By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A missionary priest working in the crisis-ravaged country of Japan says the combination of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters has turned people away from materialism and the pursuit of profit to prayer and a return to spiritual values.
Agenzia Fides is reporting that Fr. Olmes Milani, CS, a Scalabrinian missionary living in Tokyo, has been intently observing the Japanese situation since the triple disasters struck the area a month ago.
“There is an evident return to prayer and spiritual values, in a society which would normally be considered materialistic and focused on production and profit,” notes the missionary.
According to research, he says, 86 percent of Japanese don’t believe in anything, but “the catastrophe which struck the country has awoken consciences and spiritual needs and values. The people are stopping to pray in Shinto and Buddhist temples. They all pray that the emergency volunteers and the victims of the tsunami will be helped. Also in our Catholic churches there is an influx of non-Catholics that stop to pray,” he says.
“Values such as fraternity and solidarity are making a comeback in the face of the exaggerated individualism that dominates social relations.”
This is why “everyone is convinced that this tragedy will have a profound impact on Japan’s society in the future. The Japanese will be more open and sympathetic to others, even to strangers,” Fr. Milani said.
The recent announcement by the Japanese government that the Fukushima nuclear crisis has reached the level of Chernobyl has caused “fears, anxiety, the sense of helplessness and insecurity rise among the Japanese people,” he added.
The crisis has definitely created an opportunity for evangelization, but it will still be difficult to overcome the barriers against Christianity, which is considered a foreign religion.
But in the meantime, Fr. Milani said, “there is growing cooperation and collaboration between believers of different religions to consciously contribute to the wellbeing of society.”
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