Eastern Catholicism and Japan

[Claudius]

First off I just want to ask, are there any Eastern Catholic Churches operating in Japan? If so I would like to visit just to say hi.

Latin Catholicism has made great strides in Japan but these have been slow. We make up less than 1 % of the population. We have over 1 million members but still are less than 1% of the population.

So I was wondering if perhaps Eastern Catholic Churches might be able to do a better job of converting Japanese people. It seems to me that Japanese people have many sentimentalities that agree more with Eastern Churches than with the Latin Church. They won’t kneel and there is a lot of bowing.

I have a lot of respect for the Church that exist in Japan for all it has gone through but there are 100 million Japanese that need to become Christians and we aren’t getting them. I was just wondering if an Eastern Cathoilc Church would be able to convert more japanese more quickly than the Latin Church.

I do already know that there is an eastern orthodox parish in Hokkaido but they are really small. Even the protestants who most Japanese can see right through do better than they do.

I really hope and pray for a Christian Japan one day. I would love it if the Eastern Catholics were part of that story.

 

[Aramis]

Not aware of any Eastern Catholic parishes.

Now, given that Russian Orthodoxy is active in Japan, any RO fiathful who convert to RC will be, technically, Russian Church catholics (and thus Eastern Catholics) even tho they would be practicing in the Roman Church (and under the Japanese Usage of the Roman Missal)… but neither is well enough established for much of that.

 

[Amadeus]

It seems in every culture there is ingrained an indigenous belief system, developed through the centuries.

Shintoism, a combination of polytheistic and animist beliefs, is native to Japan and has been the “dominant” religion of the Japanese. A little bit later, this belief system was influenced deeply by Buddhism, which also thrives separately among the Japanese.

As a “closed culture,” it was, and is, extremely difficult to introduce a different and “foreign” set of beliefs into Japan.

Therefore, it is not a question whether Eastern Catholicism is far better suited in converting the Japanese than Latin Catholicism. Rather, is Christianity an acceptable belief system to the Japanese? Or Islam? Or Hinduism?

We should be thankful that there is now a core of Japanese believers in Our Lord, Jesus Christ, brought ashore by St. Francis Xavier and myriads of other Catholic missionaries. Hopefully, the million or so Japanese Catholics will eventually touch the hearts and minds of future generations.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

First off I just want to ask, are there any Eastern Catholic Churches operating in Japan? If so I would like to visit just to say hi.

Latin Catholicism has made great strides in Japan but these have been slow. We make up less than 1 % of the population. We have over 1 million members but still are less than 1% of the population.

So I was wondering if perhaps Eastern Catholic Churches might be able to do a better job of converting Japanese people. It seems to me that Japanese people have many sentimentalities that agree more with Eastern Churches than with the Latin Church. They won’t kneel and there is a lot of bowing.

I have a lot of respect for the Church that exist in Japan for all it has gone through but there are 100 million Japanese that need to become Christians and we aren’t getting them. I was just wondering if an Eastern Cathoilc Church would be able to convert more japanese more quickly than the Latin Church.

I do already know that there is an eastern orthodox parish in Hokkaido but they are really small. Even the protestants who most Japanese can see right through do better than they do.

Real lover of the Orthodox, eh?
The Japenese government brought in the Protestant William S. Clark to explicitely counter Russian influence in Hokkaido, including the chaplain, St. Nicholas of Japan. As his life shows, the Russo-Japanese War caused a lot of problems for the young Church. You’ve never seen/heard of Nikolai-Do?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Nikolai-do.jpg

I really hope and pray for a Christian Japan one day. I would love it if the Eastern Catholics were part of that story.

Amen.
Btw, Claudius, what is your background, if I may ask.

 

[Claudius]

Real lover of the Orthodox, eh?
The Japenese government brought in the Protestant William S. Clark to explicitely counter Russian influence in Hokkaido, including the chaplain, St. Nicholas of Japan. As his life shows, the Russo-Japanese War caused a lot of problems for the young Church. You’ve never seen/heard of Nikolai-Do?

Amen.
Btw, Claudius, what is your background, if I may ask.

Sure I have heard. What I said is still true. The orthodox don’t do very well in Japan. They are all arguing with each other. There is a Russian Orthodox Church in my city and a Greek Orthodox Church in my city and they refuse to even talk to one another. Their priest are foriegners as well as almost all of their congregations. I know it is a bit different in Hokkaido but for the most part “orthodoxy” in Japan is a very minor religion. Now, I do wish that this were not so. I would be very happy if all of Japan would convert to the Orthodox Church, though not as happy as I would be if they all converted to Catholicism. At least then if they converted to orthodoxy, they would be proper Christians (which I can not say for the protestants in Japan who now traded worship of idols for worship of a book.)

