INTERNATIONAL MASS
Though nationality, customs and language are different the church in Japan and the peoples from other lands are making efforts to live and worship together.
The Catholic Church, though a universal body, is also rooted locally, thus as residents from other countries living in Japan you receive both an unconditional welcome from the Japanese community and the expectation that you try to adapt to Japanese ways.
When culture, languages are so different, it can be demanding and difficult to fit into Japan church life as well as everyday life. Thus many ethnic groups have organized Masses in their own languages. Here in this church too, each month we celebrate an English Mass on the fourth Sunday's at 4 p.m., and a Portuguese Mass on the second Sunday's at 3 p.m..
The Mass in your language makes you feel at home. However, what a good witness for Japanese society is the good news that in the Catholic Church we rise above the differences of culture and language and go forward as one people, as one family, the God's family. To show that, we (Japanese and Foreigners) celebrate together an "international Mass" on the fifth Sunday's, at 10 a.m.. Everyone's participation through songs of different countries, prayers and readings in different languages is an inspiring witness to our one faith in the Lord.
- REMEMBER!
- _The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public and regular worship.
- _The Sunday celebration of the Lord's Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church's life.
- _The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist,
- _Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God's holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
A "Parish" is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on stable basis within a particular church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor priest, under the authority of the diocesan bishop. It is the place where all the faithful gather together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist.