346586647022016-02-20T20:03:00.004+09:002016-02-20T20:05:28.187+09:00Caritas China Social Pastoral Conference @ Manila<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Caritas Internatinonalis together with Caritas Asia has organized the 3rd China Social Pastoral Conference in Manila from 1 to 3 February which was attended by more than 30 participants including number of them representing 5 Catholic charitable organisations from mainland China.<br />
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Very first such conference was organised in Taiwan 3 years ago and the second one was in Macau. As for this time, President of the Caritas Internationalis, Cardinal Tagle had a chance to give a talk to the participants as we gathered at his city, Manila.<br />
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Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of Caritas national organisations all over the world. Though there are numerous number of diocesan caritas organisations in many countries, it is only the national organisation which received recognition from a bishops' conference are allowed to join the confederation. In mainland China, Caritas Hong Kong and Caritas Macau have been members of the confederation before they were returned to China. Then the current "bishops' conference" in mainland China has not been recognized by the Holy See with reasons you know well and I do not have to mention it. That means there is no national Caritas to join the confederation at this moment. But that does not mean that charitable activities of Catholic Church in China should be isolated from rest of Catholic world since we are acting based on the same faith.<br />
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There are number of diocesan charitable organisations existing in China which operates according to Catholic social teachings sharing the same faith. That is why we have been organising such forum for sometime to invite them to share the current trend in Caritas activities and also share information for further cooperation and support.<br />
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The past few years, China has been suffering massive scale of natural disasters. As a member of the common home, China is not exempted from the effects of climate change. The territory of China is vast and population is huge. A diocesan charitable organisation has limit in resources and experiences. Caritas Internationalis, without any political intention, is willing to work together with these diocesan charitable organisations in China who faces so many challenges when such disaster hits the area. Therefore, Caritas will continue to organize China Social Pastoral Conference to exchange ideas and information, and to search common grounds of charitable action as the same Catholic Church organisations.Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-53022351691725364072016-01-16T19:44:00.000+09:002016-01-16T19:44:00.228+09:00New Year's Pastoral Letter@Catholic Diocese of Niigata<h2>
<b>"We, the Church, are witnesses of Mercy"</b></h2>
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<i>"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:36)</i><br />
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My Dear Sisters and Brothers of Niigata Diocese,<br />
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I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.<br />
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<h3>
Jubilee of Mercy</h3>
Pope Francis has decided to launch a year long Jubilee of Mercy from last December 8 to this November 20. In his official Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, "Misericordiae Vultus” or “The Face of Mercy," he writes that <i>"the Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person." (12) </i> Then he continues to write that<i> "wherever the Church is present, the mercy of the Father must be evident." (12) </i>Therefore, we all are invited to join and take part in this Jubilee of Mercy.<br />
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Since his election in March, 2013, Pope Francis has been emphasizing importance of Divine Mercy saying that everyone, without any exception, is enveloped by Mercy of God. Holy Father encourages us to take concrete action saying <i>"let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ." (Evangelii Gaudium 49)</i> Then he writes in the Evangelii Gaudium that <i>"Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person, identifies especially with the little ones (cf. Mt 25:40). This reminds us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth." (209) </i>Based on this call, Holy Father invites all of us to pay attention to <i>"the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned, and many others." (210)</i><br />
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As we know, Holy Father invited each parishes to accept at least one family of refugees as Syrian refugee crisis deepened last year and he himself took concrete action of accepting a family in Vatican to show that he cares.<br />
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Pope Francis invites all of us to be witnesses of Gospel message which is mercy and forgiveness saying that <i>"mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy." (Bull, 10)</i><br />
