Greeting

We all are on a journey. Even when we stay in one place, still we are on a journey, for the fact that nobody can stay at a point in the course of time. In the course of time, we all are on journey. So, we all are travelers. Even the forms of journey are different, we are the same by being traveler.

 In the world that is being fiercely globalized, there are many travelers. There are innumerable reasons for travel, sightseeing, study, business, academic research or medical treatment and so on. Travels beyond borders are no longer uncommon. And some people have to travel for reasons that they don’t want.

 Pope Francis always keeps in his mind the sorrows and grieves of those who had no other choice than leave the home land in many kind of difficulties.

 The theme of the pope’s message for the world day of peace in 2018 was “migrants and refugees: men and women in search of peace”. Migrants and refugees are often thought as if they were causes of disturbing peace of the place where they move to. But the pope dares call them “man and women in search of peace”.

 Pope Francis quoted in the message the word of his predecessor John Paul II.

“If the ‘dream’ of a peaceful world is shared by all, if the refugees’ and migrants’ contribution is properly evaluated, then humanity can become more and more a universal family and our earth a true ‘common home’.”

 What kind of people do we think migrants and refugees when we hear of them in news? Do we have the consciousness that we all are sharing the same journey as a traveler? Each one of them have irreplaceable personality and unique life story just like we do. They all have their own joy, hope, suffering and anxiety just like we do.

 The Church wants to share the journey with all travelers because God, the giver of life reaches out for to all the travelers for love and mercy.

Archbishop of Tokyo
Steering Committee Chair of CTIC
Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi

What is CTIC

CTIC ( Catholic Tokyo International Center ) is a section of the catholic archdiocese of Tokyo. It was founded in 1990 to support the archdiocese so that it could express the figure of the people of God more appropriately and do the work of charity that the catholic faith requires to ever faithful in the society which is getting more and more internationalizing.