After the morning Memorial Ceremonies, we had a short break and then saw a few more sights here in Hiroshima today. Our first stop was a local parish, Gion Catholic Church, where we watched a short movie about the Jesuit Novitiate at the time of the atomic bombing in 1945. Read more…
August 6, 1945, 8:15 am opened the horror of the atomic age with the use of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. We arrived at the Peace Memorial Park around 6:00 am. As I sat in an interfaith prayer service early this morning at the Peace Memorial Park with brother Bishops, Read more…
This afternoon, Archbishop Wester and I were asked to address a group about our Pilgrimage of Peace. Archbishop Wester gave the keynote address, and I gave a few closing remarks. While we wait for the revised version of those remarks, which I will post later, you may find mine Read more…
How I wish I had the luxury of just one hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament to reflect upon all I saw and heard yesterday. From visiting with Setsuko Thurlow, one of the Hibakusha from that August 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, to touring the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Read more…
I received word late last night (Hiroshima time) that my uncle and godfather, Earl Leclere has died. He celebrated his 101st birthday in March. Early summer he finally ‘gave up the farm’ where he and Aunt Gloria lived and raised their family of five since 1952, and moved into a Read more…
Today I had the special honor to meet and visit with one of the hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Setsuko Thurlow was thirteen years old the day of the bombing. She was inside a building on the second floor, approximately one mile away from Read more…
The weather since arrival has been unusually warm, and it was brutally hot yesterday . The forecast is for more of the same during the rest of our stay. Yesterday’s travels took us to Kamakura which is a seaside community along the east coast of Japan, south of Yokohama and Read more…
Thursday, August 3, 2023 – Tokyo Today is our third day in in Tokyo, and our final day of leisure before our formal program begins tomorrow as we will travel to Hiroshima Today, I want to recognize our tremendously gracious and helpful host during our time here in Japan, Dr. Read more…
Our Pilgrimage of Peace delegation arrived in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon. Storms had flights literally at a standstill as we approached, requiring us to make lazy loops out over the Pacific, and again the standstill even after we landed. We finally checked in to the hotel around 5:00pm. We forced ourselves Read more…
Since I was a small child, prayer has been at the heart of how I was raised. We learn so much from the environment of the homes and families who raise us, and faith and prayer were a part of that heritage for me. Central to that spirituality in our Read more…