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What kind of reality are we living in nowadays? We easily make judgements over words and deeds of others and criticism or accusations are commonly heard of. We have lost tolerance in our relationships and overwhelmed by distrustfulness. Don't you think that we find number of "heart warming stories" in TV shows or Internet sites? It must be that exit of tolerance from the real world forced us to look for it in somewhere as our instinct commands that we need it. If there is no tolerance in our society, then there would be no respect for human dignity. It is because selfish judgements would be given priority. Pope Francis often talk about realization of the society in which no one is excluded. <i>"Globalization of indifference" </i>is the term Holy Father uses to warn all of us to change our selfish minds. This warning is not only for individual level but also for relationships among nations.<br />
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In this Jubilee year, I would invite all of you to be witnesses of mercy and forgiveness of God in the midst of our society. Let us try to be witnesses of love and forgiveness of God through our words and deeds. And let us try to form our parish communities to be the place where people or any visitors could feel mercy and forgiveness.<br />
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As it has been announced, I have designated following 4 churches as the Jubilee Church with Holy Door of Mercy, namely, Niigata Cathedral, Takada, Yamagata and Akita. Also a year-long relay of prayers throughout the diocese has already started from Niigata Cathedral community. Holy Father is calling us to make this coming Lenten season special and spend it with much more attention while inviting us to organize and celebrate the “24 Hours for the Lord” on March 4-5, prior to the Fourth Sunday of Lent. While taking into consideration of local situations, I would like to ask each parishes to organize special events such as confession services or Eucharistic adoration.<br />
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On 14 February, the First Sunday of Lent, I will preside over the rite of election for the Catechumens in the Cathedral. The rite is meant for all catechumens in the diocese who are to be baptized this coming Easter, however because of distance, I am inviting catechumens from nearby parishes alone. Presence of Catechumens from other parishes remind the Cathedral community and Catechumens themselves that we are all part of one large community, the diocese, which, in turn, a part of universal Church which is one body of Christ.<br />
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On 14 and 15 September, there will be the Marian Day of Akita in Seitai Hoshikai in connection with the Jubilee of Mercy. While praying with Holy Mother, it will be special time to meditate Mercy of God through Mary, Mother of God. I invite you to join the day with me.<br />
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<h3>
Introducing Chaplaincy to our Catholic Institutions in the Diocese</h3>
As is the case with other dioceses in Japan, there are number of Catholic Institutions in Niigata diocese. What I mean by the Catholic Institutions is that kindergartens, nursery, high-schools, junior colleges, child welfare facilities, home for aged and other social welfare facilities which claim "Catholic" as their identity. In days past, these Catholic Institutions were headed by religious or priests. There were number of religious or priests involved in as their workers, too. In recent years, however, as Japanese society itself is heading into the aged society with few kids, Catholic Church in Japan has been suffering from decline of vocation with very few young priests and religious. That is the reason why, in our diocese, we have number of Catholic Institutions without any priests or religious as their head or, even, there are number of them without any priests or religious involved. I am sure this trend would continue for sometime. For example in Niigata prefecture, if I want to keep priests as the head of Catholic kindergartens, then I have to appoint a priest to more than one kindergarten as their head. And we are already facing limit of these double appointments of priests and have to appoint lay teachers as their heads.<br />
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In the light of this situation, the most important issue is how to maintain Catholic identity of our Catholic institutions. Therefore, in order to maintain Catholic identity of our Catholic institutions, I have decided to ask all these institutions to introduce the Chaplaincy system. If there are priests or religious being appointed as their head already, then they could be appointed as their chaplain. If their heads were not priests nor religious, then I have asked them to make a contract with priests or religious of their choices as their chaplain. Of course, one priest could work for several institutions as chaplain. These chaplains appointed outside from the institutions should not be involved in the administration but should be adviser on religious matters or conducting religious activities.<br />
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I hope through introduction of this chaplaincy, our Catholic institutions may be able to maintain their Catholic identity and deepen it further. The system will be introduced from 1st April.<br />
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<h3>
Vocation for priests and religious</h3>
