Shinmeizan Journal - June 2016

5 June – Father Franco, Father Rocco and Ms. Ikeda Kumiko guided the Kumamoto Interreligious Dialogue Group on a visit to the Jokoku Soto-Zen Buddhist Temple, in Kumamoto. On that occasion, the head of the temple, Mr. Nakayama, explained the practice of Zen in the Buddhist tradition, while Fr. Franco spoke about meditation in the Christian tradition.

18 June – Mr. Hal Edmonson joined Shinmeizan for an experience in the field of Christian ministry and interreligious relations. Mr. Edmonson is a student of the Divinity School at Harvard University (USA), training for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church of America.  He will reside at Shinmeizan until the end of August.

19 June– Father Franco, and Father Rocco attended the annual memorial service to commemorate the wrongful execution of Mr Takeo Nishi, held at the Schweitzer Temple of Tamana. This remembrance is an important element of the campaign started by Rev. Tairyu Furukawa, and presently carried on by his son Rev. Ryuji Furukawa, for the exoneration of Mr. Nishi and the abolition of capital punishment in Japan. 

25 June – Father Rocco and Father Franco, along with Father Piergiorgio Moioli, the parish priest of Kikuchi, visited the Aira Kannon Temple (of the True Religion of the Pure Land Buddhism), the Shogo Temple (Soto-Zen Buddhism) and Gyokusho (Soto-Zen Buddhism). 

27 June – Father Franco and Father Rocco visited Mr Shirou, head of the Josho Temple of Kumamoto (Buddhism of the True Religion of the Pure Land). The meeting was also attended by the President and Vice President of the Federation of the Buddhist Temples of Kumamoto Prefecture. They discussed the possibility of holding an interreligious meeting to pray for all those who have died, and those who continue to suffer due to the recent strong earthquakes in the Kumamoto region.