Credo in Unum Deum

I came across this video on you tube and it’s probably my favorite chant.  Not that I listen to that many but of the ones I have heard I really like it. Here in Japan I can hear from time to time a Buddhist monk or monks chanting on a tv show (in particular if it is a funeral scene) or very rarely if they happen to be doing so while Im sightseeing at a temple.  The Buddhist chanting is ok but it doesn’t grab me the way Gregorian chant does and in particular Credo in Unum Deum.  Listening to it is my spa treatment for the soul since I dont go to real spas.

For the history of the chant and the words see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credo

Fr Donald Calloway

I saw him on EWTN and he has one incredible story.  Go to their audio library and search for his name and listen to the Journey Home, or go to this site http://ccgd-media.org/video.aspx and there is a video of his story plus some stuff on Medjugorje and a homly he gave there.

It is incredible to listen to this man, now a priest wearing a collar, tell the story of his absolutely wild teenage years.  I think he has most people beat in terms of wildness too.  He did every kind of drugfrequently, drank alcohol every day,  slept with tons of girls,  dropped out of highschool, he got a Grateful Dead tattoo, he got thrown in jail, thrown in rehab, thrown out of Japan.  He knew nothing about God Jesus or Mary nor did he care to learn.  So how did someone who was the polar opposite of priest material and more likely to end up dead in the gutter end up in a collar?  Listen to his story!

  

The Japanese Obsession with Food

There are a ton of cooking and/or eating shows on tv here.  That is not ultimately what this post is about though so bear with me for a minute.  Flip through the twelve basic chanels everyone gets and at any given time on any given day one will see a show involving food.  Big food like giant ice cream, expensive food like a $50 burger that contains kobe beef and foi gras, $100 ramen, cheap food, specialty food, new restaurants, food quiz shows, and on and on it goes.  Many towns and prefectures have a local food speciality  so any domestic travel show includes an eating segment.  Not to mention going to an onsen is a common domestic travel destination as well as tv show subject and what does one do at an onsen?  Soak in the mineral baths for one but also EAT.  This is all on regular chanels too not something like the food network.

On these shows the tv celebrities tend to act the same way too with dramatic oohs and aaahs upon seeing the food then upon tasting there are the cries of joy and excitement over how delicous something was.  If something is expensive, fancy, rare or known to be delicious the dramatic reaction increases.  Of course this is all on tv so at home people arent that exaggerated but food is still a common topic.  

I want you the reader to have this image of food close ups with a slow camera shot  panning a dish while people ooh and ahh and squeal with excitment.  Now imagine that food is the Eucharist.

 I see these shows and I think wow that is quite a fuss they are making over  that food such dramatics I wonder what they would think of a little round white wafer.  That little round white wafer so small and simple not really any smell or flavour to it at all but the best thing I have ever eaten.  It is prieceless.  It is Jesus, it is God and on those shows they can never come close to eating anything that compares.

I sometimes imagine what one of those food shows would look lke it they focused on the Eucharist the same way they do a steak.  For a steak they may show the farmer who raised the cow, what he feeds the cows, how he brushes them and cares for them, then how the chef lovingly prepares the steak cutting it just so and seasoning it just right, finally presenting it on a beautiful dish.   If they did that with the Eucharist showing the Passion, showing Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and all that ends up as a small white round wafer that is the body blood soul and divinity of God!  I think a lot more Catholics would appreciate what they are eating and mabe more Japanese would become Catholic.  I mean if they can be enthusiatic over a fine slice of tuna surely they can even better appreciate a slice of God.

The Bells of Nagasaki

I came across the book The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai in a book store here several years ago and have read the book two or three times since. I was utterly amazed that such a book exists and such a man as Mr. Nagai, a Catholic convert doctor, had lived in and survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Here is the description from the back cover :
“Among the wounded on the day they dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was a young doctor who though sick himself, cared for the sick and dying. Written when he too lay dying of leukemia The Bells of Nagasaki is the extraordinary account of his experience. It is a deeply moving and human story.”

The book is available on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Bells-Nagasaki-Japans-Modern-Writers/dp/4770018452

An article on the author at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagai_Takashi

Jesus in New York

This is a great video I found on you tube.

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

I just started saying it several days ago after listening to ex London gangster John Pridmore on EWTN. His ex gang boss ended up even saying it on his death bed. It takes me about five to ten minutes to say. It is nice and short and easy to fit into a busy day when you don’t have time to do a whole rosary. That has actually been my problem with the rosary since it takes around twenty minutes to say plus more concentration and meditation on the various mysteries, so sometimes it can be more of a chore to do. Chaplet of divine mercy on the other hand you can just think about divine mercy for five to ten minutes, so for my life right now the chaplet will be my devotion of choice. Sorry rosary

One site about how to say it and the promises to St Faustina is here
http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm

Tradition

The recent documents issued by the Vatican: one the motu proprio allowing a wider use of the Latin mass to priests who wish to do so, and two the “Responses to some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church” which reaffirms the truth, oneness, fullness of Catholic Church both have to do with tradition. A lot of a lot of news headlines put a negative slant on the documents, as if tradition and reiterating the same thing for 2000 years is bad, with examples from Google news such as “Vatican hits ‘wounded’ Christian churches.” - ABC News.au Pope: Other Christians not true churchesBoston Globe and Latin mass a looming headache for Catholic parishesReuters India,