First and most, I would like to thank all of you in the diocese for your continuous prayer for priests and religious vocation. We did not have any seminarians for the diocese since Father Sakamoto had been ordained in 2009. However, by God's grace, Mr. Shuta Oka from Hyogo prefecture has decided to be a priest for the diocese and will begin his formation in the National Seminary from April. Mr. Oka has been a temporary professed member of Benedictine order till last spring in the monastery at Fujimi, Nagano. It may take at least 6 years to complete the formation program so that kindly remember Mr. Oka in your prayer and also kindly continue to pray for the vocation.<br />
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To conclude this pastoral letter, I just want to mention number of points. First of all, about the rehabilitation activities in Tohoku area after 5 years of the disaster. Reconstruction and rehabilitation activities are progressing, though very slowly, but it may take more time to complete. Catholic Church in Japan has been mobilizing entire resources of our communities to support the area through Sendai diocese with assistance from Caritas Japan and will continue to do so till 2021, ten years after the disaster. As we will enter the sixth year of our support activities soon, let us reconsider what we can and should do as their neighboring diocese and let us put the idea into action. As time passes, we should not forget the people in the disaster hit area and resolve again to walk with them.<br />
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Then there will be the World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, this summer. It will be held from 23 July to 3 or 5 August and the official pilgrimage group from Japan will be organized. I have appointed Fr. Katsuo Matsumoto, SVD of Akita as one of accompanying priests to the group. Youth living in Japan, regardless of their nationalities, aged from 18 to 35 are eligible to join the group. Application is open till the end of April. Any youth to join the group? It will cost around 300 thousand Yen to join the pilgrimage, though, there would be possibilities to send someone from our parishes if the community is willing to support him or her financially.<br />
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Finally, I make my pastoral visit for Niigata, Shibata and Nagaoka districts in even year and for Akita and Yamagata districts in odd year. Therefore, in 2016, I will make pastoral visits for Niigata, Shibata and Nagaoka districts. Usually I leave it to parish priests to propose date of such pastoral visits so that the date will not conflict with either parish schedules or my schedule.<br />
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May God bless you all in Niigata Diocese. May God of mercy and love guide you and protect you through out this new year, 2016.<br />
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1st January, 2016<br />
Bishop Isao Kikuchi, SVD<br />
Bishop of Niigata<br />
<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-29640768466346092532016-01-01T14:28:00.002+09:002016-01-01T14:28:34.165+09:00Happy New Year !Happy New Year. May God bless you all throughout the year 2016.<br />
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Bishop Isao Kikuchi, SVD<br />
Catholic Diocese of Niigata, Japan<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-72594978319509983062015-12-28T21:40:00.004+09:002015-12-28T21:40:47.657+09:00The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Homily of the midnight Mass on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord at Niigata Cathedral.<br />
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My dear brothers and sisters,<br />
Merry Christmas.<br />
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Year after year, We gather together in this Cathedral in the evening of 24 December to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. Yes, we also gather again during the daytime on 25th to celebrate the Christmas, however, the most important moment for the celebration of Christmas is in this evening celebration. We all know that nowadays majority of people in Japan celebrates Christmas even among non-Christians in the evening on 24th and that is really fitting for the celebration even though they do not realize the real meaning of it. Let me explain it.<br />
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As we see from the Gospel reading this evening, the birth of Jesus took place during the night. It said that <i>"there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock"</i> However, repeating what is written in the Gospel is not the reason of what I am talking about.<br />
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The Gospel continues as follows; <i>"the angel of the Lord appeared to them</i><br />
<i>and the glory of the Lord shone around them."</i> So it was light. It was bright light shinning in the darkness. It was the bright light which struck shepherds with great fear.<br />
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In the first reading, prophet Isiah wrote <i>"the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone"</i><br />
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Who are these "people who walk in darkness" or "who dwell in the land of gloom"?<br />
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Few months after the massive earthquake and tsunami which hit Tohoku in 2011, I visited the disaster hit area. Toward evening, as there were no electricity in the area, darkness prevailed. There were no house lights nor street lights. Only darkness prevailed. While standing in the midst of this darkness, I started feel uneasiness, anxiety or even fear. I was sure that darkness produced negative energy for those evacuated in the shelters, negative energy which easily destroy people's hope for the future. Negative effects of darkness were what I felt physically that night.<br />
