Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

[Lindel Tsen, 1954; Paul Sasaki, 1946]

On this day, the Church recognizes two leaders of the Anglican Church in Asia.  Paul Sasaki was the Primate of the Anglican Church in Japan (the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, or NSKK) during World War II, and resisted the government’s initiative to combine all Protestant churches into one national church. 

     Fifty years after the end of the war, the NSKK issued a statement reflecting on the legacy of Paul Sasaki and seeking forgiveness for their collective responsibility for atrocities during the war.  I quote from their resolution called “Statement on War Responsibility of Nippon Sei Ko Kai”:

            The Nippon Sei Ko Kai, after 50 years since the end of World War II, admits its responsibility and confesses its sin for having supported and allowed, before and during the war, the colonial rule and the war of aggression by the State of Japan. In 1945, The Nippon Sei Ko Kai was at a historic turning point – the end of Japan’s invasion and colonial rule in the Asia-Pacific region. At the special session of the 21st General synod held in the same year, Bishop Paul Shinji Sasaki expressed the church’s repentance for what it had done during the war period, and pointed out that the Church had chosen to comply with the government policy and had forgotten its mission. At that moment, the General Synod, as well as the House of Bishops, the Dioceses and Parishes should also have deeply repented for not having fulfilled their prophetic role. They should also have made a sincere apology to their neighbours whom Japan had invaded and ruled, and should have sought a truly reconciled relationship with them. Since establishment, The Nippon Sei Ko Kai has been making compromises with the idea of a Tenno (God in Heaven) ruled nation and militarism which go against the Gospel, and has not been able to resist strongly against, or refuse those principles. The Nippon Sei Ko Kai was oppressed by the authorities, and some priests and lay people experienced the struggle of faith. But despite these bitter experiences, our Church has not been able to stand beside those who are oppressed and suffering. Despite its more recent internationalism, our Church has not been able to see Japan as an aggressor in the war. In fact, using the ‘Special Prayer for the China Incident’ and ‘Special Prayer for the Greater East Asia War’ (WWII), our Church has justified Japan’s rule over other ethnic groups and supported the war under the name of Christianity. We have been a closed Church close main concern is the expansion of the membership and the retention of the institution, this being unable to serve as the salt and for the earth as indicated in the Gospel.” (http://www.nskk.org/province/document/war_responsibility.pdf)

During this season of Lent, we have chance to reflect on our own church and the Anglican Church of Canada.  Are we more concerned with “the expansion of the membership and the retention of the institution” or do we “stand beside those who are oppressed and suffering?”

- David Shumaker