The 29^th Catholic Justice and Peace National Convention-Saitama, by Bro. Garry Gestoveo, cicm

All roads led to Saitama for the 29th Catholic Justice and Peace National Convention last November 22-24. Participants from all over the country gathered toshare ideas and plans for a better and peaceful world. Bishop Tani of Urawa Diocese, Bishop Goro, Auxiliary Bishop of Osaka and the present head of the JPIC Commission of the Japanese Bishops Confrerence, and Bishop Okada of Tokyo welcomed the participants. From CICM, Harrie Quadvliet, Rene Candelaria and I attended the said gathering.

 

During the opening ceremony, talks and performances were rendered by children from different nationalities (Philippines, Peru, Brazil and Korea) that live in Japan. These children shared their experiences of being bullied and being discriminated in school; the children of migrant workers shared their experience of finding difficulty with the language. They also shared their experiences of being accepted and welcomed among the Japanese students.

On the Second day of the gathering, we were divided into four different groups and went for exposure to the different historical sites in Saitama. I joined the third group. Its subject was Saitama and Korea (埼玉と朝鮮). We visited a temple called Seiten In (聖天院). The said temple originally came from Korea. According to the son of the present head of the temple, when their clan was defeated by the Chinese they fled by boat, landed in Japan and settled in the place. I could not help but think that during that time the concept of Japan and Korea as a country did not exist yet and, as there were no boundaries, people could travel from one place to another freely. After the talk we went around the temple.

That evening, we had a liturgical celebration and then we were divided again into twelve small groups for the making of action plans.  Issues like education, discrimination, care for the old, workers, peace, and integrity of creation were tackled by each group. We were instructed that our action plans should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. I joined a group that tackled the issue of education, specifically the one on teaching Japanese to the children of migrant workers so that they can integrate themselves among the Japanese students. The group from Fujimono International Cultural Exchang Center shared their experience on how they do the work in Saitama Prefecture.

The gathering ended with a liturgy and an invitation from the Bishop of Tokyo, Bishop Okada for the next JPIC National Convention that will be held in Tokyo.