8 May 2006
Japan

The Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments
10 Piazza Pio XII 10
00120 Vatican City State
Europe

Dear Father,

I greet you from one east small country. I am a Japanese Catholic faithful.

First of all, I must apologize to you that I am not so good at English. I will write my message using very simple words.

I have a trouble in the relation with my priest. And I want your aid. This is the purpose of this letter.

The trouble is that he denies Holy Communion to me by the reason I wish to kneel to Jesus.

I have read the instruction issued from your Congregation, entitled "Redemptionis sacramentum". This instruction says in n.91,"it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing".

But almost all Japanese Catholic faithful do not know even the existence of this document, because the Japan Bishops' Committee is not going to translate this document into Japanese. And Japanese faithful who wish to kneel are almost always denied Holy Communion by priests. In fact, my priest said to me,"When you kneel to the Lord, I will not give you Holy Communion by any means. Kneeling is not licit in Japan. Standing is the sign of the unity of the Church in Japan. The Japan Bishops' Committee decided it so in the past. The Apostolic See has given us the right and authority to determine all things about Divine Worship in Japan churches dozens of years ago. Therefore I will not care at all even if the Apostolic See says anything now."

I showed him above-mentioned part of the document having meaning clear to anyone,"it is not licit to deny Holy Communion...". He read it aloud in front of me, but showed no reaction. And he said,"The Apostolic See is our brother, not the superior official".

Please correct this horrible mistake and protect us who wish to kneel to the Lord by our own natural sensibilities from the unjust treatment by priests. I can hardly expect help from the Japanese bishops. I have sent my message to two bishops, one person is our Diocesan Bishop and the other is the chairperson of Japan Committee on the Liturgy, but I have received no response from them. Therefore I have no choice but to lean on you.

I entreat you to help me from the bottom of my heart by being based on the spirit of the 183rd and 184rd clause of "Redemptionis sacramentum".

The details of the priest who forbid me to kneel are XXX.

Our Diocesan Bishop is XXX.

They persecute me unjustly under the name of inculturation. You can investigate the credibility of my petition. Please ask them, ”Is there such a fact?”. I am going to stand anywhere in order that the church in Japan regains modesty and honesty.

And I also want not only my problem but also the many other faithful's sorrows to be relieved. Therefore I want you to display your instraction anew with the specific word "Japan" or the emphasized expression "no exception among all countries of the world", on the World Wide Web or in the other effective ways. Because the Japanese bishops seem to ignore your instruction, or polestar directed to the world, or hide it from the lay faithful, without any sense of guilt. Japanese pastors take the matter lightly because of the linguistic and physical far distance between Vatican City State and Japan. Please make it decisive and perform justice. Otherwise the sacred nature of the Liturgy will be missed in Japan. (Japan Committee on the Liturgy will submit to you soon a tentative plan of the liturgical books of Japan translated needlessly and badly into the spoken language, against your decree "Liturgiam authenticam".)

I am afraid that my English was not well understood to you. Please forgive me if my expression in English contains any breach of etiquette. I am poor in English.

I deeply appreciate your reading my letter up to the last.

May our God be worshipped correctly!
Ave Maria!

Your faithfully,

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