Assumption of Mary at Niigata Cathedral

On 15 August, Monday at 10 am, a feast day of Assumption of Mary was celebrated with Holy Eucharist in Niigata Cathedral which was followed by a BBQ party under very hot sun.  People has to celebrate shinning sun of hot summer in this area where they have to endure long and cold winter.  As I have mentioned below, 15 August is also the final day for the 10 days for Peace as the memorial day of the Pacific War (WWII) in Japan.  The Mass and the BBQ party were joined by our English Mass community in Niigata also (Photo above with some of the members of English Mass community.  I am wearing a T shirt from Kenya since it was much hotter than Nairobi)  Following is an excerpt of my homily during the Mass.

"Let us be aware that love and sharing are not faraway ideals but the road to enduring peace; the peace of God"  (From the Peace message of JPII in Hiroshima, 1981)

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Catholic Church in Japan has designated 10 days between Hiroshima memorial day to the last day of the WWII through the memorial day of Nagasaki as 10 days of prayer for Peace.  This practice had started after the visitation of the late Pope John Paul II to Japan in 1981.  Holy Father visited Japan as a pilgrim of peace and left with powerful message for world peace in Hiroshima.  In the message Holy Father repeated several times that "To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future."  Inspired by his message, Bishops of Japan decided to start the 10 days of prayer for peace every summer to "remember the past" and commit ourselves again and again "to the future".

I am mentioning this because this year, 2011, supposed to be the 30th anniversary of the visit by Holy Father and also of the Hiroshima Peace Message.  At the beginning of this year, the Social Concern Committee of the Japanese Bishops Conference was planning to organize the 10 days of prayer for peace this year as one to commemorate the Hiroshima Peace Message and awaken ideals for world peace among people in Japan.

There came the 11 March.  Massive earthquake hit Tohoku area and Tsunami took so many people's lives at once.  Since then, entire Japanese society was overtaken by the aftermath of the disaster and talking about world peace does not make any impact over people's mind any more.  So we shelved the plan to organize the special activities to commemorate the 30th anniversary.

By the time when we started this year's 10 days, I went through the message of Holy Father again and found this passage.

"Your young hearts have an extraordinary capacity for goodness and love; put them at the service of your fellow human beings."

This is it, I thought.  Since the day one of the disaster, so many people from all over Japan and outside Japan have been rushing to Tohoku area as volunteers to help victims.  Catholic Church, too, opened a Sendai Support Center to organise and send volunteers to coastal parishes to help local victims.

What we are witnessing every day is exactly the realization of this word of Holy Father;
"Your young hearts have an extraordinary capacity for goodness and love; put them at the service of your fellow human beings."

In the same message Holy Father said that "let us be aware that love and sharing are not faraway ideals but the road to enduring peace, the peace of God."
This disaster is giving us chance to reconsider the real meaning of Peace, peace of God.  Peace is not just that there are no war or no conflict.  But the real peace situation is the realization of the world as God desires it should be.  The world have to be in the order of God.

The perfect world is also described in the Magnificat.  We have to be humble in front of power of God.  We have to support each other.  We should overcome any kind of discrimination.  Love and sharing are the road to enduring peace, the peace of God.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki; The 10 days for Peace

Inspired by the peace message delivered by Blessed John Paul II in Hiroshima in 1981, Catholic Church in Japan has designated 10 days between Hiroshima memorial day which is 6 August to the memorial day of the end of WWII which is 15 August as special period of prayer for peace.  This period also includes the memorial day of Nagasaki which is 9 August.  The day when an atomic bomb blasted over 350 thousand people in Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945, it was a very hot and shiny day.  More than 140 thousand people lost their lives by single bomb blast.  Every year on 6 August, public memorial service has been held in the peace memorial in front of the remaining building which is now called the atomic bomb dome (photo).  Catholic diocese of Hiroshima also organises its own peace memorial service during this period.  Nagasaki archdiocese is also preparing their own peace memorial service on and around 9 August.

The president of Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan, Archbishop Jun Ikenaga, SJ, Archbishop of Osaka, has issued his message for this year's 10 days for Peace.  You may read his message in English.  Click and follow the link.

In Niigata diocese, the Justice and Peace commission headed by Fr. Tsutomu Sato has already organised a study session on human rights on 31 July in Niigata Cathedral for this year's Peace Memorial activity in Niigata.  I will also preside over the Mass on 15 August in the Cathedral and will pray for the World Peace.  Mass will begin at 10 am on 15 August in Niigata Cathedral and followed by BBQ party.  You are welcome to join us.

Today, 7 August, I have been  to Takada parish for confirmation.  14 people received the sacrament.  Among them 11 were young boys and girls in junior high schools.  The parish priest, Fr. Mario Canducci, OFM, has been on sick leave for sometime and been staying in Tokyo OFM house in Seta.  However, he was given permission by his doctor to return to his parish for a month before he leaves for his home leave and, therefore, celebrated the confirmation Mass with us today. (Photo: Fr. Mario is my right side)  It was good to see his smiling face.  Because of his absence, parish council president asked the congregation to take responsibility to guide those 14 members preparing for the sacrament.  Then one lady volunteered to teach catechism to them.  Wonderful collaboration by the congregation.

