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GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1963 PAGE 7
LAY MISSIONER
Japanese Convert Saw Faith
Strengthened In Combat
The Author of the following
feature is a convert and form
er officer of the Japanese Im-
* pjerial Army, who is now ser
ving w ith his w ife as a lay mis
sionary at the Takada Catholic
Mission in Japan. He relates
how his faith was born in stark
loneliness as he knelt before
the cremated remains of his
grandfather and nurtured in the
havoc of war as he crawled
through frozen terrain under
enemy gunfire.
BY AUGUSTINE AOYANAGI
(N.C.YV.C. NEWS SERVICE)
It took the war in China to
make me realize the power of
Catholicism in a man’s life.
At 28 1 was in the 116th
4 Regiment of the 13th Division
Army on that February 11,
1940. That day things had been
tough, leaving us exhausted in
body and spirit. With nightfall
came a terse order from the
regimental commander:
"CAPTAIN Aoyanagi, take
two NCO’s and two soldiers
and infiltrate into the enemy-
lines. Find out their num
bers and locate their gun em
placements."
The Chinese were up in the
mountains, less than a mile
away. During the day we had
advanced but lost over half our
men. We were now reduced to
about 200. How strong was the
01 enemy? I had to find out. So
we crawled out into the dark
ness of that bitter wintry night
like hunted animals.
I feared death that night as
I had never before. During the
FROM SOLDIER TO MISSIONARY
...Augustine Aoyanagi
day, soldiers had died all around
me but I was too busy, too keyed
up to be affected. Now, exhaust
ed, cold, crawling towards a
trap, fear coursed wildly
through me. The joy, the peace
of Easter 1934 in Tamatscuri
church were so far away. It
was a joy that had begun in the
stark loneliness of death and
sorrow.
IT BEGAN with the death of
my grandfather. To me, 15
years old, it had been a pro
found shock. He was cremated
and I used to kneel before our
Buddhist family altar, mes
merized by the small urn hold
ing his ashes.
What is life—life that ends
like this box of ashes? The
only answer my Buddhist pa
rents could give was a shrug,
a stoic face.
Perhaps that Catholic Church
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had a better answer. I used to
pass it often and the sign out
front said: "Catechism for men,
Thursday nights 7 p.m.’’ I was
18 before I accepted the invi
tation. It was 1930 yet I re
member that Thursday night
as if it were last night.
IT WAS January and very
cold and dark as I stepped into
the grounds of Tamatscuri
church in Osaka. Disaster be
fell me immediately. I turned
left instead of right. I ended up
in a garden and couldn’t see a
thing. I was not so sure I was
glad I came now to this bead-
quarters of the "foreign reli
gion.”
Good grief 1 Something walk
ed towards me like a ghoul
out of a childhood ghost story,
all shrouded in black. I retain
ed just enough self-possession
to ask where the catechism
class was being held. A light
snapped on and I gazed un
steadily at a nun. This Catho
lic church was a scary place!
Father Furuya was the cate
chism teacher. There was
something in him that appealed
to me immediately. One sensed
an optimism, a warmth of soul.
I studied in earnest. And a
month later, just to be thorough,
I enrolled in the Methodist mis
sion school. For half a year
I studied catechism with Fa
ther Furuya every Thursday,
attended Sunday Mass and spent
Sunday evening at the Metho
dist service and Bible class.
BY SUMMER, I decided I had
given Protestantism a fair trial
and left . No doubt there was
much good in that church which
I failed to see because of
my immaturity.
Father Furuya taught me ca
techism for six wonderful
months and then was sent to
France, to my great regret.
Under another priest I finished
the course. But I did not ask
for Baptism. I now believed
Catholicism to be true BUT....
the brash teenager did not fancy
a life spent under Catholicism’s
stern morals and discipline! I
ceased attending Mass regular
ly.
We moved to another house
and I called to give the local
church a look over. 1 had to ad
mit that the young French priest
and his middle-aged Japanese
catechist were an admirable
pair. I was in a quandary. The
soundness of its teaching, the
quality of its believers, attract
ed my heart to Catholicism.
Yet its demands of sacrifice,
obedience! I feared to take the
plunge.
PERHAPS as compensation
I often took my two young sis
ters along to church. My now-
widowed mother did not oppose
this, on the principle that "it
couldn’t do anyone any harm.”
We moved back again near
Tamatscuri church. The pastor
was now a young Japanese priest
I had known in the days of my
first fervor. As soon as I could
I made an appointment with him
and opened my heart. It was an
eventful discussion. I left him
resolved to be "baptized into
Christ.”
Father Mlyakada gave me a
program of preparation, plen
ty of prayer and reading. 1
presented myself before him in
Holy Week, 1934, for a short
examination on my belief and
motives. I don't remember his
questions but I do remember
that I resolved to become a
100 per cent Christian. On Eas
ter Sunday I was baptized Au
gustine, a saint with tremen
dous appeal for me.
Represented
MONTREAL (NC)—A repre-,
sentative of the Cardinal-Ar
chbishop of Montreal attended
the enthronement here of the Rt.
Rev. Robert Kenneth Maguire
as Anglican Bishopof Montreal.
Msgr. Harold Doran of St.
Patrick’s church represented
Paul Emile Cardinal Leger, Ar
chbishop of Montreal, at the
ceremony in Christ Church ca
thedral. Cardinal Legerhaden-
tered Hotel Dieu Hospital the
day before.
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