In Japan As on the Banks of the Rhine. The Church's Surrender

The responses of the Japanese and central Europeans to the questionnaire for the synod on the family register the yielding of Catholics to the dominant “uniform thought.” But also the pastors' inability to lead

by Sandro Magister

ROME, June 6, 2014 – So far six episcopal conferences have violated the terms of confidentiality and have made public the responses to the 39 questions of the preparatory questionnaire for the upcoming synod of bishops, convened on the issue of the family. 

German:

> Pastoral challenges to the family…

Austrian:

> Fragebogen zur Bischofssynode...

Swiss:

> Risultati della consultazione...

Belgian:

> Rapport de synthèse...

French:

> Les défis pastoraux de la famille...

Japanese:

> Response to the Secretariat...

As can be noted, five of the six episcopal conferences belong to the central European geographical area that was the activist wing of the innovations of Vatican Council II but afterward was also the one most marked by the phenomenon of secularization.

Today it is above all from this area that the strongest pressure is coming for a change of teaching and pastoral practice concerning marriage, in particular with the request to give communion to the divorced and remarried.

Continue to Sandro Magister...chiesa.

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Desecrated by Shinto and Buddhist Rites

(Madrid) The famous cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was desecrated by Buddhist and Shinto rites  The Catholic Church prohibits in their churches every act of worship of another religion. Through the implementation of a strange rite a Catholic church is profaned, and requires a special rite to fix this desecration.

Nevertheless, it came as part of an event organized by the local tourist association  "Japanese Week in Santiago", the  desecration of the world famous place of pilgrimage cathedral by Buddhist monks and Shinto priests, who presented ritual songs and dances.

Tourism Association Organized "Japanese Week" and  Allowed Buddhist and Shinto Dance in Cathedral

From the 9th to the 13th of  May, Japan was presented in Santiago with a variety of events all year.  It featured  Japanese art, music and cuisine. On May 13th, the last day of the theme week, the event took place in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela called "The Spirit of Japan".  The program announced the event as "Songs and Dances of Buddhist monks and Shinto priests of the prefecture of Wakayama."

But how is it possible that the cathedral of  the Archbishop  could permit the  Tourist Office to make it available, ​​moreover even for ritual acts of foreign religions? This is what Catholics are currently asking. For the tourist office  Santiago de Compostela all religions are equal,  so for that reason  religious programs can take place in a religious context, specifically Buddhist and Shinto rites in a Catholic church.

Holy Mass in a Side Chapel - Idolatry Before the High Altar

While Holy Mass was celebrated in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Cathedral,  the main nave of the church in front of the main altar  was opened to Buddhist monks and Shinto priests for their rites.

The even was not mentioned on the website of the cathedral church, but without the consent of those responsible,   the event could not have taken place. There is also no indication that the procedure  required by the Church after a profanation, that is a  purification rite, will be  performed with a new consecration.

Are really all religions equal and a church  is only a syncretic container dedicated  to fit  in   all religions? What does Archbishop Julián Barrio   of Santiago de Compostela mean by this?

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Messa in Latino

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Japanese Translator: Thomas Aquinas as Bach

Edit: this is probably one of the most genius comments written this year.

Bangkok (kath.net/KNA) Ryosuke Inagaki (84) emeritus Philosophy professor of the University of Kyushu, has completed his translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica" into Japanese.  "Thomas' writing is like a piece by Bach, with a rhythm, which lightens the way.  For that reason, once I was into the translation,  it went seemingly fast,"  said Inagaki to the press service of Ucanews on Monday.  He did not find the work as an obligation.

The professor had completed the translation of  20 of the 45 volumes himself and accompanied the project till its completion at the end of September.  The "Summa" of the Dominican friar and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas (from 1225-1274) is counted of the most important theologico-philosophical works of the Middle Ages.

Inagaki, who was himself baptized as a student, learned of the work of Thomas Aquinas, among other things, from a US Officer stationed in Japan after the Second World War.  Later he studied the concept of Thomas' natural law.  As a translation project he pushed through the eleventh volume.

His favorite edition of the "Summa theological" remained according to Ucanews, a 1952 soft cover exemplar for the general US market with the title "My Way of Life".  The title made correct statement that Thomas wanted to make an instruction manual for people "who really wanted to be truly and actually happy", said Inagaki.

