General Assembly of Major Superiors in Japan

It has been a year since the publication of “Laudato Si” but the full text has not yet been published in Japan due to the arduous translation involved. However, this has not stopped the Association of Major Superiors from choosing it as the main theme in the General Assembly this year, which was held in the Parish of the Holy Family in Osaka from June 1 to 4. Sixty-five congregations participated with the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio in Japan, Msgr. Joseph Chennoth and the Bishop of Osaka, Msgr. Manyu Maeda.
On the first day, a diocesan priest of Nagasaki, P. Hiro Kamatsu, spoke on “General Content of ‘Laudato Si!’”; on the second day, a professor at the University of Sofia, Mr. Fumihiko Kubo on “Christian faith and nuclear radiation” (one of the controversial issues in the country);  on the third day, Bishop Isao Kikuchi on “Rethinking evangelization”. These three conferences were the basis for the study from which several suggestions have emerged.
The participants have felt particularly motivated by the following:
– Everything that God has created is interconnected (Integral Ecology)
– Our planet is wounded by the throwaway culture and the globalization of indifference.
– The use of nuclear energy “is not compatible with respect for life and the environment.”
Therefore, Pope Francis makes a call to every religious congregation to concretely commit to:
– Getting out of their own securities.
– Opening their heart and going out to meet those around us.
– Constantly asking what we want to leave to future generations, and opting for a new lifestyle.
As new task for this year the Association of Major Superiors of Japan is committed to the following two issues:
1. Support to earthquake victims in Kumamoto, a city in southwestern Japan that has recently been hit by a series of earthquakes, the strongest of magnitude 7.3 causing damage to homes, buildings, roads, and in mountainous areas, and leaving many dead and wounded and people without permanent homes until now.
2.  Collaboration in the “Talita Kum Japan” Project (Project team in Japan to address the problem of trafficking as with women, migrants, mestizo children, etc.).
The Daughters of Jesus is a very small congregation in Japan, but we continue to be present at these meetings, despite our language limitations, being one with the Church of Japan in her many concerns in meeting the challenges of the new evangelization. We do what we can to work with simple gestures, firmly believing that “A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough” (Gal. 5: 9).