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What kind of reality are we living in today? Fear for terrorism. No one knows what will happen next and where that might take place. Uneasiness, anxiety and fear prevail in this world today. In Japan, we are not able to expect bright future with economic development anymore. The reality of fewer kids and aging society makes us wonder about our future. Uneasiness, anxiety and fear prevail. On an global scale, climate change has been affecting so many people severely especially in so-called under-developed countries but also us in the so-called developed countries and no one knows clear future of our common house, the earth. Uneasiness, anxiety and fear prevail. We are, therefore, the "people who walk in darkness", aren't we? We are, therefore, the people "who dwell in the land of gloom", aren't we? Many of us are increasingly dominated by uneasiness, anxiety and fear caused by inability to see clear future because we are in deep darkness.<br />
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Some months after the first visit to the disaster hit area, I again made another visit to the same town for Caritas meeting. We met in a former hotel building which survived the tsunami and had been used as Caritas Volunteer center. As we finished the meeting, I got out of the building only to be amazed by the sight. The building was a shining tower in the midst of deep darkness. Electricity was provided by a generator in the building and the town did not have electricity yet.<br />
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If it were in ordinary town, the light of this tinny hotel was nothing more than one of many lights in the town. Or even, no one would have noticed that there were lights in this building. Just a part of ordinary scenery of the town in the night. However, because of prevailing deep darkness, such ordinary and small light was shining through like the beacon of bright hope, defeating all the uneasiness, anxiety and fear of the people. The small light of the building became the source of hope for many.<br />
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Jesus was born as small baby. Hope for whole humankind was just a small light in darkness. That is the reason why the Church celebrate Christmas in darkness in the night. That is the reason why we, just before we started the Mass, had small candle for each one of us in the darkness of this chapel so that we may feel brightness of such a small candle lights. Even small lights can shine through to brighten people's heart in deep darkness. What we need is this small light of hope in all our hearts to overcome darkness of uneasiness, anxiety and fear.<br />
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We are in the Jubilee Year of Mercy now. People living in darkness with uneasiness, anxiety and fear are tend to live in mutual distrust. How can people trust each other while they are not sure about tomorrow's fate? I feel that the mutual distrust may results judgmental tendency among us. Good or bad? Friend or foe? Yes or No? As we are pressed to make judgment in order to be relieved from anxiety and fear, we tend to jump to conclusion. That is the reason why we tend to be judgmental and easily label others that they are good or bad. Generosity, tolerance and joy have no space to survive in such a society. Mercy is forgotten.<br />
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We find, these days, in internet and TV shows the heartwarming stories quite often. Why do we love to know these heartwarming stories? Why people love to watch such TV shows? Because, in reality, heartwarming experiences are missing. In the judgmental society, generosity, tolerance and joy disappear and we are hungry for story of love and mercy. Today's world needs mercy of God much more than before to escape from captivity of darkness.<br />
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For all of us living in the darkness of uneasiness, anxiety and fear, light has been given. The light is Jesus, the new born baby, who is mercy of God, who is love of God. Mercy and love of God is what we need to light our small candle, candle which brings generosity, tolerance and joy to the world. <br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-39445703997234707422015-12-24T23:01:00.001+09:002015-12-24T23:01:06.330+09:00Merry Christmas!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-9471340993724144922015-12-14T23:10:00.000+09:002015-12-14T23:10:30.771+09:00Opening of the Door of Mercy at the Niigata Cathedral<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The extraordinary jubilee year of Mercy has started on 8 December and will conclude on 20 November, 2016. In Niigata Cathedral, beginning of the Jubilee Year was celebrated with Holy Eucharist with number of priests and faithful attended at 11 am on 8 December. Before the Jubilee was announced, diocese had planned a day of Advent recollection for priests on 7 December. Since number of priests who are usually scattered around the diocese were gathering together for the recollection, we decided to organize opening Mass on 8 Dec. so that faithful might feel unity of the Church by being with several priests and bishop for this special occasion. 18 Priests and more than 60 people joined the Mass.<br />
