Accompaniment: Japan

Japan Community Retreat & Annual Assembly. From the 15th to the 27th of November, I had the pleasure of returning to Japan. Japan is one of my favourite places, where I am consistently inspired by the dedication of our confrères on mission there. In Japan, love is expressed through dedication.

MSC Japan moved from being a Region of the Australian Province to a Community subject to the Superior General earlier this year. I was appointed the General Leadership Team liaison for such communities in the Congregation. During my visit in January, we started discussing how this change might impact this community. Our members worked diligently on new statutes approved by the Superior General in Council, updating contracts with home provinces, and exploring new ways of being on mission.

My recent visit began with a five-day retreat on Spirituality of the Heart held in the retreat house of the RSCJ Sisters at Susono, Shizuoka. From the dining hall window – when the clouds allowed – we were graced with a view of a snow-capped Mt. Fuji, which is only 30 km to the northwest. The retreat included two daily conferences, inviting the retreatants into a deep intimacy with Jesus and allowing him to call us beyond ourselves, understanding that our mission is lived communally and directed by the Spirit.

After the retreat, we returned to Nagoya, where the community met for their two-day annual Assembly. Filling the first day were reports from each place of ministry – the joys, challenges, and potentials for the future. The following day was occupied with translating the approved English Statutes into Japanese. We also celebrated the renewal of vows of Br. Babatera MSC from Kiribati (Pacific Islands Province) who is one of the three young MSC doing Japanese studies.

This international community, one Japanese, five Indonesians, two Filipinos, four Australians, one Indian, one Vietnamese, and one Kiribati, live and minister in and around Nagoya, in the Aichi and Gifu Prefectures, and on the west coast in Fukui and Tsuruga parishes in Fukui Prefecture. MSCs are present in several parishes and oversee two kindergartens. Our Japanese confrère, Fr. Sadami Takayama has a professorship in the Shirayuri University, in Tokyo. The bishop recently asked our men in Fukui to care for the Catholics in Ishikawa Prefecture, who survived the terrible devastation of the 1 January 2024 Noto earthquake and tsunami. Our confrères have risen to this challenge.

Let us continue to pray for the MSC mission in Japan and invite our confrères worldwide to consider going on mission to this land of mystery and dedication.

Chris Chaplin, MSC