Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tokyo (Agenzia Fides) – With great joy and pride, the Church in Japan has recently presented and distributed the New Catholic Encyclopedia in Japanese: four volumes of nearly 1,500 pages each, nearly 30 years in the working, having begun in 1981. A copy has also been presented to the Pope, who showed his great appreciation for the publication.
The work was carried out by the Jesuit Order. A note sent from Fr. Shunichi Takayanagi, director of the work, to Agenzia Fides says: “Between 1940 and 1960, the Jesuits published a Catholic Encyclopedia in five volumes, which today we call the “Old Catholic Encyclopedia” in Japanese. It was certainly a great work. However, since the time of its publication, over half a century has passed with rapid changes, especially in the vocabulary and spelling of Japanese, and in the Church, after the II Vatican Council. To meet the needs presented by these changes, the administration of Sophia University (the university of the Jesuit Order in Tokyo) decided, in accord with Fr. Joseph Pittau (then Director of the Administrators and later, Archbishop) to prepare a new Catholic Encyclopedia for Japanese readers.”
This is how the work began: the majority of the contributions to the new Encyclopedia are from Japanese or foreign missionaries living in Japan for a long time. In a spirit of dialogue and ecumenism, the encyclopedia has also included themes and articles on Protestantism, as well as important articles from studies done by other Christian denominations and even research of non-Christians. It will be a helpful instrument in dialogue and evangelization in the area of culture and society. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 8/10/2009)