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Then on 13 December, Sunday, Mass for opening of the Door of Mercy was celebrated at the Cathedral with more than 120 people. (Photos) I presided the Mass joined by Fr.Ngaji, SVD, assistant parish priest and Fr.Itagaki from Sendai diocese who was with us as a retreat preacher for the parish advent recollection.<br />
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We started the Mass from the Parish Hall and made procession to the main gate of the Cathedral which is designated as the Door of Mercy. There are all together 4 Door of Mercy in the diocese, namely Cathedral, Takada parish, Yamagata parish and Akita parish. You are invited during this jubilee year to make a pilgrimage to one of these Door of Mercy in the diocese, enter to the church through the door, go to confession, attend the Mass, receive communion and pray for the intention of Holy Father with special prayer of the jubilee composed by Holy Father himself in order to receive indulgence.<br />
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Mercy is needed in today's world more than before where people are living in darkness created by mistrust among each other. Darkness prevails particularly at the time when world security has been challenged by terror or threat of terrorism which, in many cases, produce invisible accumulation of fear. When we don't trust each other then we begin to judge each other. What a judgemental society we are living today. At home in Japan, we have to look around ourselves. Are we not talking about military threat from our neighboring countries as everyday talk? In the country where the phrase "War on Terror" has become so familiar with daily life,such as so in Japan today, it is quite difficult to talk with reason that the retaliation with force only promotes vicious circle of violence. People overtaken by fear have no ear to listen to such admonition. Feeling of mistrust and intolerance prevails in darkness today.<br />
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Meanwhile we have to think about what is the main force pushing this country, Japan, to maneuver through global village in modern days. Economy gain? Military ambition? Where is our moral principle? Country which has so-called Peace Constitution should have the leading voice with moral principle to persuade people to come out from darkness of mistrust to create real peace in this world.<br />
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But what is the reality? Are we not choosing the way to go deeper into darkness? We need to feel Mercy of God. We need to feel that God unconditionally encompass all of us, no exception, with his Mercy because he loves all of us. Church is, through this jubilee year, trying to be a beacon of hope shinning in this darkness to invite people to be filled by God's Mercy and love. Here in the Church, everyone should find consolation and joy of forgiveness so that we may be able to console each other and share our joy to escape from the darkness of mistrust. "As the Father loves, so do his children. Just as he is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.(Misericordiae Vultus 9)"<br />
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Holy Father also invites all of us to be witness of Mercy of God as he wrote; "the Church’s first truth is the love of Christ. The Church makes herself a servant of this love and mediates it to all people: a love that forgives and expresses itself in the gift of oneself. Consequently, wherever the Church is present, the mercy of the Father must be evident. In our parishes, communities, associations and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an oasis of mercy.(Misericordiae Vultus 12)"<br />
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So throughout the Jubilee year, we have to try to be witness of Mercy of God through our own words and deeds and also action of our parishes and groups. Then what can we do in this diocese? This is quite a challenge for all of us in this diocese where no particular crisis are happening as such. If we are directly involved in natural disasters or war or refugee crisis or starvation or draught, etc, it would be clear for all of us that what action we should take. But these are, fortunately, not in our case. Then we have to seriously think how we could be witness of Mercy of God or "an oasis of mercy" in this situation? Perhaps, we should better broaden our perspective a bit more. Holy Father wrote as follows; "in this Holy Year, we look forward to the experience of opening our hearts to those living on the outermost fringes of society: fringes which modern society itself creates. How many uncertain and painful situations there are in the world today! (Miseridordiae Vultus 15)" Yes, the today's world is waiting for our action.<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-62837379418494980812015-11-20T17:52:00.001+09:002015-11-20T17:56:12.680+09:00Have courage to stop vicious circle of violence !It is so sad to witness again and again such brutal ends of so many innocent lives such as what happened in Paris recently. As we, Catholics, believe that human life is the most precious gift from God, we do not agree with any justification on the cause of such violent attacks over human life. <br />
