Our Bishop is a Blogger

I am not sure how many Bishop bloggers are there on the Internet but our Bishop Isao Kikuchi is one of these rare Catholic higher rank priests. Not only in his native language, Japanese, he also writes his journal in English. The following is his self-introduction:

"I have been serving as a Catholic bishop of Niigata, Japan since September, 2004. A member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). The detailed version of the text of the blog is available only in Japanese at the following; http://bishopkikuchi.cocolog-nifty.com/diary/ Apostolic Administrator "SEDE VACANTE ET AD NUTUM SANCTAE SEDIS" of Sapporo diocese. Just elected as the President of Caritas Asia in 2011." To add, he was stationed in Africa for several years and understands what it is like being a foreigner. (Our Holy Family was once foreigners exiled in Egypt.)

Being a Roman Catholic, we have common liturgycal calendar and faith/catechism, though we may speak different languages and different songs. Having said that attending mass in Japanese isn't always easy for some foreigners even though we share the same Catholic faith. Last Sunday we had an International Mass for the occasion of 'Assembly for Apostolates in Sapporo.' After the mass, there was a gathering for communication between the Japanese and the International faithfuls. For the ice-breaking event, we planned a skit secretely to make people smile and enjoy. The scheme was like this;

President Obama-resembled-guy (Filippino)and four secret service/bodyguards (Polish, Lithuanian, Zambian and Tanzanian) with sunglasses and earpiece stood here and there until Obama arrived to make his speech. 'I love Maccha Ice-Cream (which is actually Obama's favorite flavor) and not only 'Obama' but the faithfuls gathered there were served the Maccha Icecream. Some people thought these bodyguards were real ones to protect some V.I.P.s from abroad! At the dinner table of a nuns' convent for the night, the main topic was the Obama skit and I was told they really enjoyed the show! The attached photo shows the story and our Bishop Kikuchi shaking hands with 'Obama' with his secret service members. This was the best moment for us all; Everybody in the room felt connected sharing the same Catholic faith even though we were from different nations with different cultural background and languages.

For the more stories from Bishop Kikuchi, please go to his English blog site. There is another moving story of a Filipino wife and her missionary work.

http://bpisaosvd.blogspot.com/