Focolare Movement

Loving & Serving in Japan

Jan 31, 2014

Mutual love in a family becomes the driving force behind constructive relations of service with an ecumenical dimension.

I work as a civil servant in the area of fisheries and marine resources. During my 22 years of marriage I’ve moved 5 times to different regions of Japan because of my job,” recounts Nagatani Hiroshi. He is a married focolarino with three grown children. He was born into a Buddhist family but later followed his wife in being baptized a Catholic. “I thought that by doing so I would be providing my children a single religious reference in a social context that is quite diverse spiritually.” In 1993 Nagatani and his wife met the spirituality of unity and felt urged to live the Gospel by placing themselves at the service of others, especially by contributing to the spiritual formation of the laity in their parish. Family life was still filled with moves and “this brought an element of adventure. One time we went to live on the island of Tsushima where there is no Catholic church. At first we felt totally lost, but then we became friends with an Anglican priest on the island, and would attend the Anglican liturgy on Sundays. Thanks to this friendship, when a Catholic priest began coming to the island to visit us, the Anglican priest was quite willing to place the church at the disposal of the Catholics for Mass. Thus all the Catholics on the island began to unite and we were able to contribute to their spiritual growth.” Recently Nagatani and his wife were invited to join the Diocesan staff that runs marriage preparation courses for young couples. They were entrusted with the lessons on procreation and life. “My wife is a midwife, so she dealt with the technical side. I dealt more with the family relationship side, that is, the variety of issues that are involved and how they could be dealt with as a couple. In carrying out this service I find myself conveying to the young people an idea of Igino Giordani, which was particularly helpful to me. Igino Giordani would say that all the time a couple does not live out mutual love is wasted time.”

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

USA: NextNow, dialogue between the Muslim and the Focolare communities

USA: NextNow, dialogue between the Muslim and the Focolare communities

‘NextNow’ promotes the Muslim-Christian dialogue which starts from the communities, with a focus on the legacy of the spiritual friendship between Imam W.D. Mohammed and Chiara Lubich. On the 10th of May 2025, Margaret Karram participated in one of the regular meetings. She gave a special online greeting.

Seeds of Peace and Hope for the Care of Creation

Seeds of Peace and Hope for the Care of Creation

On 2nd July, 2025, the Holy Father Leo XIV’s Message for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation which is celebrated on 1st September, was published. Maria De Gregorio, expert for sustainable development at the Ecosystems Foundation, expert in strategies and actions to reduce environmental risks and impacts, offered us this reflection.