Sure you can ask my background but what part of my background do you want to know about?

I am an American Indian. I converted to Catholicism from a non Christian family. I am the only person in my family to graduate form either college or high school.

That should tell you that I am a very complicated person with a complicated background so please be a little more specific.

You are very right about one thing I will say. The Japanese government has treated Christians in Japan with utmost cruelty n the past and they need to make amends for it. The ‘emperor’ needs to apologize and members of the ‘royal’ family need to be given the freedom to convert.

Japan has a lot of problems just now but most of them would go away in almost no time at all if they would just convert to authentic Christianity.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

Sure I have heard. What I said is still true. The orthodox don’t do very well in Japan.

You were saying no one does well.

They are all arguing with each other. There is a Russian Orthodox Church in my city and a Greek Orthodox Church in my city

what city is that?

and they refuse to even talk to one another. Their priest are foriegners as well as almost all of their congregations. I know it is a bit different in Hokkaido but for the most part “orthodoxy” in Japan is a very minor religion. Now, I do wish that this were not so. I would be very happy if all of Japan would convert to the Orthodox Church, though not as happy as I would be if they all converted to Catholicism. At least then if they converted to orthodoxy, they would be proper Christians (which I can not say for the protestants in Japan who now traded worship of idols for worship of a book.)

Sure you can ask my background but what part of my background do you want to know about?

I am an American Indian.

Just curious, which nation? My sons and I visited several this summer across the Midwest and West. The French missionaries did fine here in Illinois, until the English came and ordered everyone (including the French) out.

I converted to Catholicism from a non Christian family. I am the only person in my family to graduate form either college or high school.

Congratulations on all counts.

That should tell you that I am a very complicated person with a complicated background so please be a little more specific.

I was more asking ethnic/rite background.

You are very right about one thing I will say. The Japanese government has treated Christians in Japan with utmost cruelty n the past and they need to make amends for it. The ‘emperor’ needs to apologize and members of the ‘royal’ family need to be given the freedom to convert.

For starters, the government can stop “deifying” Christians souls. The Christians have lost in court on this.

Japan has a lot of problems just now but most of them would go away in almost no time at all if they would just convert to authentic Christianity.

Yes, I understand that it is the rage now to get a “Christian” wedding. Some businessmen have imported old European chapels for this. Where’ s the substance?

 

[vee8]

Yes, I understand that it is the rage now to get a “Christian” wedding. Some businessmen have imported old European chapels for this. Where’ s the substance?

A Christian style wedding has been popular for a long time say at least twenty years. Ive heard it really took off after Princess Di`s wedding. One reason for its popularity is yes people like the style but also it tends to be cheaper than a Shinto style ceremony. Ive never heard of imported chapels although it wouldnt surprise me as a Christan style wedding is big business and every decent hotel has a “chapel” for just such a purpose.

One aspect of trend I was pretty shocked at was that Catholic churches were allowing two non baptized non Catholics to be married in the church as long as they attended some kind of pre marriage class. I eventually found out who started this

.ucanews.com/2008/06/12/ambassador-presents-imperial-honor-to-redemptorist-missioner/

In the late 1960s, after moving to Tokyo, the Canadian priest took “a unique and far-sighted initiative,” the ambassador said. “Obtaining the Holy See’s permission, he opened the way for a non-believer to be able to marry in a Catholic church.”

No word on how successful this has been in converting people although in an article I read couples arent interested in Christanity they just want the style and they will do pretty much anything to get it. I think we are demeaning ourselves by this practice and not giving people any substance.

 

[vee8]

Japan has a lot of problems just now but most of them would go away in almost no time at all if they would just convert to authentic Christianity.

I agree the harvest is great but the laborers are few. Ive read on the Japanese bishops site that there are about half a million Japanese Catholics and half a million foreign Catholics. Of this million it could take only a few to convert many. I really wish we had someone like Zakaria Botros who would get on tv and tell the plain truth while challenging people. Unfortunately no one seems to be so bold, so full of zeal. I could go on on this topic but I have to end this for now.

 

[Diak]

There is a Ukrainian Orthodox-Kyivan Patriarchate parish that several of our Ukrainian Greek Catholic people attend since we have no other parish.

 

[Claudius]

You were saying no one does well.