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As Holy Father said, "there is no religious or human justification for it. This is not human" Well, retaliation by violence against violence may produce a kind of solution. However this solution would be only for short term or temporary. Of course, in order to execute huge violence such as the recent Paris terrorist attacks, financial resources, organisational structure and man-power are indispensable. Therefore as long as retaliation by force could minimise such resources, then violence attacks might be ceased. But that would be a kind of supportive measures and could not touch the real cause of violence. Real cause of such brutal violence exists in our hearts, in our emotions. Armed power cannot control emotional hatred rooted deep in our hearts.<br />
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I hope this sad incident in Paris would not increase our hatred against specific group of people, or not make general public to vow to retaliate with violence, but to make people realise that taking away human life in any case with any reason is against will of our God , creator of all who granted us with this precious gift of human life.<br />
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During the Justice and Peace National Convention in Tokyo in September, I had an opportunity to share my thoughts on Peace together with Bishop Katsuya of Sapporo who is in charge of the commission for Justice and Peace. During the talk, I mentioned that the Integral Human Development is the key for establishing real Peace, and thus Caritas activities is, in fact, action for Peace. Of course I mean Peace in a meaning specified in the VatII's Gaudium st Spes as follows. <br />
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"Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice. Peace results from that order structured into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after ever greater justice" (78)<br />
(Photo below: During the national convention of Justice and Peace in Tokyo Cathedral in September. From right to left, Bp.Katsuya, Bp.Matsuura and myself)<br />
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In order to realise the "order structured into human society by its divine Founder", Pope John XXIII pointed out that number of basic human rights have to be respected and realised in the society. (Pacem in Terris) And that is the base of my point that integral human development is the must for real peace. Meaning of integral human development here is not restricted to common meaning or usage in development as such. Pope John Paul II once wrote in the Centesimus Annus" 29 as follows.<br />
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"Development must not be understood solely in economic terms, but in a way that is fully human. It is not only a question of raising all peoples to the level currently enjoyed by the richest countries, but rather of building up a more decent life through united labour, of concretely enhancing every individual's dignity and creativity, as well as his capacity to respond to his personal vocation, and thus to God's call."<br />
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I hope we have courage to face reality to stop these vicious circle of violence not by violent retaliation but by real process of creating Peace through integral human development. Unfortunately recent political initiatives by ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan for shifting the national security policy from passive defence to more active defense, which the prime minister named as proactive contiribution for peace, may not actually contribute to stop these vicous circle of violence.<br />
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<br />Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519710178821359200.post-7875699402518316032015-08-09T23:40:00.002+09:002015-08-09T23:40:16.829+09:00Memorial day service in Hiroshima, 6 August<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Almost all the Japanese Catholic Bishops and all the Japanese Anglican Bishops prayed together on the eve of the day of bombing of Hiroshima at the Catholic Cathedral of Hiroshima. It was the first time for both Catholic and Anglican bishops organised such prayer service to pray for the World Peace, Peace without nuclear weapons. Around 5 pm on 5 August, all the Bishops joined group of laity of both congregations, mainly youths, in front of the memorial tower in the Peace park. From there, all marched to the Catholic Cathedral for 40 minutes singing Japanese Christian song, "Amen, Hallelujah"<br />
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At 7 pm, ecumenical prayer service started with all the Bishops together with representatives from the World Council of Churches led by its vice moderator, Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of Methodist Church. Also present with us were 3 Tibetan Buddhist monks who, during the service, prayed for Peace with words by Dalai Lama XIV, "Words of Truth". Peace message was delivered by Bishop Swenson. Bishop Oscar Cantu, the chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of United States Bishops, and Bishop Mario Iceta, Bishop of Bilbao, Spain also joined the prayer together with Archbishop Chennoth, Apostolic Nuncio. The Cathedral was full of people to pray for peace and it was quite significant occasion to see people from different denominations were united in just one cause, to establish real peace in this world.<br />
