Many Filipinos go to Japan for work. They go as dancers or entertainers or as domestic helpers. Now a different reason is moving some Filipino to go Japan. They are following the footsteps of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and going on lay mission with the Philippine (Catholic) Lay Mission Program.

Read On:

Lory and Cely
Lory Antonio and Cely Reyes are among the lay missionaries who set out from the Philippines for the diocese of Chiba, Japan, there to work with Bishop Paul Mori and his priests by doing something for the Filipino immigrants. But first let us look back at the history of Christianity in Japan.

A Trial by Fire
Christianity was brought to Japan in 1549 by the Spanish Jesuits missionary, St. Francis Xavier. But the Shogunate prohibited the practice of Christianity, and towards the end of the 6th century a full scale systematic persecution of the faith begun.

Condemned to Die
A samurai by the name of Nakajima Choobie, who had faithfully served Lord Todo for two years, was accused of being a Christian. Admitting this “crime” and refusing to abandoned his faith he was condemned to die. Similarly another samurai named Namazue was discovered to be Christian. He and his family and servants all met the same faith.

Lorenzo
In 1637 our St. Lorenzo Ruiz suffered similar case in Nagasaki, Japan. The former sacristan from Binondo, while remaining so ordinary and simple a man even in his martyrdom, saw the needed not the answer of man but the answer of His God, and he chose to abide by his will.
And to this simple, yet unknown layman was given the divine strength to answer…

“I am a Christian,
and this I profess
until the hour
of my death;
and for God,
I shall give my life.”

And thus was born to this only Catholic country in Asia her first Filipino saint.

Trouble with Visas
In the spirit of responding to the Christ’s call, Cely and Lory were sorely tried when their visa applications for entry into Japan were denied. Some said the reason was that there was not a clearly defined category of “Lay Missioners in the Japanese Immigration Law; for others, the reason concerned internal Japanese policies. Regardless of the reason, the entry of our two PLMPers, Lory Antonio and Cely Reyes, was a “trial by fire “as they were delayed entry into Japan for over a year.
Nevertheless, with the help of Bishop Paul Mori and the Maryknoll Fathers and many other people such as Fr. Denis Curran, a Columban missionary,  and with continues support  of the PLMP, they have begun the missionary work in Japan.