NAGASAKI Peace Day

Today, 9 August is a memorial day for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. So in Nagasaki this morning, the Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in the Peace Park which is near the Cathedral, Urakami church. In fact, epicenter of the atomic bombing is just next to the Cathedral which was also destroyed completely with several faithful inside on the day.

Peace message delivered by Mr. TAUE, mayor of Nagasaki was moving. He referred to the speech by President Obama in Prague last April and urge world leaders to visit Nagasaki in order to understand the reality of destruction and after effects of the nuclear weapon.

Ms.Okumura who was just 8 years old when the bomb killed all other members of her family of nine also gave her testimony during the ceremony. She was left alone with severe burn wounds. She mentioned her experience as experience of living through Hell. Her testimony and pledge for peace was very strong.

Prime minister Aso looked a bit tired because of the general election campaign which is going on till 30 August but he spoke well about the new commitment of his government to save victims of the bombing.

Then H.E. Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, M.M who is the president of the 63rd General Assembly of UN delivered his message. As a priest, though I do not know his present canonical status, he apologised to the people that Catholic had been involved in the bombing.

It might be very difficult and probably unrealistic to eliminate all nuclear weapons at once. But unless a small step forward is made by someone, nothing will happen either. So I hope the message from President Obama would be the force behind to let the world leaders to make historic decision to make a step forward to realise a dream of many.

I will be away to Manila from tomorrow to attend the 9th General Assembly of FABC with Archbishop Okada and Bishop Oshikawa. I will be back on 17 so that the next post will be after 18. (Photo above; Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki which was rebuilt at the same spot of the destroyed one)

The summer festival season has arrived

The summer festival season has arrived in Niigata. Starting from today, Friday the 7th August till Sunday, 9th August, people in Niigata city enjoys annual Niigata Festival. In fact, while festivals in general are to associated with religion or originated from religious activities, Niigata Festival doesn't bring taste of religion too much. According to the official home page of the festival, very first Niigata Festival was held in 1955 combining 4 traditional festivals, namely SUMIYOSHI festival, Local business festival, opening the river Shinano festival and the opening the Niigata port festival.

The SUMIYOSHI festival has origin in Sumiyoshi shrine. It started in 1726 as the festival for ship merchant in Niigata.

The opening the river Shinano festival started in 1910 after the city suffered 2 big fire. Main feature of this festival was HANABI, sky rocket fireworks, which is still the main feature of the Niigata Festival on Sunday evening.

Other 2 festivals still remain as MINYO NAGASHI, traditional dancing with Japanese folk songs which is held on Friday night. Almost 3 km long main street of Niigata is blocked and plenty teams by citizens dance with MINYO, the traditional folk songs. (Photo above. MIKOSHI, movable shrine in front of a department store in Niigata waiting for the festival to begin.)

This morning, we had quite heavy rain in Niigata area. It is unusual to have such heavy rain in August in Niigata. Weather is changing. Sanjo parish was flooded by rain water, though it did not reach the floor level, according to Fr.Ishiguro, the parish priest. The property of the parish is quite lower than main road in front and entire rain water from the road always attacks the parish. We may have to do something to prevent water to come in.

Past few days, several famous people are arrested or under investigation on charge of drug possession or use. Drug addiction is becoming a big headache in Japan and the organisation like DARC is really needed though not so many people understand its importance. We would like to support their activities, and also activities of MAC.

Akita MAC center, destroyed by fire

Akita MAC center has been destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon. MAC is the center for providing support for recovery from alcohol addiction and number of centers have been established all over Japan. MAC stands for Maryknoll Alcoholic Center which was established by a Maryknoll missionary in Japan in 1978. Because of its roots in Catholic mission, Church has been supporting its activities since their establishment. Bishop Satoh, my predecessor established Niigata MAC in Nagaoka city as NPO (non profit organisation) in 2001. Last year in February, the leader of the Niigata MAC decided to establish one in Akita. Through understanding and assistance from Catholic community in Akita district, Akita MAC has managed to secure a house as their home base and has been recognised by government as the NPO (non profit organisation) with Mr. Ishizaki, a member of Tsuchizaki parish as their chairman.

According to Mr. Ishizaki, the house which has been accommodating 6 people at this moment was completely damaged by fire. Fortunately no one was injured. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Kindly remember Akita MAC in your prayer and please be generous to support them to recover their home base. (Photo above is the parish church of AKITA. I do not have a photo of Akita MAC.)

The "KA-SHO-REN" successfully ended the assembly

The 10th National Assembly of the "KA-SHO-REN", Catholic Association of Disabled Persons of Japan has successfully ended this afternoon at Niigata Sogo Fukushi Kaikan, the social welfare center run by Niigata city. It was attended by more than 250 people from all over Japan. Ms.Mieko NAKAHARA has been re-elected as their chairperson while Nagoya city has been chosen to host next National Assembly in 2012. The good attendance was due to high participation from local parishes in Niigata. Thank you so much for every one who joined the assembly and also those who sacrificed so much time to prepare for the function.

Rev.Fr. Nobuo Masakawa, CMF gave really moving talk based on his own life history and mystery of his own vocation. He experienced discrimination while he was a kid especially in primary school but, he said, he had never been discriminated in church community and that experience in church community was the foundation of his vocation in later years. He went through so many difficult times before he finally decided to enter the seminary but he had been so many times encouraged by his Mother who always accepted him as he was. He said " do not just encourage those who are in crisis but accept them as they are".