And it is true. No one really does do very well. Japan has changed from a country of patient people to people who want instant self gratification. They don’t want to take the time to learn. Of the converts to the Catholic Church here in Kitakyushu, most of them are older, in their 40s or 50s. That in itself amazes me as it is the opposite of what I saw in America. I will say this though, the Catholic Church does have Japanese bishops and priest and they are the ones who minister to all the faithful in Japan. I have meet the occational foriegn priest but this is usually when they belong to a religious order that has some sort of monastary or orphanage here in Japan.

Just curious, which nation? My sons and I visited several this summer across the Midwest and West. The French missionaries did fine here in Illinois, until the English came and ordered everyone (including the French) out.

Houma. As a tribe we converted to Catholicism and adopted French culture and the French language many centuries ago. This was freely done, no one forced it on us. Unfortuanatly, several generations ago, my family left to “do their own thing” and found themselves just in the mist of protestantism, a kind that I can not describe as Christian.

Congratulations on all counts.

Thank you.

For starters, the government can stop “deifying” Christians souls. The Christians have lost in court on this.

You are 100% right about this. It also is an insult to Christians when the prime minister goes to the shrine of “diefied” samurai who killed Christians.

Yet, there are some good signs. There is the memorial to the Christians who died on Kyushsu in Kumamoto on one of the islands. There is also Our Lady of Akita in northern Japan.

Yes, I understand that it is the rage now to get a “Christian” wedding. Some businessmen have imported old European chapels for this. Where’ s the substance?

Many Japanese treat Christianity as a kind of voodoo. Some of them are walking around with the “magic” book.

Near my home there is a protestant church what has Greek symbols all over it. They don’t know what they mean, they are just “magic” symbols for protections against ONI (Japanese daemons).

There is a man I know who is an athiest. When he lost his job teaching English, he got a job performing “christian” weddings at a wedding center. All that really mattered was that he was a foriegner.

This of course is not what we should be wanting when we pray for the conversion of Japan. We should be hoping that Christianity will change a people from being selfish to selfless, living for Christ.

Recently there are all these curruption scandals and the politicians go on TV and express regret NOT that they did something wrong, but because they GOT CAUGHT.

We of course want them to have correct faith but a big part of that is living as Christ would have us live. I theorize that if Japan didn’t have faith but lived as Christ commanded, they would heal their country. Of course, you can’t really live as Christ commanded without genuine faith, it would be to hard and the mind would rebel.

Anyway, we need to take a look out there at the non Christian world. Those people need us. We need to be holy and not set a bad example of Christianity before them but we must also then reach out to them and give them the same gift that was given to us, the Gospel.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

And it is true. No one really does do very well. Japan has changed from a country of patient people to people who want instant self gratification. They don’t want to take the time to learn. Of the converts to the Catholic Church here in Kitakyushu, most of them are older, in their 40s or 50s. That in itself amazes me as it is the opposite of what I saw in America. I will say this though, the Catholic Church does have Japanese bishops and priest and they are the ones who minister to all the faithful in Japan. I have meet the occational foriegn priest but this is usually when they belong to a religious order that has some sort of monastary or orphanage here in Japan.

I remember seeing the statistics, that although the Christians are in single diget percentages, the percentage of hospitals, social service agencies, etc. in Japan are over half run by Christians.

Houma. As a tribe we converted to Catholicism and adopted French culture and the French language many centuries ago. This was freely done, no one forced it on us. Unfortuanatly, several generations ago, my family left to “do their own thing” and found themselves just in the mist of protestantism, a kind that I can not describe as Christian.

I was near your neck of the woods then, we went to New Orleans this summer too.

 

[Claudius]

There is a Ukrainian Orthodox-Kyivan Patriarchate parish that several of our Ukrainian Greek Catholic people attend since we have no other parish.

I wish this did not have to be the case. I would want them to feel welcome in the Latin Churches. Still, if they are here in Japan, perhaps they will one day be blessed to have a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest establish a parish in Japan.

On a side note, do you know if Japanese people respond to the orthodox well at that parish?

 

[Volodymyr]

I would want them to feel welcome in the Latin Churches.

Perhaps Diak is right about Slavic people, for many Latin Catolic is Polish church and Orthodox church for GrekoCatolic is more like Church than Polish Kostol. Feeling welcome is good, but worshiping God as Orthodox Christian or GrekoCatolic is other thing.

But Orthodoxy in Japan is doing well was just blessed a new Church in Tokio called after Aleksandr Nevskij and also is Cafedral in Tokio named after Nikolai, Saint of Japan, and other churches such is Saporoo

Cafedralnij Sobor Nikolai::

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New Church in Tokio Aleksandr Nevskij Saint