People come to Japan looking for the so called “real Japan” expecting tradition and history. They really want to see and experience traditional things no matter how fleeting a glance they get or unaware how recent the so called tradition is. This is not my problem since tourists from anywhere to anywhere tend to have the same idea since it is part of what draws people to a place. My problem is if the Catholic church mentions tradition it is seen by some as a bad thing. I wonder how many of these people who see Catholic tradition as something bad also see Japanese religious traditions as something bad too? From my experience this is not the case. I have encountered other foreigners here who have an anti-Catholic anti-Christian bias, however, this dislike of religion does not extend to religions found here namely Buddhism and Shinto. They would likely never say (at least I never heard them say) a statue is too old fashioned and needs a more modern style, or likewise for a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine building. I have also never heard anyone question the morals or philosophies of the two religions, or at least not say anything bad about them the same way they do about Christianity. In fact there are seemingly a large number of foreigners who marry Japanese and want a traditional Shinto ceremony.

I could go on but I won’t for now my point is there is a double standard and I don’t like it.

Why am I doing this in the first place?

After various Google and blog searches I found basically nothing about life as a foreigner and a Catholic in Japan. Yes there are tons of blogs about people’s trips here, their year or two as a teacher or student but that is pretty much it. No one ever really mentions their own religion in their time here, maybe many don’t practice a religion or become more interested in Buddhism or Shinto or sex. Since I couldn’t find anyone else talking about being a Catholic here I decided to do it and through this maybe someone can feel like they aren’t alone, and that it is possible to keep and even build upon your Catholicism here. Of course anyone is welcome to read irregardless of religion or nationality.

I should also mention that the majority of foreign Catholics here are from the Philippines, Brazil, Vietnam and not so called Western countries like the UK, Australia, the U.S and Canada. The Filipinos have their own very strong community and are usually the majority of people attending English mass which is fine however if you are almost the only Westerner it might feel a little lonely in that you may not be able to relate to people from other cultures as well as you would from your own. Don’t stop going to mass though even if its in Japanese because you can hear the readings and homily on places like EWTN. The main thing you need is the Eucharist and if you want to go but cant find a priest to confess to in English you can contritely say an act of contrition and make an honest vow to go to confession at the next opportunity. There is an official church document that states this and you should be able to find by googling it.

The Eucharist is very important as is confession of course because for me when I finally went to confession and could happily go to communion it made life a heck of a lot easier. I felt more peaceful, able to deal with things better, I didn’t feel so angry at Japan and so on. So go to confession and communion!

In future posts I plan to talk about things like going to Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, which are very common sightseeing spots, but also less common encounters like going to someones house where they have a butsudan or Buddhist altar to the ancestors that guests may be expected to offer a brief prayer at.

Motu Proprio

The loosening of the laws on the tridentine mass sure aren’t making some reporters happy “Pope Benedict’s decision to promote the old Latin mass is a dream come true for delighted Roman Catholic traditionalists and a looming headache for the harried priests now expected to celebrate it. REUTERS/Chris Helgren” what the heck!? One of the the priests at my church here runs through the mass so fast you would think it was a headache for him to do the new mass so Id love to see him do the old rite.

Speaking of the old rite the first time I ever saw it was on you tube a couple of months ago. Im in my 20s and had never experienced a tridentine mass in any form so the one I saw on you tube was an awesome beautiful almost alien surprise. I wish masses here were more like that instead of father speedy rushing through the entire thing. I know priests aren’t there to entertain but at the very least they should be sincere, reverent, and their words and actions should convey that to the congregation.

Here is part one of eight of that mass on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK8jPgJeGuA

In all I’m for the tridentine mass. The tons of incense I eagerly await since I love church incense and think they should use it all the time. Eucharist on the tongue with someone holding a paten underneath certainly conveys a more sacred experience than the current widespread hand it out in the hand snack time style. Prayers in Latin no problem! I don’t know any Latin but I manage to go in Japanese so it cant be any harder plus I think Latin would be fun and learning new languages is fun.

Kobe Chuo (central) Catholic Church

Was sightseeing in Kobe recently and came across this church. I was too late for mass but stopped in anyway for a prayer and photos. At first it almost doesn’t look Catholic. Where is the tabernacle candle, the stations of the cross, and a cross of Christ crucified. I was in a church in Manhattan near wall street sightseeing and although it was Episcopal (I think) it at first glance looked more Catholic than this place.

Upon closer inspection though one can see the stations of the cross are in the stained glass windows, the tabernacle candle is there but hidden by the curve of one of the windows at the front, and Christ on the cross well um there is a statue and the bricks are raised out from the wall in a cross-like shape. Does that count? If anyone is interested here is their website in Japanese only as far as I can see http://www.kobe-chuo.catholic.ne.jp/ English mass is @ 11:15am on Sunday and in Japanese @9:15am.

Sorry if the photo quality isnt perfect, also notice in front of the altar there are sunflowers. After the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 these flowers became very popular because of the story of one little girl http://www.jamco.or.jp/english/library/documentary/dc280000/dc280435.html