53 Martyrs' Feastday Celebration in Yonezawa

On Sunday, 14 July, the commemorating celebration of 53 Blessed Martyrs of Yonezawa was held in Hokusanbara, the exact place of martyrdom of Blessed Luis Amakasu and 52 companions executed in January, 1629. The Holy Eucharist was presided by myself together with all the three priests working in Yamagata district and one from Niigata Cathedral. More than 150 people joined the celebration including several pilgrims from Niigata area.  Hokusanbara is in Yonezawa city which consists of Yamagata district together with Yamagata, Shinjo, Tsuruoka, Sakata and Nagai parishes.

On 28 April, 1928, Fr.Schwientek, SVD who was in charge of mission in Yonezawa at that time found the exact site of martyrdom of 1629. It was beside a stone statute of Buddha in the peripheral of Yonezawa city, in quite a distance from the main castle of the city. In fact Fr.Schwientek volunteered to come to Yonezawa after he had read a book about history of Christian persecution in Japan and got to know about the martyrdom in Yonezawa. Thanks to Fr.Schwientek who immediately bought the site at that time.

All these 53 Blessed Martyrs are lay faithfuls. Leader of them was Blessed Luis Amakasu Uemon who was a high ranking Samurai in Uesugi household. He was baptized in Tokyo around year 1610 while his master was staying in Tokyo, which was named EDO city at that time. Upon returning to Yonezawa, he invited 2 of his sons and started his catechism class which later became quite popular among followers of him. Eventually those 2 sons were baptized. Then blessed Amakasu commissioned 2 sons to bring the good news to their family while they knew very well that the central government at that time had banned Christianity. Though the prohibition by the government and fear that they might also be executed as the 26 martyrs in Nagasaki, people continue to join the community which even reached over 3000. (Today we have less than 300 Catholics in Yonezawa) There was no priest staying with them. Probably, only once or twice a year, foreign missionary had managed to visit people in secrecy to celebrate mass. But because of good example Blessed Amakasu and others showed to people, so many joined the community. Then finally because of strong pressure from the central government, Uesugi decided to arrest leaders of Christians. On 12 January 1629, 53 were arrested and immediately executed in Hokusanbara in Yonezawa. It is said that at the moment of the execution, an officer told the crowd to kneel down since these people were not criminals but holy people. They were respected by many.

The life style of these martyrs are teaching us how we should live and how we should spread the value of gospel in modern days Japan.

These 53 Blessed Martyrs are included among 188 Blessed Martyrs of Japan led by Blessed Peter Kibe. Their feast day in 1st July.  Niigata diocese organises diocesan wide celebration occasionally but organises the Yamagata district celebration every year in Hokusanbara. (By the way, as you may see from the photo above, three Mass servers were in fact Altar lady's.  They are from Shinjo parish and are originally from Philippines and our important members of Catholic community in Niigata diocese. )

The Laity Congress of Miyagi Prefecture

The 40th Laity Congress of Miyagi Prefecture in Sendai Diocese was held in Sendai on 7 July with more than 400 participants. Sendai diocese which had been hit by 11 March 2011 earthquake and massive tsunami is consisted by 4 prefectures, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.  Cathedral is in Sendai city in Miyagi prefecture.  The diocese organises the Laity Congress annually for each of these 4 prefectures.  As for this year, the theme of the congress was " A concrete step forward as A faithful" in connection with the Year of Faith.  I was asked to give a talk during the Miyagi Congress on Caritas Japan's activities after the March 11.  The congress was held in Sendai Shirayuri Girls High School.

At the beginning of the congress, two people shared their experience of volunteer activities after the disaster. A representative from Yagiyama parish shared their activities in Watari area and their experience of visiting shelters of evacuees.  Also a leader of the one of the volunteer center, Yonekawa, also shared his own account of experience with a lot of volunteers coming from all over Japan. Bishop Hiraga of Sendai was the main celebrant of thanksgiving Mass after lunch

The 3rd meeting of diocesan teams supporting Sendai diocese

The third meeting of diocesan teams to support Sendai diocese has been held in Fukishima area from 19 June, Wednesday till 21 June, Friday. More than 60 participants, including three bishops, one bishop elect, priests, religious and laity from all over Japan's 16 dioceses had bee

n divided into three groups and dispatched to three different courses for site visits. I joined a group to visit Iwaki and the area near to Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant which had been damaged by Tsunami in 2011.

