January 2022

Also this year, a group of people came to Shinmeizan, early in the morning of January 1^st, to watch the rising of the sun on the first dawn of the year – a traditional custom so dear to the Japanese – after celebrating the Eucharist where we welcome Christ, the “true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1,9) .

Among the guests who visited Shinmeizan this month, we welcomed with special joy and gratitude our Bishop,  Josep M. Abella, Bishop of Fukuoka, on January 29^30.

This month, the activities of the Group for interreligious Dialog of Kumamoto have started again, after an almost two years pause because of the still ongoing pandemic.  On the initiative of Shinmeizan, on Jan. 30, the group gathered at the Zenjoji (a Zen-Buddhist Temple) of Kumamoto, exactly on the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Ogasawara family, whose 15 members were beheaded at the entrance of this temple in 1636.  More than 50 people attended the meeting, among them the Bishop of Fukuoka Diocese, Bp. Josep M. Abella.  After meeting at the Zenjo Temple, the group moved to the Hanaokayama hill nearby, where the tomb of the Martyrs has been preserved, and where the annual commemoration was led by Fr. Alessandro Turco, SX. Pastor of the Church of Shimasaki (Kumamoto) in the territory of which the Martyrs`grave is situated.

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Activity online continues to be an important part of our work of interreligious dialog.  Sr. Maria:

• On Jan. 12, took part with a report from Japan in the Webinar organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialog for the Members and Consultors of East Asia;
• And, on the same day, also participated with a paper in the Webinar «Blick Christ», the threefold seeing of the world, organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome in cooperation with the Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia (USA); the George F. McLean Center for the Study of Culture at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC; the Pontifical Faculty of Theologyof the Teresianum, Rome; the Postgraduate Course of the Sophia University, Florence; and the Libera Università Maria Santissima Assunta (LUMSA), Rome.
• On Jan. 14 she joined the Webinar of the Committee on Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialog (UNEDI) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Italy (CEI)

On Jan. 25 she took part in the meeting of the Subcommittee on Interreligious Dialog of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan.

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