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Showing posts with the label Japan

Fukushima Cleanup: Slow Progress

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A tsunami flooded the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant eight years ago. Fires, explosions and meltdowns followed. Folks living within 20 kilometers were told to leave the area. Radiation levels are dropping. A few folks are moving back. Clearing debris and removing radioactive fuel rods is taking more time than expected.... (More, at A Catholic Citizen in America )

Keiko Uemura, a spring flower in the desert. Sunday Reflections, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Keiko Uemura on her First Communion Day, December 1971 Keiko died 27 April 1972, aged 14 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Mark 6:1-6 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) Jesus left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him.  On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’  And he

Columban Fr Daniel Canniffe RIP

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Fr Daniel Canniffe 3 July 1928 - 28 June 2018 Fr Daniel 'Dan' Canniffe was born on 3 July 1928 in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. He was an only child as were each of his parents. Educated at Bandon Naotional School, Hamilton High School, Bandon, and St Finbarr's College, Farrenferris, County Cork, he entered St Columban's, Dalgan Park, Navan, in September 1945. Immaculate Conception Church, Bandon   [ Parish FB ] Ordained priest on 21 December 1951 Father Dan was appointed to Japan. He spent seven years there. After language school he was involved in pastoral work in Yakatamachi, Wakayama City. There he was involved in using all the usual techniques to make the Church known. This included posters, street collections for the poor, film shows, lectures by invited speakers, promotion of the Legion of Mary, the Society of St Vincent de Paul and the Young Christian Workers. Those were the years of plenty in post-war Japan when many people entered

Columban Fr Thomas Kilkenny RIP

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Fr Thomas Kilkenny (23 July 1922 - 7 May 2018) Fr Thomas Kilkenny was born in Lecarrow, Carrowbehy, Castlerea, County Roscommon, Ireland, on 23 July 1922. He was educated at Gorthaganny National School, County Roscommon, and Summerhill College, Sligo. He came to St Columban's, Dalgan Park, in September 1940 and was ordained priest in December 1946. Castlerea, County Roscommon   [ Wikipedia ] Father Tom was assigned to Japan in 1947 and apart from his vacations and a year or so working in Mindanao, Philippines, in the 1950s, he spent the next fifty-five years working there in a variety of pastoral assignments. His first assignment was to Oiso. This was followed by stints in Toshima, Tokyo, and a longer period in Katase, Kanagawa. Christ the King Church, Choshi   [ Source ] Then he spent time in two Chiba parishes, in Choshi and then in Tateyama. In Kumamoto he taught in the Marist High School and then worked for eight years in Tamana. After that t

Columban Fr David Padrnos RIP

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Fr David Padrnos 7 September 1944 - 18 August 201 7 The son of Joseph E. and Rosalie (Bueltel) Padrnos, Father Dave grew up in Holy Name Parish in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He had two sisters, Teresa (who preceded him in death) and Sally, as well as a brother, Wayne. Father Dave studied at Holy Name Grade School and Cathedral High School, Omaha, before going on to St Columban’s College and Seminary, Milton, Massachusetts, and St Columbans College and Seminary, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. He did his Spiritual Year at St. Columbans, Bristol, Rhode Island. His theology studies were at St John’s Seminary Brighton, Massachusetts, (while residing at St Columbans, Milton, MA.). H e was ordained at St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha, on 28 May 1971 by Archbishop Daniel Sheehan. St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha   [ Wikipedia ] The young priest arrived in Japan in September 1971 and resided at the central house in Roppongi, Tokyo, during the twenty-two month period in which he was engag

Fukushima, Six Years Later

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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster could have been much worse. But it may have been avoidable. Meltdowns and non-nuclear explosions at the power plant didn't directly kill anyone. More than 40 patients who were evacuated from a nearby hospital died later. They had been critically ill. Getting rushed away from a nuclear incident in progress wouldn't have been good for their health. Three former power company executives now face criminal charges. The earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns in 2011 killed nearly 16,000 folks and left many others homeless. Many folks still can't return to their homes. Quakes happen. This one was nobody's fault. What happened in Fukushima is another matter. I'll be looking at the disaster, what's happened since, and why questioning authority can be a good idea. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

'Peregrinari pro Christo' - 'To be an exile/pilgrim for Christ'. Sunday Reflections, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

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The Calling of St Matthew (detail), Caravaggio [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (NAB: USA) Readings (Jerusalem Bible) Gospel Matthew 10:37-42 ( NR SV, Catholic Ed ) Jesus said to his Apostles: ‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ Post-World War II Japan [ Source ] Whoever loves father

Columban Fr Charles Duster RIP

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Fr Charles Duster (15 September 1934 - 7 March 2017) Father Charlie was born on 15 September 1934 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA, where his parents Charles Henry Duster ['DOOster'] and Cleo Catherine Handley Duster owned and operated a supermarket. He has an older brother William C. Duster (Audrey) of Littleton, Colorado, a sister Mrs Robert Enns (Katie) of Fort Pierce, Florida, and eleven nieces and nephews and their families. His older sister, Margaret Jeanne Duster, died in 1972.

Japanese Catholic Naming Customs

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I’ve long been interested in the Japanese Catholic Church — we love St. Francis Xavier in my family (and the CCC movie  Francis Xavier and the Samurai’s Lost Treasure  is a favorite), and this bit  from  The Catholic Encyclopedia  at New Advent  is amazing and so moving: “ There is not in the whole history of the Church a single people who can offer to the admiration of the Christian world annals as glorious, and a martyrology as lengthy, as those of the people of Japan .” Indeed there are huge lists of Venerables, Blesseds, and Saints who were  born in Japan  and  died in Japan  and — being that I’m always looking through the lens of Catholic names — I’ve always been interested by the fact that every single one of them has a familiar saint’s name for a first name. I know there are Japanese Catholics with Japanese names (like the aforementioned Shusaku Endo; I did actually look to see if he also had a Christian name but didn’t find one), so I’ve wondered how the idea of “Chr

Citizenship and Being Catholic

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I like being an American, most of the time. I know that my country is far from perfect, but I'd rather be here than anywhere else on Earth. Living in Sauk Centre, a smallish central Minnesota town, probably helps. I really like it here. But it's no Brigadoon , unchanged and unaffected by the outside world.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Being a Citizen

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I was surprised and flattered when two tourists from Thailand asked me if I was Jewish. That was about four decades back, at Grand Canyon National Park, near the visitor center. I'd brought a big topographic map of that massive gulch, spreading it out at intervals to see what I was looking at, and taking photos. That's not mine, by the way: it's from Tom Bernard Anyz . I think the Thai tourists had noticed that I had a full beard and never took my cap off. Quite a few gentiles in America wore caps indoors and out at the time, and still do: but not many American men grow a 'haven't shaved in years' beard. The plain black jacket I wore probably helped, too. I enjoyed being mistaken for one of our Lord's relatives, but my ancestors are about as gentile as it gets, west of the Urals. They probably hadn't even heard of Abraham or Isaac until missionaries arrived, and that's another topic. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

'A spring flower in the desert.' Sunday Reflections, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Keiko Shemura, First Communion Day, Dec. 1971, she  died April 1972, aged 14 Gospel   Mark 6:1-6  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition ) Jesus left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.   On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!   Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary   and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense   at him.   Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”   And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.   And he was amazed at their unbelief. Cherry blossoms [ Wikipedia ] Both the New American Bible and the