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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 SITUATIONS WANTED FEMALE HELP WANTED MALE AND FEMALE FEMALE Executive Housekeeper-hotel Hand posting - no typing Sec’y - will take beginner Bkkr. Jr. Clrk. Sec’y. Cashier - S. H. necc. Sec’y - dictaphone Typist - 18-25 Editing - Lt. Typist General Office Math-Accounting Section-Age MALE or hospt. expr. $325 $60.00 Wk. $225.00 month $60.00 Wk. $225.00 month $303.00 month $300.00 up $347.00 month $55.00 Wk. $250.00 month $240.00 month 25-35 $65-$70 Wk. OPEN OPEN Sales, 24-32, Coll. Grad. Mathematician, actuary exp. Personnel Mgr. 40-50, Knowledge of Merit Syst. t0 $11,000 per. yr. Sales & Service of Newsprint-publ accts. to $11,000 per yr. Sales Mgr. $650.00 month Heavy Equip. Sales, some eng. $500 plus month Part-time for Student, 2:30 to 6:30 $1350 per yr. B & B PERSONNEL DIVISION OF MARKETING SERVICES DECATUR FEDERAL BUILDING DECATUR, GEORGIA PHONE: DR 8-7529 ) Send or Phone Your Classified Advertising To The Georgia Bulletin P.O. Box 11667-Northside Station Atlanta 5, Georgia Phone: 237-7296 Ads accepted by phone, mail and at the office up to Monday, 5 p.m 3 line MINIMUM CHARGE Count 5 Average Words to a Line RATES 1 time 4 Consecutive times with no copy change Legal Notices Deaths In Memoriam Acknowledgment 25 ? per line 23 £ 50? 50? 50? Print your classified ad on this form. Slip it into an envelope along with remittance and sent it to: THE CEORGLA BULLETIN Classified Department Your Name •Address Cit V State FEMALE MEDICAL Secretary-Girl Fri day. Poised, mature, unencum bered, well - educated woman desires challenging position in medical field. Reply. B & B Personnel, Decatur Federal Building, Decatur, GA. Phone DR 8-7528 MISC FOR SALE Blackstone gas clothes dryer. DR 7-5126 Two televisions. Need repairs. Very cheap. DR 8-2861 4 4 4 Washer, 1956 Norge Automatic Needs repairing $10 ME 6- 4703 4 4 4 Hoys’ 26" bike, Fishing reel and rod. Make offer. Call 938- 1430 4 44 New dog house, Electric train, apt. gas stove 874-3168 4 44 Philco refrigerator freezer compartment at top. Perfect condition. Delivered ME 6-4476 4 4 4 9 ft. Deluxe Norge refrigera tor Good condition - Cheap $50.00 636-0354 * * * Drcxel dining table, 6 chairs, odd chairs and cabinet buffett 289-1868 4 44 Sofa, coffee tables, bar stools, double bed, Misc. 634-0167 4 44 2 Barrel back chairs. Like new, $15 each. 17’’ AMC TV with stand & ant. Call DR 8-8973 after 5 p.m. 4*4 Beige satin cocktail dress, $6. Misc. household linens. Cheap. ML 4-3958 4*4 Black & Decker power driver, bits and saw. Like new, $30. DR 3-0930 4 44 Hot plate, metal cabinet, Pop up toaster, cigarette cabinet. 373-2983 4*4 17" TV in working order with table, $25. DR 3-2915 4 44 Like new condition 8-Piece din ing room set, $125. BU 9-3771 444 Deluxe 36 inch Roper gas range 6 months old. $225. 284-6666 4 4 * Chest, mirror, roll-a-way, twin bedsteads, Misc. household items. DR 8-1863 4 4 4 Two 45,000 BTU Floor furna ces. Duncan Phyfe mahogany dining table & 6 chairs, Am Fm stereo Hi Fi, modern. BU 4-2575 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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