I am leaving for Bangkok this evening for 2 days for a meeting of Caritas Asia.  I will return on Wednesday.

Pilgrimage to Mexico

On the occasion of the silver jubilee of priestly ordination of both Bishop Tani of Saitama and myself, we thought it fitting to organise a pilgrimage to give thanks in prayer.  Both of us were ordained priest in 1986.  So we decided to visit Mexico and Cuba.  Of course our main purpose was to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico city.  The pilgrimage which was joined by 16 other people lasted for 10 days from 13 July.

As we were planning the pilgrimage, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit a part of Japan and both of us have been involved with rescue and rehabilitation operation since then.  So we were wondering whether we should cancel the trip or we should go ahead.  I thought it better to go there to visit the shrine and pray for the eternal rest for all the victims and also for quick recovery of people in the disaster hit area.  So we did.

The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe was huge area with 3 wonderful church buildings.  The smallest one is located on  top of a hill where the Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 9 December, 1531.  St. Diego was canonized by Blessed John Paul II in 2002 in this shrine while Holy Father was in his 5th visit to Mexico.  At the foot of the hill, a massive basilica was built with stones but had been inclined to one side because of  poor land quality.  Then a new modern basilica was built next to the old basilica.  In this new Basilica, one could see a cope of St. Juan Diego over the main alter in which a beautiful image of Our Lady is still clearly seen.  We were allowed to say Mass in a small chapel on the second floor where we could see the image just in front of us.  Thank God that we were given this wonderful time to pray in front of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"All Japan" Catholics to support Sendai diocese

Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan (CBCJ) had decided to mobilize entire dioceses in Japan to support disaster stricken Sendai and Saitama diocese for their rehabilitation efforts by sending volunteers and donations.  Bishops also decided to respond to the request by Bishop Hiraga of Sendai to assign 6 priests to assist pastoral care of the Sendai diocese which had been suffering from shortage of priests for sometime.

CBCJ had establish a team to coordinate this effort to support Sendai and Saitama and appointed me to be in charge of the operation since I am also a president of Caritas Japan.  Bishops had assigned Fr. Kanda of Osaka as my assistant and Mr. Hamaguchi of Osaka as the secretary.  Since the end of March, the team has been coordinating rescue efforts of all the diocese through e-mail's mailing list system.

On 11 July, exactly 4 months after the earthquake, a very first meeting of the "All Japan" team of Catholic Dioceses was held in Sendai Cathedral beginning with memorial Mass said by Bishop Hiraga.  40 people from all the 16 dioceses in Japan gathered together for a meeting in the afternoon.  Since this was the first time and we were in short of time, we just managed to share our own experience of past 4 months and also to listen to the story and plea of Sendai diocese.  Now we know each other well and decided to continue to put our effort together to support Sendai and Saitama dioceses.

After the meeting, participants were divided to 3 groups to visit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima respectively for a over night trip to know the reality of the disaster area.

The photo above is our meeting on Monday which was held in a small chapel of the Cathedral.  There was no other space to accommodate 40 people for a meeting.  You may wonder why there were no such spaces in Diocesan center.  It is because most of such big spaces of the center have been dedicated to use for the Sendai Diocese Support Center to facilitate and coordinate rehabilitation and reconstruction activities of the diocese.

As I am joining Bishop Tani's group to visit Mexico from tomorrow, next posting of this blog will be on or after 23 July.

By the way, Holy Father has just appointed Fr.Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, as an archbishop of LUXEMBOURG.  Why am I writing about the appointment of bishop in Europe?  Because Fr. Hollerich is currently working in Japan.  He is a German professor in Sophia University in Tokyo.  Congratulations, Bishop-elect Hollerich!

Bishop Hamaguchi ordained for OITA diocese

Entire faithful, priests and religious of OITA diocese in Kyushu have been waiting for the appointment of their new pastor for more than 3 years since their last pastor, Bishop Miyahara had been transfered to Fukuoka diocese in March, 2008.  Finally, their new pastor, Bishop Paul Sueo HAMAGUCHI has been ordained and installed on 26 June, the feast of Corpus Christi in Japan.

Ordination Mass was held in a convention center in Beppu, a famous Spa resort city near Oita where the cathedral is located. Since the Cathedral of Oita is too small to accommodate more than 1,500 people gathered together to join the celebration, organising committee had decided to hire the huge convention hall for the ceremony.  Almost all the active Bishops in Japan, including outgoing Nuncio and several retired bishops, including former Bishop of Oita and presently a rector of the International Seminary of Neo Catechumanate for Japan which is located in Rome, Bishop Hirayama join the Mass which was presided over by Archbishop TAKAMI of Nagasaki.  Bishop MIyahara of Fukuoka and Bishop Koriyama of Kagoshima, all of them from Nagasaki province, were the co-consecrating Bishops with Archbishop Takami.

