By Mary Lackie

In a city with no temples, no shrines, no Catholics and 150,000 people, Father Anthony Glynn, S.M., wants to build a mission church modeled after Holy Spirit center in Atlanta.

The city is Tomigaoka, Japan, one of many new cities carved from the mountainsides by the railroads. Father Glynn said, “The people place their names in a lottery to move to these new cities. They are cut off from their old ties. Some live in small homes and there are high-rise apartments for the poor. We have four-fifths of an acre for the mission, but we don’t have the money to build it now.” The priest was in Atlanta to collect funds for his mission.

The missionary plans a multi-purpose building with a chapel in place of the traditional church. He said, “The Catholic church is regarded as a foreigners’ religion. The Japanese feel if they join this religion, they lose part of their identity. Even a beautiful church would not draw the people, but the center’s activities would attract the children who would bring their parents. This would break down the prejudice.”

The classrooms surrounding the gymnasium would be used for meetings, instruction, English classes and programs for the university students. A full-time athletic director would supervise the sports program. “A healthy mind and body will be the theme,” the priest said.

The concept of the mission center as a place for moral education and recreation is based on the observations and close relationships which the missionary has established since he arrived in Japan in 1952.

The Australian-born priest said, “To give you some idea of how little the Japanese know about the Christian religion, a survey was taken and in answer to the question: ‘Who wrote the New Testament’, some wrote Karl Marx, John Kennedy, St. John, Pope John XXIII. There are no ‘rice Christians’ in our missions. Although many children want to be baptized, we never baptize a child unless his mother or father is baptized. Sometimes the child acts as a catalyst. Perhaps it will be five or ten years before they come into the church. If the parents want their children in the program, they must agree to take the adult education classes.”

This policy began with a day nursery for the children of poor working mothers. The nursery gained the support of the Buddhist mayor and was opposed by the Communists. “When the Communists found they could not close the nursery, they sent their children to join it and joined the P.T.A. with the purpose of fighting it. We are fighting for the hearts of the people.”

The Soka Gakkai, an organization which Father Glynn describes as ultra-nationalistic, is making converts at the rate of 100,000 a month. “Their purpose is to destroy every religion in Japan. They have entered politics and their converts must vote for their political candidates. I think they will gain political power because they are so dynamic and the other religions are disunited.”

“If the community center could become a meeting place for the whole city, we would get to know the people better and the church would become a central part of the city life. I am trying to run my mission on the ideals of Archbishop Hallinan and Bishop Bernardin.”

What name has Father Glynn chosen for his mission center? He said, “We will call it Our Lady of Sorrows, first, because we want it named after our Lady, and also because if we can show our love and compassion for the poor and suffering they will come to us.”