English 
日本語 
Italiano 
March and April 2024
With the coming of spring, the beautifully green new foliage of the kusu trees surrounding Shinmeizan has welcome new guests, among whom we would like to remember in a special way the eight friends of the `Paradise` group, from Yokohama and Tokyo, led by Ms. Murakami Kyoko, for their seventh (!) three days` retreat at Shinmeizan (April 8-10)
and especially His Eminence Cardinal Michael Luis Fitzgerald, who came (from England) for a weeklong visit (April 20-27) during which he also wished to make his yearly spiritual retreat. Cardinal Fitzgerald, served for a long time, first as Secretary and then as President, of The Pontifical Council (now Dicastery) for Interreligious Dialogue, and in that position had visited Shinmeizan several times. On April 23 the Archbishop of Nagasaki, Mons. Michiaki Nakamura, Bishop in charge of the Subcommittee for Interreligious Dialogue of the Bishops` Conference of Japan, came to Shinmeizan to pay a visit to the Cardinal. (The video of the interview will be posted on the site of the Bishops` Conference of Japan) .
In the field of interreligious dialogue, Sr. Maria De Giorgi has continued her activity especially participating via zoom in different conferences and study sessions, among them:
- On March 5th: the Networking Women building a culture of encounter interreligiously of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue;
- On March 15: the session of the Study group on Buddhism of the Committee for Interreligious Dialogue of the Bishops` Conference of Italy;
- On April 16: again the Networking Women building a culture of encounter interreligiously.
For the Hanamatsuri (Vesak) feast of the birth of the Buddha (April 8) Shinmeizan has forwarded to about twenty Buddhist Temples, to which we are bound by special bonds of friendship, the message sent to the followers of the Buddhist tradition on this occasion by the Pontifical Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, accompanying it with a personal letter (see attachment).
