Autumn Symposium
We are now officially in Autumn, having had a national holiday on Monday to mark Autumnal Equinox Day. Our diocese held a special event at the Church of the Resurrection in Kagoshima from Sunday evening to Monday afternoon.
Shigeo Hikichi, a pastor of Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan (The United Church of Christ in Japan) who teaches at our Anglican Theological College in Tokyo, lectured mainly on the life and teaching of St Paul.
On Monday morning, while most participants continued their study with Rev. Hikichi, Bishop Luke took our Philippine visitor, Rev. Feliciano Balangui and me to see the Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots at Chiran.
A former Bishop of Kyushu, Bishop Joseph, was a member of the Special Attack Group (Kamikaze pilots), but the war ended before his own suicide mission. I believe his distress at the death of his friends and his own unwonted survival contributed to his conversion.
The symposium concluded with a question and answer session and a Holy Communion service. Rev. Balangui (Padi Feliciano) went with Bishop Luke and his wife to Fukuoka, and has now gone with Rev. Barnabas Ushijima to Tsushima, where they are holding a service mainly in Tagalog today.
On Monday morning, while most participants continued their study with Rev. Hikichi, Bishop Luke took our Philippine visitor, Rev. Feliciano Balangui and me to see the Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots at Chiran.
A former Bishop of Kyushu, Bishop Joseph, was a member of the Special Attack Group (Kamikaze pilots), but the war ended before his own suicide mission. I believe his distress at the death of his friends and his own unwonted survival contributed to his conversion.
The symposium concluded with a question and answer session and a Holy Communion service. Rev. Balangui (Padi Feliciano) went with Bishop Luke and his wife to Fukuoka, and has now gone with Rev. Barnabas Ushijima to Tsushima, where they are holding a service mainly in Tagalog today.