wfn.org | Presiding bishop's trip to Japan an

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

June 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1752
Presiding bishop's trip to Japan and Okinawa curbed by bout of
pneumonia

by Barbara Braver
     (ENS) A case of pneumonia forced the cancellation of a visit to
Okinawa by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, who became ill in
Tokyo May 3 during a visit to the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), the
Anglican Church in Japan.
     Since Browning couldn't make it to Okinawa, which he served as
bishop for nine years beginning in 1968, Bishop Paul Nakamura of
Okinawa flew to the hospital in Tokyo to attend a Sunday Eucharist at
the chapel of St. Luke's International Hospital. "Since he couldn't come
to Okinawa, Okinawa came to him," Nakamura said.
     The hospital was founded by an American Episcopal medical
missionary in 1902 and has maintained close ties with the Episcopal
Church USA. "The prayers and loving concern of hospital personnel, and
of the Japanese church, have meant so much to us," said Patti Browning,
who traveled with the presiding bishop to Japan following the Executive
Council meeting in Hawaii.
     "His plan to return to Okinawa was not just a sentimental
journey," Nakamura said. "He wanted to come to be in solidarity with
the churches and to support the Okinawan people in their appeal to get
the military bases out of Okinawa. When the Okinawan people are
ignored, Bishop Browning listens to us," he said.
     The Episcopal Church's Washington Office recently sent President
Clinton a letter from the Okinawan Council of Churches, asking him to
take action on the base closings. A resolution expressing concern over
the bases will be introduced at this summer's General Convention by the
church's Peace and Justice Commission.
     While in Japan, the Rev. Brian Grieves, the Episcopal Church's
peace and justice officer who accompanied the Brownings to Japan, met
with members of the NSKK Peace and Justice Committee to discuss the
issue.
     The Brownings were able to return to New York May 8.
     
Honoring a remarkable family
     Shortly after their arrival in Tokyo, the Brownings were
welcomed by leaders of the NSKK at a reception. Bishop Browning paid
tribute to the late primate of the church, the Most Rev. James Yashiro,
who died in March. He presented a check to establish a challenge fund in
honor of the Yashiro family. Bishop Michael Yashiro, the father of
James, was also a primate of the NSKK and another son was also a
bishop. "I came here to honor this remarkable family and to say how
much I loved James," Browning said in presenting a gift intended for
mission by the NSKK.
     The acting primate, Bishop Joseph Iida, said that he had read No
Outcasts, the chronicle of Bishop Browning's public witness. "You are
known as a prophet, but a special kind of prophet," Iida said. "Prophets
can seem judgmental, but you are a prophet with compassion."

--Barbara Braver is the presiding bishop's information officer and
traveled with the Brownings to Japan.