January 2013 Newletter

For Our Reflection

New Year, New Start

As we start the year we normally have the practice of making a New Year`s resolution. There is just something about the start of the year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between Dec 31 and Jan 1. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31. Yet there is something special that move us to change something within us.

Most of the common New Year`s resolution we make are commitments to quit smoking, to manage our time wisely, and to lose weight. Most Christians would make their New Year`s resolution to pray more, to attend the church regularly and to read the Bible. However, these New Year`s resolution fail just as often as the normal resolutions we have because there is no magical about making a New Year`s resolution.


 Resolving to start or stop doing a certain has no value unless you have a proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity.

So what sort of New Year`s resolution should we make? 



Here are some suggestions:
1. Pray to the Lord for wisdom in regards to what
resolutions we would have make
2. Pray for strength to fulfill the goals we have set
3. Find somebody who have the same goal and who could
help us and encourage us
4. Don`t become discourage with occasional failures;
instead, allow them to motivate us further.
5. Lastly, rely on God`s strength to fulfill the goals we set.

Happy New Year 

Faith in Action

Fukushima Round Table for Migrants Support

"Nothing with us without us"

This saying captures the theme of the Fukushima Round Table for Migrant Support which was held last December 28-29 2012, a gathering of foreigners to create a network of support among themselves. This gathering was attended by 170 people of different nationalities, Prof. Yukio Yamaguchi, Japan College of Social Work, explained the aim as follows;

"The Social Inclusion Support Center is utilizing funds from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor to operate the Yorisoi Hotline as an overall consultation service for people who are vulnerable to social exclusion. Among its services, it has established a multilingual 'Helpline for Foreigners'. However, support is not something to be provided only through the phone. It is important to establish networks and links between supporters including migrants themselves who know their own issues the most. On this occasion, so that we can form support networks for residents with non-Japanese cultural background in the three prefectures devastated by the disaster, we decided to open a round table conference to provide opportunity for exchange and mutual learning between fellow supporters including actual migrants from in- and outside the disaster area.
In the future, we hope that we can contribute to the formation of a nationwide network of migrant support organizations, and especially to the creation of a system where migrants can become their own supporters."

The groups were divided according to language in order to discuss about their needs problems at the same time their strength as a group. After which each group were given the chance to present their discussions to the bigger group.


Many things were realized during gathering particularly, on the need to bring to the front the issues the foreigners facing in Japan and the need to create a network among
themselves for support and sharing of information.

Suggestions such as having this kind of meeting once a year was being propose to the body in the hope to strengthen the bond that was started on this meeting. We look forward for more gatherings like this in order to learn from one another on the different issues we are facing as foreigners here in Japan. 

the Filipino participants

Christmas Celebrations from the Different Communities

Our hearts were filled with joy as we celebrate the birth of our Lord. Each community had their way to welcome Christ. Indeed, we are all blessed. These are some of the pictures of our celebrations.

Kesennuma Community

Fr. Haru with the Ishinomaki Community

Fr. Kawasaki and Fr. Haru celebrating mass

Hirosaki Community

Shirakawa Community

Shirakawa community Children

Ofunato Church

Jaken

Sharing the Good News

At the start of this year, there are good news that are worth sharing. Its about the work of we are doing here in the Diocese of Sendai, which was featured in ABS-CBN and Japan Times last January 8, 2013 

Tagalog-speaking Indonesian priest helps Pinoys in Japan

By Ryuta Minami, Kyodo

Posted at 01/07/2013 12:08 PM | Updated as of 01/07/2013 5:28 PM

MORIOKA, Japan - Father Antonius Harnoko, an Indonesia missionary in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, is offering psychological and spiritual support to foreign residents in the northeastern Japan region ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.

Harnoko, 42, is especially helpful to Filipino residents as he speaks Tagalog and holds Masses in the language at the local churches he visits.

"Masses in Tagalog make me feel calm," says a 37-year-old Filipino woman working at a nursing-care facility in Ofunato. "I didn't expect them in Japan."

Harnoko learned Tagalog while studying in the Philippines and came to Japan in 1998 to become a Catholic priest. Working as a missionary in Tokyo and Osaka, he temporarily returned to Indonesia in December 2004 shortly before a devastating earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra later in the month, claiming 220,000 lives.

Harnoko was in Java at the time and watched the catastrophe on television. "As I had to return to Japan for my church work, I could only pray to God," he recalls.

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, Harnoko applied for a transfer to the damaged region from Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan and was allowed to move to Iwate in November the same year.

The regret he felt at doing nothing after the Sumatra earthquake prompted him to seek the transfer.

In the month after the transfer, Harnoko held a Mass in Tagalog at a community center in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, for the congregation of a local church damaged by the disaster. Throughout the Mass, some Filipino participants were weeping for fear of radiation contamination from the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Filipino visitors to a church Harnoko is assigned to in Ofunato are increasing because they can express their worries to him in their native language.

On weekends, Harnoko drives his car to churches in Aomori, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures to offer Masses in Tagalog and listen to worries voiced by Filipino residents.

Foreigners in the disaster-damaged area cannot recover so easily because of cultural and linguistic barriers, Harnoko says, adding, "I will stay here for them."

==Kyodo

link to the article

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/01/07/13/tagalog-speaking-indonesian-priest-helps-pinoys-japan