International News
The Custody of Japan Continues to Support the Survivors of the Japanese Tsunami and Earthquake
Above, Left: Volunteers from Momino Ki Center, which serves survivors who were evacuated from the communities surrounding the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. Right: The displaced survivors who have not been allowed to return home due to high levels of radiation. They currently live in temporary housing.
For the past year, the Capuchin Franciscan friars have been providing counseling to survivors and have established the support center “Momino Ki,” which means fir tree in English, the symbol of Fukushima. The Momino Ki Center serves an average of 30 individuals and families with children a day. The following is a letter from Fr. Claver D’Souza, a Capuchin Franciscan Friar in Japan who is working to help survivors:
Our activities are based in Iwaki city close to Fukushima. After 3/11, we began to distribute food, water, medicines, toiletry and clothing. Once essential items became readily available, we thought we give more importance to counseling.
We were aware that most of the individuals stationed in the temporary housings were elderly, except for a few young couples with children. Japanese by nature are very patient and don’t express their feelings of anger, frustration and sadness. We thought it was best from our part, to bring them together sometimes so they could share their feelings. By being with them and sitting together, we have helped them express their feelings such as, “I have lost my, son, daughter, husband…,” “I have no job,” “I am still looking for my father, sister,” “I don’t know whether I am able to go back to my village, home.”
Most of the survivors stationed in Iwaki City temporary housings are displaced due to the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident. Many of them owned their own houses, farms, fields, shops, but they had to abandon them because they were evacuated. They don’t know whether they will be able to return to their homes in the future.
With the help of CARITAS Japan, we have established a support centre “Momino Ki,” which means fir tree in English, the symbol of Fukushima. It serves both as a counseling centre and a place of refuge. The residents who live in temporary houses can come to Momino Ki and spend their time having coffee, tea and sweets, and take part in community activities with other survivors.
Temporary housing are container houses that are very small and not comfortable during summers and winters because of the extreme hot and extreme cold conditions. The Momino Ki counseling center is at least very comfortable because it is a log house.
We have planned out a program for the volunteers who are willing to help listen to the victims’ feelings and frustrations. Usually the volunteers visit the temporary houses and sit with the residents and talk to them. There are 27 temporary housing colonies in Iwaki city and 12 around Momino Ki.
On an average, 30 individuals visit our centre everyday. Since the New Year, there are also children who visit the centre. We conduct activities like Origami, Ikebana (Japanese style bouquet making), cooking classes on soba (Japanese noodles), and bingo for survivors.
Twice or three times a month, we conduct fiestas of Brazil, Peru, the Philippines and distribute native food and entertain the people with Latin-American music and dance.
My friends and relatives ask me, “Is it ok in Fukushima?”
Well, I can only say, “It has calmed down, but I can’t say it is okay.”
Our only worry is if there is rehabilitation, when will they be rehabilitated? There are still “Garekino yama”, the mountains of debris, “Haishano yama”, the mountains of discarded cars and trucks, “Tatamino yama”, the mountains Japanese flooring.
Since Momino Ki is well known in the local area, we also act as a bridge between the local government, various NGOs and the displaced individuals. I am grateful to all our brothers of the Capuchin Order, the benefactors, friends and relatives from all around the world who are helping us financially and praying for us everyday. It is a great joy for us as Capuchin Franciscans to bring some smile to the suffering brothers and sisters in Fukushima. We know the area of our activity is very limited. Our enthusiasm and resolve to help the disaster victims has not diminished, rather it has doubled. We ourselves have no idea when Fukushima is going to be blessed as the name itself means “an island of blessings.”
-Fr. Claver D’Souza, OFM Cap.
Every February 11th the Diocese of Naha (Okinawa, Japan) celebrates "Diocese Day" as the anniversary of it's canonical establishment. As the 11th is also a national holiday for "National Foundation Day" people are off from work & school and can attend the celebration easily.
At the main celebration Mass, Priests and Religious who will celebrate jubilees during this year, as well as couples celebrating their 50th anniversary, are honored.
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Santa Teresita Church, Part of the Star of the Sea Vice Province in Guam
With a parish that is 3,500 people strong, Santa Teresita Church in Guam is not only a house of worship but also one of the community pillars of Mangilao City, the third largest village in the island country.
Over its 60 years, the church has built a very solid relationship with the community through its various ministries, and by encouraging every church goer to take an active role in the parish, be it singing in the church choir or helping organize an event.
"They are very proud of their parish," said Father Felixberto Leon-Guerrero, the pastor of Santa Teresita. "We usually have new visitors who come to our Sunday mass, and we always try to make them feel welcomed and invite them to take a role in the parish."
Santa Teresita is part of the Star of the Sea Vice-Province, which is an independent vice-province with close ties to the Province of St. Mary. The Vice Province of Our Lady Star of the Sea began in 1939 when 11 Capuchin Franciscan Friars from the Province of St. Mary traveled to Guam and Saipan in the South Pacific as part of the Province’s first official mission. In the years that followed, the Capuchin Franciscan Friars expanded the Star of the Sea Vice Province to include Hawaii. By 1982, Our Lady Star of the Sea established itself as a vice-province with its own leadership council, but continues to maintain its close ties to the Province of St. Mary.
The church, named after St. Teresa, marked its 60th Anniversary this year with year-long festivities to commemorate the special occasion, including Sunday fellowship, social gatherings held every Sunday after services so parishioners could get to know one another better, and a "circus" event that drew close to 2,000 people.
