Catholics in Japan

[Milestone]

Would it be realistic to expect any growth in the number of Catholics in Japan, given how secular they are? Japan seems like such a interesting place, but such a Godless one as well, what with all of the divorce, abortion, pornography, and various sexual vices (more than in the US) prevalent in their society. Furthermore, they don’t have access to all of the wonderful apologetic sources available to us. Many, if not all, of the misconceptions they have about Christianity and Catholicism will go unchecked until the day they die with how little is available to them. Will we ever see this change? Is unrealistic to hope for a Japan with at least a good number of Catholics in it?

 

[Rosebud77]

Would it be realistic to expect any growth in the number of Catholics in Japan, given how secular they are? Japan seems like such a interesting place, but such a Godless one as well, what with all of the divorce, abortion, pornography, and various sexual vices (more than in the US) prevalent in their society. Furthermore, they don’t have access to all of the wonderful apologetic sources available to us. Many, if not all, of the misconceptions they have about Christianity and Catholicism will go unchecked until the day they die with how little is available to them. Will we ever see this change? Is unrealistic to hope for a Japan with at least a good number of Catholics in it?

Where please are you getting your information and stats from?

Japanese people are very cultured indeed . A courteous and caring people.

 

[Mintaka]

Actually, the Catholic population in Japan has grown slightly. It’s gone from 452,571 in 2006 (which was 0.35 percent of the population) to 509,000 now (almost 0.5 percent of the population).

Given the disproportionately large number of Catholics who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, as well as the usual post-Vatican II falling away, Japanese Catholics aren’t doing too badly.

Of course, a fair amount of the growth is coming from expatriate Catholics who have moved to Japan and/or had kids, especially Brazilian Catholics working in Japan. But there’s also a fair amount of conversions that have occurred, and Japanese Catholics are having kids.

As for a large scale conversion movement – well, who knows? It could start happening any day, or it could be another three hundred years. There are a lot of psychological obstacles for Japanese who are drawn to convert, and a lot of misunderstanding of the Church’s teachings. But there are also a lot of Japanese who seem to be very attracted to Christianity, and to the Catholic Church in particular. It’s hard to say what’s going on with people’s souls.

 

[pensmama87]

Actually, the Catholic population in Japan has grown slightly. It’s gone from 452,571 in 2006 (which was 0.35 percent of the population) to 509,000 now (almost 0.5 percent of the population).

**Given the disproportionately large number of Catholics who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, as well as the usual post-Vatican II falling away, Japanese Catholics aren’t doing too badly. **

Of course, a fair amount of the growth is coming from expatriate Catholics who have moved to Japan and/or had kids, especially Brazilian Catholics working in Japan. But there’s also a fair amount of conversions that have occurred, and Japanese Catholics are having kids.

As for a large scale conversion movement – well, who knows? It could start happening any day, or it could be another three hundred years. There are a lot of psychological obstacles for Japanese who are drawn to convert, and a lot of misunderstanding of the Church’s teachings. But there are also a lot of Japanese who seem to be very attracted to Christianity, and to the Catholic Church in particular. It’s hard to say what’s going on with people’s souls.

I think this is something many people simply do not know.