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Next morning Requiem Mass was said by Catholic Bishops presided by Archbishop Maeda of Osaka, previous bishop of Hiroshima till last year. (At this moment the see of Hiroshima is vacant.) Mass began at 8:15 am on 6 August, exact time of bombing, with ringing of bells of the Cathedral to join other bells of temples in the city.<br />
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70 years has passed since humanity saw such a great scale of man-made catastrophe Only with one single bomb, a city with four hundred thousand people was destroyed and more than ninety thousand lives vanished at once. Because of radiation related diseases more than one hundred and forty thousand people died before the end of that year.<br />
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No one actually knows why the US government decided to use two atomic bombs over Japan at the end of the WWII. Yes, it is widely believed that these two bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki expedited Japanese government to decide to surrender so that many lives of soldiers were saved. Maybe so. It is also said that as Japan was already losing most of its military capability at that moment in August, 1945, and its surrender was just a matter of time, two bombs were used to establish military superiority over Soviet Union in consideration of the new world order after the WWII.<br />
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I have no idea why they were used at that moment but what I know is so many lives were taken away so violently and inhumanly and so many people are still in agony, both physically and psychologically, and so many sad stories of each individuals, not only in Japan but also in other countries, were created. Justice was done? I do not know and I am not at the position to judge the history. I say the same as St.Pope John Paul II said in Hiroshima in 1981, "War is the work of man. War is destruction of human life. War is death."<br />
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What we learned from our recent experience during March 11, 2011 disaster in Tohoku is that human wisdom has clear limitations. Through our experiences of the disaster of earthquake and Tsunami, including aftermath of the accidents of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant for which uncertainty still prevails after more than 4 years, we found out that we had been made to believe with false sense of confidence in our own human abilities and human wisdom. We thought science is almost almighty to solve any problem in this world. It was just a dream.<br />
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Also many of us found out we had lost sense of transcendent or sense of God who is far bigger than human being. This would be the result of terrible secularization in Japanese society. We thought that human being are able to control everything in this world with our technology and in such situation, God was no more needed.<br />
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"Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall (Proverb 16:18)." This disaster has been giving us warning that each one of us have to be humble enough to examine our life style and change our attitude from self pride to humility and obedience in front of power of God. And more over, we should know that we have limitations and science is not almighty.<br />
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I believe that nuclear technology, for both military and peaceful use, is still not under control of human knowledge. As for military purpose, no one knows what will happen if all the existing nuclear arms were really put in use. No one knows because it is almost impossible to imagine the end of human existence. But knowing the capability of extinction of ourselves by nuclear arms, those who have them plenty can not take initiative to abolish them because of fear against the other side. And still some others are trying to possess them in the name of preventive measures and self defense. Alas, what Pope St.John XXIIII wrote in the "Pacem in Terris" in 1963 are not taken seriously yet. Can't we stop these? Can't we stop thinking about existence of own countries alone but to make paradigm shift to think globally? We can not maintain our lives without support from others.. As in the Book of Genesis, 2:18, the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” We are created to be a helper for others so without supporting each other, we lose our very reason to exist.<br />
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As for peaceful use of nuclear energy, it is complicated matter. You might think what has been happening in Japan and Fukushima in particular is quite peculiar to the earthquake prone country. I do agree that nuclear energy is clean energy and might be useful to contribute to fight against environmental degradation. But at least this technology produces nuclear waste and human knowledge at this moment has no solution to manage them other than keeping them safe, probably under ground, for quite long period of time. We are surely leaving these nuclear waste for next several generations hoping that they may find better solution. I think this has a bit of unethical implication, at least for my faith.<br />
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Are we, human race in early 21 century, really ready to responsibly utilize nuclear energy or are we trying to close our eyes not to see our limitation?<br />
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Abp.Isao Kikuchi,SVDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066817657617591422noreply@blogger.com0