Fr. Arlindo Pereira Dias, SVD, one of the SVD general council member is in Niigata diocese since yesterday as the Visitator General of the Japan Province of SVD. Fr. Arlindo, originally from Brazil, has been appointed as the Visitator General of Japan by the Superior General, Fr. Pernia, to visit all SVD communities in Japan and make evaluation on the missionary apostolate of SVD in Japan. According to the Constitution of SVD, this kind of general visitation must be completed every 6 years. It must be very tough job to complete for all these confreres appointed as a visitator since they have to be always on the road visiting different people everyday for almost a month.
I still remember the last General Visitation of Japan 6 years ago because my appointment as a bishop of Niigata was announced while Fr. Konrad Keler, the Vice General of SVD, had been in Japan as the Visitator General. In fact, when I received a phone call from Nuncio on my appointment, the visitator was with me in my car and I was wondering whether I should share this news with him or not since Nuncio had told me to keep quiet till the announcement was made.
Today, Fr. Arlindo is in Nagaoka with Fr. Ferdimar to visit places where Fr. Ferdimar has been executing his ministry for migrants in the diocese. Then he will move to Akita and will meet all the SVD confreres there before he returns to Nagoya to continue his visitation.
I met Fr. Arlindo first time in 2002 in Sao Paulo during the final vows ceremony of one of Japanese seminarians there. At that time I was a provincial of Japan and Fr. Arlindo was a provincial of Brazil Central. So welcome Fr. Arlindo to Niigata and enjoy good food, drinks, people and air in the diocese.
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