ACNS - Bishop of tsunami-hit diocese is safe, but uncontactable

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Posted On : March 12, 2011 6:30 AM | Posted By : Admin ACO
ACNS: www.anglicancommunion.org
Related Categories: Japan

Bishop of tsunami-hit diocese is safe, but uncontactable.

The bishop of a diocese in northern part of Japan devastated by 
yesteday's earthquake and tsunami, is said to be safe but uncontactable.

Bishop Hiromichi Kato managed to get a message out to say that he is 
OK, but according Rikkyo University professor Rev.Prof. Renta 
Nishihara no one has managed to contact him directly.

Prof. Nishihara added that Bp Kato had revealed many churches of 
Tohoku , including the cathedral suffered the heavy damage.

This news comes as Japan wakes the morning after one of the country's 
largest ever earthquakes that has killed more than 400 people and 
215,000 to flee their homes.

Throughout the night messages of support and offers of help for 
Anglican Communion in Japan have come from around the rest of the Communion.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said that the Episcopal 
Church is praying with and for the people of Japan as that 
nation  "seeks the lost and begins to bury the dead.

"May they rest in peace, and may all those who mourn find comfort," 
she said. "We know the aftermath will be long and difficult, and we 
assure you of our solidarity. We are grateful that most other parts 
of the Pacific have withstood the passage of the first tsunami. May 
we all be reminded that we live on a fragile earth, in continual 
process of creation and destruction, and that we share a common 
responsibility for healing wherever we are able."

Those thoughts were echoed by Anglican Church of Canada Archbishop 
Fred Hiltz who wrote to Archbishop Uematsu, saying that "we hold 
before God all those who are engaged in the relief efforts as well as 
you and all who are ministering to the needs of a stricken, grieving nation."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sent a message of condolence 
to Archbishop Nathaniel Uematsu of the Nippon Sei Ko Kei, the 
Anglican Church in Japan, expressing support and prayers for the 
Japanese people.

Messages of condolence and support also made their way between 
Anglicans at all levels. Members of the International Anglican 
Women's Network from earthquake-hit New Zealand, the Philippines, the 
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East and sent messages to 
their Japanese sisters letting them know they were thinking and 
praying for them and their country.

One said: "We add our sincere prayers to you all in Japan and all the 
inflicted areas.  We pray to our Lord that Tsunami does not spread to 
other parts... Our thoughts and hearts are with you at these 
difficult times... but nothing, nothing is impossible in the eyes of 
God.   We will continue to pray for one and all and we also send 
sympathies to all those that are bereaved."

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