The 14th Korean-Japanese Bishops’ Exchange Meeting
* The 14th Korean-Japanese Bishops’ Exchange Meeting The 14th Korean-Japanese Bishops’ Exchange Meeting took place under the theme “Migrants in the Bible” at Masan Catholic Education Center in the Diocese of Masan, from November 11 to 13, 2008. 15 Korean bishops, including the Most Rev. Peter Kang U-il, President of the CBCK and Bishop of Cheju, and 14 Japanese bishops, including the Most Rev. Leo Ikenaga Jun, Vice President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan (CBCJ) and Archbishop of Osaka,. attended the meeting. During the meeting, the bishops agreed upon the necessity of more active pastoral care responding the challenges of worldwide migration and determined to strengthen their cooperation in this area. Fr. Maurizio Pettena, C.S., national planning assistant of Australian Catholic Migrants and Refugees Office of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, gave a lecture on the theme of 'Theology of Migration'. Fr. Andrea Heo Yun-jin, secretary of the Committee for the Pastoral Care of Immigrants and Foreign Residents of the CBCK, and Mr. Peter Arikawa Kenji, who directs services for refugees at Catholic Tokyo International Center, presented their respective local situations of the pastoral care for migrants. In his homily at the Closing Mass, Bishop Kang said, “The antipathic relation of master and servant in the age of St. Paul, the Apostle, is reflected in that of employers and migrant workers in these days, even if its form is different.” Then he stressed that the tasks of both local Churches are to transform the relation of master and servant into that of fraternity. The next meeting is scheduled for November 17 to 19, 2009, in Japan. |