Cardinal sees new energy in CAlifornia melting pot

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 11, 1996 by Leslie Wirpsa

Cardinal Peter Shirayanagi, archbishop of Tokyo, like Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, knows that immigration is one of the most urgent issues facing the global Catholic church as the new millennium approaches.

In a country where Catholics themselves are an excluded minority representing a mere one percent of the population, Shirayanagi is reaching out to Latin American, Filipino, Chinese and Korean guest workers living in Japan. An estimated 150,000 Catholics live in Japan, half of them not Japanese, out of a total population of 125,500,000.

"In the past 10 years, there has been a rapid growth of immigrants in Japan. Many of them are Catholics. Their pastoral needs are quite great. The Japanese people are not used to people of other nationalities yet, so the spirit of discrimination against them is very strong," Shirayanagi said in a Sept. 21 interview with NCR. "In the beginning the immigrants came for economic reasons -- industry in Japan needed cheap labor. But now many companies have left and gone to other Asian and Pacific countries and they don't need the workers in Japan anymore."

Shirayanagi's concern for immigrants in Japan and for Asian immigrants in the United States brought him to Los Angeles Sept. 20-28. Invited by a group of Catholic Japanese living in Los Angeles and by "an interest in the pioneering pastoral and social work of the arch diocese,. Shirayanagi met with immigrant communities to learn more about outreach to diverse populations.

But he also taught some important lessons. "The United States of America is itself a new model of a multiethnic country, and the state of California is the prototype of a new country," Shirayanagi said during a ceremony commemorating the founding of a Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center. "Here multiethnicity has become the positive element to make this state a kind of new earth in the design of God the

Pastoral workers in Los Angeles were impressed with the panting of the Japanese bishops' pastoral letter "Seeking the Kingdom of God Which Transcends Differences in Nationality" in six languages.

"Six languages! And Catholics in Japan are only one percent of the population," said Maryknoll Fr. Joseph Klecha, a long-time missionary in Japan.

In contrast to the acerbic anti-immigrant rhetoric that has characterized politics in California in recent months, Shirayanagi praised the presence of immigrants. "The most striking impression I get walking down the street is that of new energy arising from the melting pot," he said.

In his Sept. 22 homily at St. Francis Xavier Church, home of the Japanese Catholic Center, Shirayanagi said "certain very clear signs of the time" have surfaced as the world approaches the 21st century. "The greatest of these signs is the migration of laborers and their families on a worldwide scale," he said. He reminded the congregation that "solidarity with illegal immigrants is the new form of mission today."

The Catholic church, Shirayanagi emphasized during the interview, "is asked to play a leading role" in work with illegal and undocumented workers. He said in Japan, as in Los Angeles, many workers are not accepted by the law and live in oppressive conditions. "Their world is one that we call 3Ks in Japanese. In English, 3Ds - dirty, dangerous and difficult," he said. The majority of these immigrant workers in Japan are employed in the kitchens of restaurants, in small domestic industries, in construction work and in "entertainment" -- a euphemism for prostitution. Like their Los Angeles counterparts, these immigrants have no health insurance or job security. And their children face the dilemma of "growing up without a nation, not knowing their own culture."

Theologically, Shirayanagi said, the path the church must follow is clear: "Christ was the first immigrant. The same for the people of Israel. Christ showed the spirit of love and care to these people."

As the world's economy becomes more global, Shirayanagi said, immigration will become an even more pressing issue. "First it was the companies that became international. Following that the workers became international," he said. "This situation is the direction for the future. We have to change this system of illegality. The church has to raise its voice and make people conscious of this phenomenon, of this new need. The New Society will be like this."