Catholic Church in Japan and Christian Churches of other denominations are organising a week of prayer for Christian Unity, starting from 18 January till 25. "You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:48)" is the theme for this year. On Wednesday, I joined the prayer service in Terao Catholic Church. More than 30 people joined the service presided by Fr. Machida, the parish priest of Terao. Number of ministers from other denominations in Niigata also joined the service. As I mentioned before, there used to be a daily evening prayer service through out the week until 2 years ago in Niigata. However the reality of the aging society in this area forced us to change the style to organise 4 services during the day. It also means that only retired senior members are able to join the service which is scheduled at 10:30 am. Probably that is one of many reasons of decline of attendance to these services, especially among other denominations.
This morning I joined the prayer service in St. Paul Anglican Church. Again there was around 30 people in the Church today. Majority of those joined the service were members of the Anglican Church. It was the same for Terao on Wednesday. Majority of those joined in Terao were members of there. Though I may have to see the attendance of the Sunday service which supposed to be the main celebration of this year's Christian Unity week, we may have to think and review about the activities of the week seriously for next year. (Photo above:The service in Terao)
As you know well, Haiti was severely hit by a violent earthquake on 12 January and we still do not know the exact impact and damage caused. The Archbishop of the capital Port-au-Prince was also killed and his Cathedral was reduced to dust. Still many people are under the rubble. We have to remember the victims in our prayer. Caritas Japan has started fund-raising campaign and decided to join the rehabilitation project of Caritas Internationalis. Your donation to Caritas Japan will be highly appreciated. Please refer to the Home Page of Caritas Japan for details. Also you may refer to the blog of Caritas Internationalis to know the up-to-date information of Haiti rescue operation. Caritas Internationalis' blog is in English.
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