After completing all scheduled function yesterday, we shared a meal and joy together for the evening. Since transferring all the participants to other place was difficult, we decided to take a "lunch box" for our dinner at the same spot. Also as the regulation of public facility prohibits anyone to consume alcoholic beverages, we did not offer any beer last night. However, even without a glass of beer, people were so happy to sing and dance together to strengthen their friendship.

To conclude the assembly, thanksgiving Mass was offered this morning which was presided by myself with 7 priests. Thanks a million for those who traveled all the way to Niigata and also for those who spent so much time to prepare for the function. (Photo above is the the assembly hall of the Fukushi-kaikan with a hand made banner of blessed 188 martyrs of Japan by Mr. Morita of Shibata parish who was the master of entertainment.)

The "KA-SHO-REN" to meet in Niigata

The "KA-SHO-REN", Catholic Association of Disabled Persons of Japan is organising their 10th National Assembly from tomorrow to Sunday in Niigata. The venue is Niigata Sogo Fukushi Kaikan, the social welfare center run by Niigata city, which is near the JR Niigata station. Main theme of the assembly is "Realising the Reign of God through our daily life - depart from isolation to trust". The assembly will begin with a lecture by Rev.Fr. Nobuo Masakawa, CMF at 1 pm on Saturday and will close with Mass at 10:30 am on Sunday which will be presided by myself.

More than 200 people are expected to attend the function including disabled persons themselves and other volunteers to support them. Catholic doctors and nurses in Niigata are also joining the function to be ready to help. According to the committee member in Niigata, it has been very difficult to meet the requests from central office of the association since gathering volunteers in Niigata is comparatively not so easy like big cities such as Tokyo which had hosted last assembly 3 years ago. It was expected that the assembly would provide a turning point for Niigata to start organising a local association for disabled persons. I really have to thank all these members of the committee to prepare for the function with limited resources. Also I pray for the blessing of Almighty Father for the success of this 2-days assembly.

The Japan Catholic 10 Days of Peace

From 6 August to 15, the Catholic Church in Japan celebrates 10 specially designated days to reflect on Peace. Why these 10 days? August 6 is the memorial day for Hiroshima bombing by A bomb in 1945 and August 15 is the day Japan surrendered. Also within these 10 days is August 9 which is the memorial day for Nagasaki bombing. This is the period to reflect on the wars of the past and to work and pray for peace in the future.

In Niigata, to commemorate the Japan Catholic 10 Days of Peace, several activities have been planned to take place.

On 9 August, Sunday at 2 pm in Niigata Cathedral, Rev.Fr. Mikio WADA of Osaka diocese will give a lecture on Peace based on Ps.46 and 149. Fr.WADA is a well-known Bible scholar and a professor in the major seminary. At the same time, he also dedicates much of his time as a pastor in one of parishes in Osaka. He has also been a strong and important member from Catholic Church for the committee for the interconfessional Bible translation. After the lecture, Fr. WADA will preside over a Mass at 3:45 pm. (Photo above. Fr. WADA talking to Niigata diocesan priests)

Then in Naoetsu Peace memorial Park in Joetsu, there will be an ecumenical prayer meeting for Peace on 9 August at 6 pm. During the WWII, there was the Prisoner of War Camp in Naoetsu which housed soldiers from Australia. According to the memorial plaque in the park, Lt.Col. A Robertson and 59 lost their life in Naoetsu during the period of 1942 to 45. So every year during this time, Christians gather together in the park to pray for them and for Peace.

You are invited to join these activities.

The diocesan mutual-aid system

A few years ago, still as a "novice" bishop, I was in a sacristy of one of our parishes in the diocese on my first pastoral visit of the area. Parish priest was happy to tell me that because of my visit, the church was full of parishioners. My expectation to be welcomed by a big crowd of the congregation was slightly betrayed when I enter the church to see only around 20 people there. But this is the reality of this diocese with 31 parishes for only 7,000 Catholics out of more than 4 million people.

St.Joseph parish in Sakata is one of such small communities in Yamagata prefecture. As I have been not able to assign a parish priest for Sakata, a priest from Tsuruoka has been taking care of the parish. When I made a pastoral visit of Sakata, the community shared their concern over the maintenance of their church building. Since the diocese is not able to support church communities financially, the community has to find their own means to raise fund to maintain their property. But it is not easy task for a community of less than 20. (Photo above. The Sakata community after Sunday Mass in 07) So what can we do?

In 1971, late Bishop Ito, the first bishop of Niigata, established a diocesan mutual-aid system called "Kyosai-kikin" to help such small communities in the diocese to build or maintain their buildings. All parishes in the diocese are member of the system with annual contribution of 4 % of the monthly dues from the faithful. It has been helping so many projects in the diocese. However, to support such small communities like Sakata, the system has to go through its revision so that these financially weak communities would be encouraged to borrow money from the system.

On Monday morning, the administrative board of the system met for the annual meeting in Niigata to begin their discussion on the revision of the system so that they can really meet demands of small communities.

(I will be away on my annual leave for a week beginning from this afternoon and the posting of new articles for this blog would be delayed.)