Catholicism is alive and well in Japan

Tokyo: Last Sunday, I got my newspaper The Daily Yomiuri that reported on page 2 “Plane carrying ailing spouse of RP’s Arroyo lands in Osaka.” The report said, “Her 62-year-old husband complained of a sharp pain in his abdomen and back, symptoms often observed in a heart attack—during the flight, and was taken to Senshu Critical Care Medical Center in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. He headed home from Kansai International Airport on Saturday as his condition stabilized after treatment at the medical center.” So much for that short, Presidential medical crisis in Japan.

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I attended the Sunday Mass at the Edo No Santa Maria in the Meguro District, the parish of my brother-in-law Noboyuki Kono where he was baptized. The Holy Mass was officiated in Nippongo but while the church was full of parishioners, what I did not expect was the absence of Filipino workers. I really thought that I would meet a few of them, but it seems they are not many in Tokyo.

If there is anything that I like in Japanese culture, it is their courtesy, discipline and the showing of their deep gratitude. The Holy Mass began with a greeting “Ohayu Gusaimasu” as a sign of Christian brotherhood. Of course they do this again when the priest say “Peace be with you.” That Japanese Catholics are the most devout Christians in Asia was proven a long time ago during the days when the early missionaries led by St. Francis Xavier brought the message of the Gospel to Edo in old Japan.

Those were difficult times for the missionaries. Japan was run by feudal warlords and the government then of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and later the Tokugawa banned Christianity because the Japanese believed that Portugal and Spain were using the priests as their Christian agents to take over Japan. That ban was enacted in 1587 until 1873 when Japan opened up to Western ideas and culture.

Because of the ban on Christianity, Japan produced perhaps the most number of Asian Christian martyrs. Nov.24 was a very special event for Japanese Catholics as it was the formal Beatification of 188 Japanese Martyrs. This was announced by Monsignor Mizobe Osamu Chairman of the Commission for the Causes of Saints. The 188 martyrs belong to the 9 Catholic Dioceses of Niigata, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Oita and Kagoshima. There were 4 priests, 1 religious and the rest are lay people, including 33 children and 2 handicapped persons. This group adds to the 205 blessed Martyrs of Japan. Many of them died in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ despite the belief of the Japanese people in those days that their Emperor was divine.

Today there are some half-million Japanese Catholics, which is a mere 0.5% of their total population. But they have 16 Dioceses, 3 archdioceses and some 1500 priests scattered in 848 parishes throughout Japan. That includes our Cebuano friend, Fr. Joseph “Jack” Serate (who comes from Barangay Sambag I) of the Omiya Catholic Church in Saitama Prefecture, who told me that he has some 15,000 Filipino parishioners.

In our very Catholic Philippines, we are 90% Catholic, yet we only have a few Martyrs, like Fr. Rhoel Gallardo who was killed by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and our very own Blessed Pedro Calungsod. The first Filipino Saint, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, was martyred in Nagasaki in 1633.

I’ve been blessed that this year I was able to visit the major capital cities of Asia; in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) I went to Mass in the Saigon Cathedral which was said in Vietnamese; now, in Japan the Holy Mass is in Nippongo. This gives me a glimpse of the universal character of the Catholic Church. The word Catholic, from the Greek word Katholikos, means universal.

Last Monday was also the memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and Martyr from Vietnam who was canonized by the late Pope John Paul II in 1988 together with some 117 Martyrs. We are surprised to hear of these Martyrs in an Asian country. Even Korea and China have many Martyrs.

Today, Christian Martyrdom seems to be a thing in the past and I’m ashamed to hear that even a Trustee of a Catholic University in Cebu is openly supporting the RH Bill, which means he no longer accepts the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Even Ateneo professors support this bill, which means, these supposed Catholics would never die for their faith!