The SSPX parishiors walked praying the Holy Rosary around Our Lady for 3 km until the Hibiya Parch near the National Diet building, perimeter of the Imperial Palace. The SSPX participates this March since 2016.
It was only in 2014, that March for Life started in Japan, where the Abortion had been depenalized already since July 13, 1948. Mr. Ikeda, a convert to Catholic Faith and a restaurant owner in Tokyo, after having participated the March for Life in USA in January 2014, started to make the similar movement in Japan with personal initiative.
This year, the March was organized on July 17, Japan’s public holiday (Marine Day, the Monday after the third Sunday of July, homonym in Japanese with “giving birth” day, and near to the July 13, hence the choice of the date). It was the 4th edition in Tokyo. Mr. Ikeda organized this March using his own funds and time to keep this Pro Life activity continuing in Japan.
Meantime Rev. Father Stehlin, our director of the M.I. and the Superior District of Asia, had proposed a Novena of 9 months for the preparation of Fatima 100 from August 13 2016 upto May 12 2017. Upon his appeal of preparation, we started the Novena with an Ignatian retreat preached by Fr. Stehlin in August 2016 which ended by a Marian procession on the feast of Assumption and we ended the preparative by an annual pilgrimage to Akita in May 2017.
During free time while we were making Akita Pilgrimage this year, an idea came to our pilgrims spontaneously to establish an “Association of Our Lady of Fatima” (AOLF) to honor her and to work for her, as M.I.2. Thus our AOLF was established on the 13th of May 2017. Our first action was to promote the Life and Family in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. The AOLF supported this March fully in coordination of Mr. Ikeda.
After a Mass for those who wish at Tsukiji Catholic Church (officiated by Fr. Leo Schumacher, Columban priest), the March of Life started at 4 pm from the Church. It went through Tokyo’s most chique and fashionable districts: Ginza and Nihonbashi. The SSPX participates this March since 2016. This year, with an agreement with the organizer, Statue of Our Lady of Fatima walked together all along.
Already before the start, the Statue which was beautifully adorned by roses and lilies, has arrived at the gate of the Church, waiting for the pro-lifers. With big and beautiful smiles, everyone marched in the modern city of Tokyo under Summer Sunshine. It seems that Our Lady of Fatima was the center of attraction for everybody, even for the side-walkers. The SSPX parishiors walked praying the Holy Rosary around Our Lady for 3 km until the Hibiya Parch near the National Diet building, perimeter of the Imperial Palace. The organizer said that this year the number of participants doubled from that of last year. Some people came from distant places. Even a representative from a Pro Life multi-denominational Christian of Taiwan flew in for this purpose.
The March ended with taking a group picture. After the dismiss, around the Our Lady of Fatima, many sung together a hymn of “Ave Maria of Fatima” with emotion.
Mr. Neil Day, an Irish journalist living in Japan, writes: “No speeches were held at the end of the march this year, but there was a great sense of reverence, dignity and prayerfulness among the participants. Hymns and prayers were recited around the stature of our Blessed Mother (as was done during the march) and everyone felt a great sense of being moved by their experience that day. The march warmly united people it seems, from the fire of their shared conviction for a noble cause, the preservation of the life of the unborn. One can only feel upbeat about the future. There was a sizeable increase in marchers this year so with more organization and promotion, though Japan’s Pro Life movement is in its infancy, through healthy nutritional doses of organization and promotion it is set to grow in the years to come and can indeed become a significant event in the international calendar of the Pro Life movement.”
