Japan’s bishops have publicly responded to a Vatican survey of global Catholics’ views on family issues, stating bluntly that church teachings are not known in their country and the Vatican’s Europe-centric view hampers efforts at evangelization in places where Catholics represent a small minority of the population.
In a sometimes pointed 15-page report issued in preparation for an October meeting of the world’s bishops, known as a synod, the Japanese state the church “often falls short” by “presenting a high threshold for entry and lacking hospitality and practical kindness.”
Stressing many times that Japanese Catholics represent only about 0.35 percent of the country’s population and that some 76 percent of those Catholics marry non-Catholics, the Japanese ask the global church to “go beyond” a series of norms and rules that separate Catholics from one another.
“It is necessary to go beyond merely saying to men and women who do not follow Church norms that they are separated from the community and actively provide them with opportunities to encounter the Christian community,” the Japanese state.
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