There were 15 researchers participating in  the Japanese translation by the agency.  Half of them did not survive to finish the last volume.  The founder of the publishing house, in which the Japanese "Summa" appeared, died two days after the completion of the galley proof of the last volume.  A Latin-German, was begun to 34 volumes of the extant edition in 1933.  It is still not finished.

Link to kath.net...

A Sign of Hope in Japan: Traditional Catholics

The traditional Rite in Japan

In Japan the Catholic Church has a difficult situation.  Its presence in the population is almost hardly relevant -- it sits at under 0.5 percent.  Under the direction of the predominant Jesuits of the (nominally Catholic) Sophia University, have opened the National Church to the most extreme form of the "spirit of the Council".  That is also valid for the Liturgy, beneath the veil of a supposed inculturation the traditional patrimony of the Church is often almost impossible to detect, not only for foreigners, but also for the native Japanese as well.

Despite, or perhaps really because there is also a group of traditionally oriented Catholics that has been formed, there is a national branch of the International Federation Una Voce, and for 3-4 weeks, Fr. Augustin Ikeda (SSP) offers a sung Mass for those who want the traditional Mass.  The Mass doesn't take place in any of the few Catholic churches in Tokyo,  but in the home of a member of Fr. Augstin's community.   Pictures of the Mass are located on TNLM and on the page of the Japanese "Blog of a Practicing Catholic Metropolitan."

Translated from summorumpontificum.de....

Earthquake in Japan, Again

Ora pro Nobis

Edit: will the genius of the mighty Yamoto People prevail? May Our Lady watch over them.

TOKYO — Northeastern Japan was jolted Sunday morning by a 7.0 magnitude aftershock, the largest to hit here in more than three months, triggering a tsunami warning for coastal areas trying to recover from the March 11 mega-disaster.

Initial reports indicated no damage as a result of this tremor, but residents — including workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — were urged to evacuate. Tsunami waves between 10 and 20 centimeters high were reported in Miyagi and Iwate Prefecture.

Gallery

Japan: After the quake and three months after the quake: A comparative look at Japan’s topography.

More on this Story

• Japan struggles to attract tourists
• In Japan, baseball brings normalcy
• 7.0 aftershock hits off Japan coast

The earthquake struck at 9:57 a.m., centered some 131 miles off the east coast of Sendai.

Read further...here.

Photo taken from, here...

New Bishops For Japan

Vatican.  On the feast of the Annunciation Pope Benedict XVI named two Japanese prieests as Bishops.  Msgr Eijiro Suwa [63] will be the new Bishop of Takamatsu in the South of Japan.  His Diocese has 26 Parishes containing around five thousand Catholics.  Additionally, the Pope named a priest from the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, Msgr Paul Hamaguchi [62], at the new Bishop of Oita -- also in the south of the Land.  This Diocese contains 26 parishes with six thousand Catholics.

Link to kreuz.net original...

Japanese Anglican Priest Plans on Entering the Catholic Church

On the heels of yesterday's story about Dean Sellers of Fargo, UCANews.com is carrying the story of another Anglican Communion priest who will be entering the Catholic Church:

By ucanews.com special correspondent, Tokyo

Father Satoru Kato, 56, until recently an Anglican priest working in England, is set to enter full communion with the Catholic Church and be ordained a Catholic priest.

According to Father Hiroshi Oka of the Saitama diocese, who has been helping coordinate the convert’s entry into that diocese, once he is ordained Kato will work at a welfare institute and parishes as an assistant priest in Gunma Prefecture. Since Christmas, he has been doing interim work in Gunma.

Read further at The Epiphany of Our Lord, here.

Pope meets with Japanese bishops to discuss Neocatechumenal Way

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Japanese bishops, including the president of the bishops' conference, met with Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials to discuss the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Dec. 13 meeting with four Japanese bishops had been called by Pope Benedict, said the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka.

He told Catholic News Service that the meeting lasted nearly two hours and included the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and "several other cardinals."

While the archbishop would not comment on the substance of the meeting, he said the bishops would have to have further discussions with the Vatican and the Neocatechumenal Way's co-founder, Kiko Arguello.

Read further...