Bishop Hamaguchi, 62, is originally from Nagasaki and was a rector of minor seminary in Nagasaki diocese before.  He  was seconded to Takamatsu diocese for sometime to support Bishop Mizobe, SDB, upon his request to send experienced priests to support pastoral care of Takamatsu diocese after the difficulties faced by Bishop of Takamatsu connected to the incident of Neo Catechumanate seminary.  His motto is "Proclaim Good News to all creatures."  Though the OPita diocese is small with around 5,000 Catholics, newly appointed bishop is determined to work together with people to proclaim Gospel message with confidence which is based on his strong faith background from Nagasaki.

 Congratulations for Bishop Hamaguchi.

Bishop Suwa ordained in Takamatsu

Newly appointed Bishop of Takamatsu diocese, Bishop John Eijiro Suwa, who is succeeding Bishop Osamu Mizobe, has been ordained a bishop and enthroned on 19 June.  The celebration was attended by more than one thousand people from 4 prefectures in Shikoku which are under Takamatsu diocese where Bishop Suwa had been working as a parish priest for past 6 years and many from Osaka archdiocese where the bishop originally belonged to.  Archbishop Jun Ikenaga of Osaka was the main celebrant and co-consecrating bishops were the out-going Nuncio and bishop Mizobe.  All other bishops of Japan including 2 bishop-elects and Archbishop Kim of Kwangju joined the consecration Mass.  Archbishop Kim has been sending one of his seminarians to Takamatsu diocese. 

As we all know well, name of the diocese of Takamatsu has been on the news on the issue of the international seminary established as a diocesan seminary by Neo Catechumenate Way.  I do not want to go into the entire story of the issue, however, I may point out the fact that the diocese which has only five thousand Catholics out of four million people might easily face several practical problems which poor bishop had to face in practical sense to run such an institution while rest of 15 dioceses in Japan themselves facing several difficulties to run a national seminary such as securing "Japanese speaking" qualified professors and shouldering quite high living cost in Japan.  The international seminary has been transferred to Rome since then.  Newly appointed bishop has to face the task to secure the unity among laity, religious and priests in the diocese.  Bishop Matsuura of Osaka preached on the issue of unity in the Catholic community in the diocese during the consecration Mass.       

3 New bishops for Japan

As I have already posted, Holy Father on 25 March appointed 2 new bishops for Japan.  Bishop John Eijiro Suwa for Takamatsu diocese and Fr.Paul Sueo Hamaguchi for Oita diocese.  Bishop Suwa will be ordained in Takamatsu tomorrow, 19 June at 2 pm and Bishop Hamaguchi will be ordained in Beppu near Oita on 26 June at 2 pm.

Then during the general assembly of Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan (CBCJ) this week on 13 June, Holy Father appointed yet another new bishop for Japan.  Bishop Thomas Man-yo Maeda has been appointed as a bishop of Hiroshima and, at the same time, Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Misue as he had reached the age limit of 75 this year.  Bishop-elect Maeda is originally from Nagasaki and has been serving as the secretary general of Bishops' conference for 6 years.  Photo above was taken during the general assembly of CBCJ.  All the bishops were invited for dinner with nuncio in his residence in Tokyo.  From left; Bishop Maeda, Bishop Suwa, Bishop Hamaguchi and the Nuncio, Archbishop Bottari de Castello.  The Nuncio himself is on transfer to Hungary.  He served as the nuncio to Japan for 6 years.

The general assembly of CBCJ was held in Tokyo from 13 to 17 June.  We, the bishops, spent quite a long time to discuss about our response to the disaster which struck dioceses of Sendai and Saitama on 11 March.  We made several agreements among ourselves to respond to the urgent requests from Bishop Hiraga of Sendai.  We agreed to send 6 priests to Sendai diocese to assist its pastoral activities.  Nagasaki ecclesiastical province will send a priest to Kuji in Iwate while the Major Superior Conference may try to take care of Ominato in Aomori prefecture.  Then Osaka province will send 2 to Ofunato and Tsukidate, and Tokyo province may send 2 to the Sendai city pastoral team.  We also agreed that the Nagasaki province may try to support people in northern coastal part of Iwate, Osaka province may support  southern coastal part of Iwate and northern coastal part of Miyagi, and Tokyo province to southern Miyagi and Fukushima.  These support will not be only for Catholics but will cover general public in the area in cooperation with local Catholic communities.  Also it aims to establish long term relationship between the are and each ecclesiastical province.

Bishops also decided to issue a short statement to express our desire to collectively support victims of the disaster and also show our solidarity.  Japanese version of the message has been already published in the HP of the CBCJ and it may be translated into several languages within few days.

We also agreed to the final version of new translation of Hail Mary in modern Japanese.  The final text has been also published in the HP of the CBCJ.