SAM PHRAN, Thailand (UCAN) -- The Catholic Church in Japan is stagnating and growing old, according to Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka.

The number of foreign Catholics is growing with the influx of foreign workers, but the number of Japanese Catholics has remained largely unchanged over the last few decades.

Archbishop Ikenaga spoke with UCA News on the sidelines of the Asian Vocations Today conference, held Oct. 22-27 at Bangkok archdiocese's pastoral training center in Sam Phran, 30 kilometers west of the Thai capital. About 125 bishops and priests in charge of vocations, including seminary rectors, from more than 12 Asian countries and territories formed the core group of participants.

At the conference, Archbishop Ikenaga called on fellow Asian Churches to send missioners to Japan and other places in Asia where the local Church produces few vocations. Foreign missioners working in his archdiocese, based 400 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, include members of the Columban, Paris Foreign Missions, Salesian and St. Francis Xavier Foreign Mission societies.

In this interview with UCA News, the prelate says he and his priests have become "tired" in their efforts to encourage local men and women to become priests and nuns. Priests are aging and there are hardly any men lining up to fill their shoes.

In the archbishop's analysis, the big challenge is changing the mindset that Christianity is a "foreign religion" in this insular country. His call for Asian missioners reflects his desire for the Church to appeal to the Japanese mind in its evangelization efforts, rather than just import Western cultural practices.

Archbishop Ikenaga was born in Kobe, near Osaka, in 1937 and ordained a Jesuit priest in 1968. He was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Osaka, Japan's commercial hub, in November 1995 and succeeded Archbishop Paul Hisao Yasuda in May 1997.

The prelate is a member of the executive board of the Office of Consecrated Life that the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) established in 2004.

According to November 2007 data, Osaka archdiocese has 51 diocesan priests, 127 priests of Religious orders and missionary congregations, and three bishops, including one retired.

The average age of the priests is 63, "and they are getting older and older," according to the prelate.

The interview follows.

UCA NEWS: Your appeal for Asian missioners for Japan is unusual. Why did you make it?

ARCHBISHOP LEO JUN IKENAGA: The [official] Catholic population in Japan accounts for very, very few. In the case of our archdiocese, there are only 45,000 Catholics. Osaka's Catholic population is one-tenth of the whole Catholic population of Japan. Only 0.35 percent of Japan's 127 million people are Catholics, or, in absolute numbers, 444,500.

Not all of the Catholics are Japanese?

Correct. About 30 years ago foreign laborers flocked to Japan and many Catholics were among them. But many of them had no visa. They are still working and staying secretly, unregistered in Japan. Due to their presence our Church grew to double its size. So every Sunday Mass sees double the number of people than according to the official statistics. The number of 444,500 Catholics in Japan also includes [a small percentage of] foreign Catholics who have gone to church for at least three months and are enrolled in a parish.

Why has the total number of Catholics in Japan not increased over the last few decades?

Propagation of the faith is so difficult. Maybe the cultural elements matter as well as the shortage of the number of children in each family. This number is very small, 1.3 children is the average per family. That is one reason why the Church cannot get many vocations.

In terms of cultural issues, how is the Christian faith perceived in Japan?

There was a Synod for Asia in Rome in April-May 1998, and around 180 Asian bishops gathered there. And all of them thought that propagation is very difficult in Asian countries generally, except the Philippines. But in other countries in Asia, it is also difficult to baptize people.

Why?

In the case of India, it is almost 2,000 years since Saint Thomas went there, and there are some signs to see. But in India until today, the Catholic population is also small. Every country is difficult. Regarding Oriental or Asian mentality, according to psychologists Asian people have a maternal way of thinking, while European and American people have a paternal mindset. So, most of the missionaries stressed the very, very big image of God and separated it almost infinitely from human beings, pointing out that we humans are very, very small. But God is so big. So if we sin against the will of God, he will strongly condemn us.

The missionaries, who did tremendous work in general, brought this kind of thinking to Japan. But today, some Japanese say: "We cannot follow this kind of image of God. Rather, for Oriental people, God is very, very near to us. And God lives even inside of us. And the character of God is also full of love for each person. He is very kind. If we sincerely express to God the sinfulness of ourselves, God will accept us." This kind of a kind image of God appeals more to the Japanese, and not only the Japanese but Oriental people in general.

Is this the female, the maternal concept of God?

Yes. Rather than the paternal. Most bishops who gathered at this synod in Rome thought there is no balanced teaching for Oriental people. If somebody believes in God because of this propagation of the missionaries, afterwards day by day, little by little, they feel this religion that they were told about by missionaries does not fit into their lives and psychological understanding.

How many vocations are there are in your archdiocese?

