September 2022

From September 7 to 11, Sr. Maria has been requested to accompany a delegation from the diocese and the city of Lucca (Italy), headed by Archbishop Paul Giulietti, journeying to Japan to take part in the 400^th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 55 martyrs of Nagasaki beatified by Bl. Pope Pius IX in 1867, one of whom, the Bl. Angelo Orsucci O.P., was born in Lucca.  

      Following the request of Archbp. Giulietti, the delegation also moved to Saga to pay homage to the tomb of Fr. Allegrino Allegrini, a PIME missionary, also born in Lucca, who died in 2006.  He was a pioneer and very active promoter of interreligious dialogue in this area, and the first missionary to graduate at the National Shinto University (Kokugakuin) of Tokyo.  

Ven. Ide Satoshi, Head of the Buddhist Temple Sainen of Imari (Saga Pref.) a close friend and partner in interreligious dialog of Fr. Allegrini, also joined the visit to the tomb.   Ven. Ide had a long letter exchange with Fr. Allegrini, regularly published on the local newspaper (Saga Shinbun)  and later edited in two volumes with the title  “The silk road of the heart” (Kokoro no shirkurodo) to which also Fr. Franco and Sr. Maria of Shinmeizan were asked to contribute.

On September 13, Shinmeizan welcomed Ven. Hara Onin, Head of the Buddhist temple Choen (Nichiren School)  of Kumamoto,  and  Ven. Nishioka Ryoki,  (Tendai Buddhism) President of the National Association of Young Buddhists, accompanied by three other members of the National Direction, interested in organizing future sessions on interreligious dialog, after the one already successfully held at Shinmeizan some years ago.

Recently,  ORBIS BOOKS  (New York, USA) published the volume New Trends in Mission. The emerging Future, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2022, which contains the reports and papers presented at the Mission Symposium organized by SEDOS (Rome) on October 11-15 2021.  At pp. 217-226, the contribution by Sr. Maria  De Giorgi “Interreligious Dialogue in the context of Mission” .