Japanese Cardinal: Social Activism Doesn't Work — some Catholics "Want Latin Mass"
"We have numerous educational institutions and social work programs. As a result, we have several sympathizers, including some within the government and among wealthy individuals. But they’re just that — sympathizers."
Cardinal Kikuchi adds that most people in Japan tend to be politically conservative: "The Catholic Church’s social teachings are often seen as not very conservative and sometimes even leftist or, to some, 'communist'."
A sidenote that is his key phrase: "Some people in Japan prefer traditional Catholic practices, such as the Latin Mass, with lots of incense and a mystical atmosphere, because it helps them disconnect from the Church’s political or social teachings. Within the Church itself, even though it’s small, there’s always tension between those who want to be socially and politically active and those who favor a more traditional spirituality."
Cardinal Kikuchi also admits that Japanese society is aging. "It's not just the church. Young people are absent from society overall."
His missionaries are migrants. "There are Filipinos who married Japanese men. In many farming communities, Japanese farmers searched for wives. Through agencies and other means, many women came from the Philippines, Indonesia, and China, but most were Filipinas."
The Cardinal continues: "Those Filipinos living in rural Japan were the ones telling their non-Catholic husbands, 'Take me to church.'" And they "evangelize quietly, personally, and with conviction".
In his Archdiocese of Tokyo, there are 90,000 Japanese Catholics but another 100,000 Catholic foreigners, 40,000 of them Filipinos.
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