The Shalom Youth had the opportunity to get to know the story of young Rosa Akane during All Together. The young woman came to Lisbon with the Rome Mission group. During the moment of testimonies, Rosa shared her relationship with the Catholic Church, commenting on how it is to believe in the Gospel in a predominantly Buddhist country.
Check out the full testimony:
“Hello, my name is Rosa, I’m from Japan.
Catholicism is not famous in my country. Japan is a Buddhist country. Catholicism has only a few believers, about 0.5% and not everyone knows about Christianity.
My family is not Christian, they are all Buddhists. As a child, I knew nothing about Christ, I didn’t even know who Jesus was. However, I went to a Catholic high school and learned about Christianity when I was 15. Soon after, I was baptized when I was 17.
My life as a Catholic has not been easy. My family is all Buddhist, so they were against me going to church. Even my father was angry with me many times and one day he went to church to insult the priest.
I ran away from the Church for many years because life as a Catholic was difficult. I didn’t go to church, didn’t tell anyone I was Catholic and pretended to be Buddhist, like most Japanese. This made my life easier, because I didn’t have anyone harassing me anymore, nor did I have fights with my family. But my heart was always empty, I couldn’t stay away from God, and finally I went back to the Church.
Fortunately, two years ago, God gave me the opportunity to live in Italy. I continue to live there. There are many Catholics in Italy. This year, my friend invited me to the Shalom Community and I started to participate in the prayer group.
I saw the Shalom Youth together, having a fellowship or a prayer group. This is unimaginable in Japan and I had never experienced it. It is a wonderful experience.
I was used to being alone in my faith life, just reading books and praying by myself. But now I can share my faith with many friends and pray together. It is very good for my life and has deepened my experience.
At this World Youth Day I was very surprised and very happy to see so many young Catholics from all over the world. My faith was strengthened by this World Youth Day and, fortunately, the next one will be in South Korea. It’s very close to Japan, just an hour’s flight, and I’m very happy. Currently, there is no community house in Japan, so I hope and dream that a mission will be opened there.”
Read also | Next World Youth Day will be in Seoul, South Korea