Very few. Now we have only three scholastics in the six-year scholasticate. Only three. And we have 84 parishes, two stations regularly serviced by a priest from another parish and three stations not regularly serviced by a priest in our diocese. Now the priests are getting older and older, and many have died.

What are your concerns regarding the priesthood in your archdiocese?

In my diocese there are 51 archdiocesan priests and 127 priests of Religious orders and missionary congregations. The average age of all of these priests is 63. The average age of the total of 96 priests working in parishes is 61.4. But day by day, missionary fathers (priests) die, also diocesan fathers. For example, last year until June, seven died. How can we cope with that situation?

What do you do in this situation?

In the southern part of our archdiocese, we have five church buildings and parishes, but only two priests. This is already the fact now. In the east of the archdiocese also, for five parishes there are only two priests. So we cannot give a priest to every parish.

Do you have any plan of action?

I do not have a plan. But the reason I came here was to appeal to the bishops of Asia to develop, with the bishops' conference of each country, some systematic program to structure or to gather missionary candidates and make a commitment as a missionary for Asia.

And especially for Japan?

Of course (laughs).

But how will that work, when you cited different concepts of God and different cultures, besides disparity in language?

Maybe within Asian countries it has a chance. All missionaries from Asian countries may be closer to our culture, our character. We will be closer to each other than with European missionaries. For example, both sides should respect each other, should be very humble.

You understand each other better?

A little bit better, since there should not be problems. But the Taiwanese said that if they accept missionaries from other countries, even Asian countries, the culture is different from theirs. So it is still difficult for them to propagate the faith.

Do you think that your proposal for Asian missioners will be accepted by the Church in Asia?

I do not know. But I hope.

Given the constraints, how do you assess pastoral care in your archdiocese?

The people there recognize this difficulty. Now we are promoting a team of lay faithful themselves to conduct catechism classes and reach out to people from outside to prepare them for baptism. I am moving from one parish to the other to push this idea.

We translated the textbooks of the Lumko Missiological Institute (in South Africa). They made a very nice new catechism promotion textbook and we translated it into Japanese. And people accept it very easily. [This form of teaching catechism] is not like one person teaching another. No. At first somebody picks up two or three verses from the Bible, and we share it with non-Catholics, and there is a connection with the people's sense of life. So even Catholics learn something from non-Catholics.

But to make a curriculum is also not so easy, because we conduct this kind of class once a week. And after 18 months, we may finish one course. At least after four-and-a-half years, we finish all the instructions after having gone through the essentials of the Catholic faith.

The textbook comes from Africa?

Yes, it was translated into many languages, I heard about 60. It was first published 13 years ago, and immediately after that it was all over the world in many countries, translated into many languages. The pictures inside the book are too African in style, so we couldn't use it unchanged. We had to use pictures that suit our style.

What would you say are your main concerns in Japan?

It is difficult to get missionaries and the number of priests is decreasing very much. We have another program in which we concentrate three to five parishes in one bloc. If in this bloc a priest dies, we cannot replace him, and the remaining priests have to take over the duties.

At the same time, we have to consider that many church buildings were erected shortly after the Second World War. These buildings are now very old. We need new buildings or renovation. But we do not have money. We do not have the money for maintenance. The parishioners had a lot of meetings among themselves and they decided what to do with the buildings.

What do they want to do with the empty church buildings?

That is actually not so good. They maybe want to sell the land and the buildings to some company. And they will then gather in the future in one church building.

How is the situation of women Religious?

Women Religious are also getting very old. They cannot get new vocations. The number of young sisters is very small.

What are the reasons for not having so many priestly vocations and women Religious?

The main reason, perhaps, is that our country became economically a top-class country. As a result, many people are interested in material things, and their level of life reflects that materialism. They are not interested in spiritual things. There is very hard competition to enter a good university and to be employed by a good company. That is the interest of the people.

Even students in elementary school or middle school too, their interest is not spiritual or involved with the Catholic faith. People are not interested in pursuing a life as a priest or Religious.

Do you have a program for vocations?

We have. We make retreats for vocations or we give suggestions to become a Religious or a priest. We speak about it often but actually the result is zero. So we are tired.

And you need missioners?

Yes, that is the reason why I think nobody from Taiwan attended this meeting here in Thailand. And from Hong Kong only one. The reason is, they tried, they made an effort like the Japanese for vocations. They tried many things. But they are tired. And the result is zero. To have baptisms is also the same in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Very few have become Catholics.

Christianity is mostly seen as a foreign religion. As you know, the famous Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo, I think he is one of the successful Catholic people to have helped with inculturation. In the field of music, the composer Saburo Takata also inculturated successfully. So as Catholics, we have to appeal more to the Japanese mind.

END

(Accompanying photos available at here)