On Wednesday morning, we made a visit to Iwaki parish and met with a volunteer team of the parish who shared their experiences with evacuees from town close to the nuclear power plant. Also we made a visit to the Mominoki volunteer station run by Saitama diocese. In the afternoon, we were taken by bus to the area quite closed to the nuclear power plant. It is possible to enter the area but residents are not allowed to live there since entry during night time is prohibited. We could see piles of debris of decontamination of the area in black plastic back. It may be quite impossible to find any place to keep these backs for long time without fear of the residents.

Even after two years of the disaster, earthquake and tsunami, because of radiation, people are not able to clear debris of the disaster.  We were in front of Tomioka rail way station, which has not been in function because of tsunami, and saw several damaged buildings left behind as they were on 11 March, 2011.

 

On Thursday, the 3rd meeting of diocesan teams supporting Sendai diocese was held in Koriyama parish chapel in Fukushima.  During the meeting, Mr.Sugawara of Ofunato parish in Iwate shared his experience of establishing a "Sister Relationship" with Sakai parish in Osaka. Mr. Sato of Sakai parish also shared his view from the other side of this relationship.

They did not know each other until the day of earthquake and tsunami hit Tohoku area on March 11, 2011. Ofunato and Sakai is 1,000 Km apart. Sakai parishioners led by Fr.Murata of Osaka diocese offered help to Ofunato people and also proposed to establish special relationship between two parishes. Since then parishioners from Sakai visited Ofunato several times and, for this spring, number of parishioners from Ofunato visited Sakai for first time to pray and play together.

This is the act of charity, Caritas, of Catholic Church. We do offer professional relief service from Caritas agencies to disaster victims. And it may be a short term services for the disaster hit area. But our commitment does not stop there. We, as parts of one body of Jesus, also offer long lasting partnership to walk along with people in the disaster hit area. Through these activities, not only professional relief workers, everyone in Catholic Church could join Caritas activities of Church.

 

 

 

Archbishop Dominic Andoh of Accra has passed away

Archbishop Dominic Andoh, emeritus archbishop of Accra in Ghana, has passed away on 17 May at age of 84. He was a bishop of Accra, the capital city of Ghana since 1971 till 1992 when the diocese was raised as Archdiocese and became an archbishop till his retirement in 2005. 

And he was my "boss" from 1986 to 1992. I was sent to Ghana in 1986 and appointed to a mission in upper Krobo land.  Then in June 1987, I was appointed as a priest in charge of Osonson by Archbishop Andoh.  In 1992, the Accra diocese was divided to two and Koforidua diocese was created. My parish, Our Lady of Lourdes in Osonson was included in the Koforidua diocese and Bishop Palmer Buckle, present Archbishop of Accra became my superior in Koforidua diocese at that time.

I have a lot of good memories with Archbishop Andoh. He used to visited parishes every three years and stayed with us for a week. So I took him around to visit my 23 outsations for confirmation. When I met him in 2006 and 2010 in his retirement house in Accra, he also mentioned several wild experiences with me in bush with a lot of laugh and smile.   He especially enjoyed an old mission house in Osonson and also a wild car ride through bush in upper Krobo area.

May he rest in perfect peace.

Funeral will be held on 6 June in Accra. R.I.P.

