Okinawa Catholics Mark Battle Aniversary with Pilgrimage and Empty Words

22 07 2008

full article

In his homily, Capuchin Franciscan Father LaSalle Parsons exhorted the congregation, saying, “We are lamenting that little has been achieved in 63 years. How long must we wait? Jesus urges us to act now. Let’s work for peace.

Maybe it is just me or a bad translation but that makes no sense. Peace has been achieved in Japan. The statement “let`s work for peace” really annoys me because it sounds like empty words that are so often tossed around in this country. I think the real work for peace in Japan involves working for the end of abortion which, as far as I can find, is never worked for here by churches that I am aware of.

However, a notable number of participants came from outside of Okinawa. Saneiki Tanaka who came from Hokkaido’s Obihiro Church with his university friend said, “This was our first visit to Okinawa. To be honest, we are shocked by the atrocities of war and the terror of mass suicides. I feel now we shouldn’t overlook such tragedies. We want all Hokkaido to know of them.

What about the tragedy of abortion here where Ive read that 300, 000 babies a year are killed. What are they doing to make people aware of that and stop it??? Where is the outrage? Oh wait there is none. The churches promote groups such as Caritas but do nothing that I know of to pray in front of places that perform abortions and so on. Meanwhile the news is full of comments about Japans aging society with no one to replace them. Oh yeah because the replacements are all dead and no one has said a thing.

As the pope said in a recent address at World Youth Day

“The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable.”

Full text of that speech here





Abortion in Japan

18 03 2008

It is very common, accepted, and hard to get exact numbers on in English.  For example in a document from 2001 titled Reverence for Life: A Message for the Twenty-First Century from The Catholic Bishops of Japan they provide an unsourced statement that “There are more than one million abortions in Japan each year…”  http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/edoc/01life.htm#b-sex

A simple google search will provide a general overview of this topic, and statistics at at least 300 000 aboritons per year.  A Catholic view can be had at lifeissues.net with articles such as the following about abortion and grieving in Japan.   http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/zim/zim_70grievingunbornjapan.html

Lifeissues even has a Japanese site which is the only anti abortion/ pro-life site of its kind I can find so far.  http://japan-lifeissues.net/