Its very well-populated parish makes Santa Teresita unique among churches in the Province of St. Mary family. Another notable characteristic about the parish is how young it is. There are approximately 300 youths participating in the church’s youth programs, which include a youth choir, a youth band, and a faith and fitness program where students can play basketball and volleyball games. In addition, Santa Teresita also has a Big Brother/Big Sister program and a Boy Scout program.
Youth involvement is so huge that the church has a separate youth facility, a youth office, and a youth lounge, as well as a youth program director who helps coordinate the many different groups and activities.
"We’re a very progressive parish," said Phil Perez, a Santa Teresita parishioner for 13 years. "We know we need to make the church attractive for youth, and the youth ministry is helping bring young people to the church."
Adults are also very active in the church’s organizations and programs. Santa Teresita has a Knights of Columbus group, the Christian Mothers, the Legion of Mary, and a music ministry, which includes an adult choir group that has been performing regularly during Sunday mass and has been with the church for 30 years.
Perez, who serves the church as an extraordinary minister and evening porter, believes that the true success factor in the church’s large parish is the active role every parishioner is asked to take. When he first came to the parish, Perez was directly asked by Father Felixberto to become the evening porter and help close the church after evening mass, and later asked him to become an extraordinary minister.
"When I think of other parishes, I think of the older people who are in the church. It’s always the same people," Perez said. "At Santa Teresita, we don’t count on just a few. We are all held accountable. There is always a new face in our parish committees and groups – someone who has decided I want to serve now."
At 60 years, Santa Teresita is relatively young when compared to other churches. But its strong ties to villagers and its large, vibrant parish makes it promising that it will be part of Mangilao City for decades to come.
"For me as a pastor, one of the things that stands out is the generosity of the people," said Father Felixberto. "There has never been a time when we’ve been short on anything. As soon as we need something we get good feedback. It’s the support and the generosity from the parish that makes Santa Teresita a great church." -DVM
Capuchin Missions Around the World: Choloma, Honduras
Brother Jim Donegan, fourth from left, with community members from Choloma, Honduras.
Brother Jim Donegan reports on the social outreach and community programs in the Central American country.
By: Brother Jim Donegan, O.F.M. Cap
Two years ago, I was assigned to live and work in Choloma, Honduras, as part of the ministry work the Capuchin Franciscan Friars are doing in Central America. Choloma is the third largest city in Honduras with a population of approximately 350,000. Twenty years ago, the city had a much smaller population of about 20,000. But it has grown 17-fold due to a huge increase in the number of factories operating in the city, leading to many people from other parts of the country to migrate to Choloma in search of work.
Because the population up until recently had been quite small, there are only four parishes in the city. The parish where I am assigned, Nuestra Señora de Lourdes (Our Lady of Lourdes) is the largest, covering an area populated by approximately 150,000 people, about half of whom are Roman Catholics. As a means to organize this vast area and population, the parish contains roughly 70 chapel communities.
Our parish community in Choloma faces many social problems. The internal country migration triggered by the factory industry has led to families being split apart and has brought further problems of alcohol and drug abuse, violence, and gang activity in Choloma. There also continues to be a shortage of social services for the poor, as the city infrastructure was built to cater to a much smaller population.
The parish also covers a mountainous portion that is strictly rural. Problems in rural communities include a lack of electricity, poor roads and evacuation routes, homelessness, violence, a lack of support for the elderly, and a lack of access to basic medical care, doctors, and medicine.
The local Capuchin fraternity in Choloma currently consists of three priests and one lay brother. As a lay brother and a social worker, my job has been to help organize the social outreach aspects of the parish that help families in need and promote faith.
The parish has several social outreach groups or pastorales, including the Pastoral de la Salud (regarding health), the Pastoral Penitenciaria (a prison outreach ministry), and the Pastoral de Movilidad Humana (literally “human mobility,” in this case referring to the issue of migration).
Prior to the arrival of the Capuchins at this parish three years ago, these groups functioned independently of each other. A significant piece of my work has been to organize these groups and help them work together and collaborate in the parish’s social outreach mission.
There is also a need to create social action groups in every community of the parish. In the rural region, the social outreach groups are working with Caritas (which is akin to Catholic Charities in the United States) to build two pedestrian bridges in places where the river rises high during the rainy season and make repairs to their local water systems. Caritas provides some of the funding and logistical support while many of the raw materials (such as wood and rocks) and the manual labor are provided by the people from the community.
In the urban sector, the social action groups and the youth ministry did a joint effort to collect and deliver school supplies to disadvantaged children. In addition, the social action groups have worked with Caritas to identify youth who work in domestic labor and provide them with school grants, giving them an opportunity to leave the world of child labor and take the path towards a brighter future.
While the small amount of financial resources in Honduras creates a challenge in starting social programs, the structure of the Church helps a great deal in building up human capital—the organization and volunteerism of people to fully realize projects that respond to the many needs.
I find God in this work in a number of ways. First, our Franciscan tradition has always had a focus on encountering and embracing “the leper,” as St. Francis had literally done during his own life. This embrace of outsiders and untouchables is a rich aspect of our Franciscan tradition. It is an act of recognizing the full human dignity of those who are most marginalized by society. And, it is an attempt to imitate the poor and humble Christ, who did likewise in becoming incarnate in our reality, dwelling among us, serving among us, and suffering among us.
Second, in the act of organizing the people around these initiatives, I see the community itself — the Body of Christ— as they choose to organize themselves in solidarity with the most needy in a world that increasingly focuses itself on personal economic advancement. Furthermore, the parish community is growing in its work to evangelize the world, bringing to fruition more and more the Gospel call to take care of the least of God’s people, preaching through its actions. It is a truly beautiful experience seeing the work of God and the face of God in the actions and faces of the people here in Choloma.