Audience with Holy Father in Rome

I was in Rome from 13 to 17 to attend the Representative Council (Repco) of Caritas Internationalis which is a kind of board meeting of Caritas Confederation.  Asia is represented by Caritas Sri Lanka and Caritas Indonesia together with myself as their president.  Regional Coordinator, Mr. Zar Gomez also joined the meeting.  Prior to the Repco, all the seven regional presidents of Caritas together with the president of the Caritas Internationalis, Cardinal Maradiaga and Mr. Roy, the secretary general, were invited by Pontifical Council Cor Unum to share ideas on the revised statues and internal rules of Caritas Internationalis in which the Pontifical Council was assigned as office in charge of Holy See for Caritas, both for International and regional one. 

On Thursday morning, participants of the Repco were invited to visit Casa Santa Marta to have private audience with Holy Father.  I had attended such Papal audience several times but this one with Pope Francisco was different.  Pope shared his own ideas on charitable activities of the Church for 10 minutes and gave us chance to talk.  So all the regional presidents were invited to introduce respective regions for 5 minutes.  Then Mr. Roy presented a basket with bread an fish to symbolise the beginning of the international anti poverty campaign.  Then Holy Father gave yet another talk.  Then, of course, personal greetings and photo taking time.  Holy Father was really simple and kind.  He emphasised that we should not stop at the level of emergency relief effort but have to continue to walk along with people as the Good Samaritan did with a wounded man. (Holy Father spoke in Spanish this time. I did so in English as several others did and it seems Holy Father is not comfortable with English.)

Retreat completed@Charity Sisters of Ottawa in Sendai

I have been to Sendai for a week to preach a retreat for the Charity Sisters of Ottawa in Japan. I left Niigata immediately after the Niigata diocesan pastoral council on 29 April and just returned from Sendai this afternoon.  The retreat was the annual one for sisters and 15 of them, from Yamagata, Yokohama and Sendai communities, joined a full 7-day retreat.  This morning during 7am Mass, sisters renewed their religious Vows and were sent out to their respective apostolates.

I am not given a talent to be a spiritual director so that I can not give comprehensive spiritual direction through the retreat as such.  What I did was to give talks for 12 times, that is 2 talks a day, said daily Mass and preached, and met with each individual sisters to listen to their stories.  Mu talks are all based on my own experiences as a missionary priest in Ghana, Caritas volunteer in Rwanda refugees camp and Caritas director in various countries.  Because of these experiences, especially with Caritas Japan, I have given rich experiences of encounter with so many people in many countries.

You may find a familiar face among Sisters.  Ms. Sawako Inae who used be a program officer of Caritas Japan is now a novice in this congregation.  After the March 11 disaster in Japan, Sawako was sent to work in Sendai Diocese Support Center to coordinate relief efforts of Caritas and other players.  She stayed with Charity Sisters while she was in Sendai and was fascinated with the lives of religious community.  That is why she is now with them.  Kindly remember her, Sawako Inae, in your prayer so that she can follow the call of Jesus faithfully. 

Pastoral Visit of Sakata Church in Yamagata

On 14 April, Sunday, I made a pastoral visit of the Catholic community in city of Sakata in northern part of Yamagata prefecture.  It is around 4 hours drive from my house in Niigata.  Pastoral care of entire Yamagata prefecture has been entrusted to Picpus Fathers (SS.CC.) and there are 6 Catholic communities in the area with 3 Fathers of SS.CC. There is one priest residing in Yamagata parish and taking care of Yonezawa parish, and Shinjo station. Then there are 2 priests residing in Tsuruoka parish and taking care of Nagai station and Sakata station.  I am calling them as "station" because they do not have resident priest, however, following Japanese standard some of these stations, such as Shinjo and Sakata, could be Parishes in its own right.

Sakata used be a port city for a rich merchant of this area, Honma family, who used be called the biggest landlord of Japan for 200 years till the end of the WWII. Strong traditional culture and religion make Catholics quite difficult to bring Gospel message in this area so that the Catholic community in Sakata is quite small compare with parishes in other Christian countries. 

For my pastoral visit, around 20 Catholics attended Sunday Mass at 10am. The number was much more than ordinary Sunday.  After the Mass, I gave a talk on the Year of Faith and New Evangelisation.  Then we shared lunch, sung songs together.