Praise to the name of our Lord in this busy season of Advent.
Since the episcopal election of the Diocese of Chubu (Mid-Japan) of the Anglican Church in Japan (Nippon Sei Ko Kai/ NSKK) on November 4, I have been meditating on the fact that I must pay sincere heed to what this result means in prayer. While being utterly confused that such an unsatisfactory person as myself could unexpectedly be elected as diocesan bishop, when I myself considered the significance of being called to be an ordained minister in the holy catholic church, my own journey of faith until today, the mission field that has presently been allotted to me, my work and tasks there, and the thoughts of all the lay members and clergy of the Diocese of Chubu, to be honest I was unable to discover a simple response however long I meditated.
At this point in time, circumstances mean that realistically it is extremely difficult for me to leave the various different jobs with which I have been entrusted at Rikkyo University (Vice Chancellor, Dean of the College of Arts), and the Central Theological College (NSKK), as well as their associated mission through the Association of Christian Schools in Japan (Chairperson of the Board). During my meditations, I was also brought to a fresh awareness that Rikkyo is an extremely important vocation and mission field for me personally. The connections between Rikkyo and the NSKK are important both historically and missiologically as well as in terms of faith, and I have come to feel that to be a member of the faculty, being responsible for a variety of bridge-building work and engaging with the approximately 20,000 students, pupils, and children of Rikkyo Schools, as well as with the teaching staff, is in a sense the particular mission that has been granted to me.
In this sense, although part of me thinks that I should be excused from the inauguration of bishop, I have only words of thanks for the result of the Diocese of Chubu episcopal election and the wishes of the members of the diocese that underlie it. Once having been called to the priesthood, episcopacy is also in its very nature a one-way call from God, one that I felt it would be impossibly arrogant to refuse.
It goes without saying that for more than 30 years, since the Reverend Timothy Kiyoshi Nomura invited me to join the staff of the Nagoya Student Center in 1987 when I was still young and inexperienced, the Diocese of Chubu has been my most important emotional home. I myself have often spoken of the importance of the episcopacy, in the recent Diocesan Seminar and elsewhere, and if I were to decline as a bishop at this point I am fully aware that there would no longer be a place for me in either the Diocese of Chubu or the province of NSKK.
In the midst of these hesitations, I received a kindly suggestion from the colleague of the Diocese of Chubu. This is the possibility that I could continue my work as a professor at Rikkyo and the Central Theological College as a dual ministry while also being the Bishop of Diocese of Chubu. In practice, this would chiefly mean the creation of a new role in the Diocese of Chubu, that of a “Bishop’s Assistant”, like as an Archdeacon, appointed by the diocesan bishop to assist with the bishop’s work. I have come to the conclusion that if I can receive such support, I will be glad to take on the role of Bishop of Diocese of Chubu to the best of my ability.
I consulted the Bishop of Diocese of Chubu, Right Reverend Peter Ichiro Shibusawa, the Primate of NSKK, Most Reverend Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, and I met the Chair of the Standing Committee, Reverend Timothy Hirozumi Doi, and discussed this with the Standing Committee of Diocese of Chubu in detail.
As a result of those conversations, and with gratitude for this proposal, I have decided to request that the position of Bishop’s Assistant be established, and am honored to accept my appointment as Bishop of Diocese of Chubu while also continuing my work at Rikkyo and elsewhere.
The episcopal ordination and installation will be held on March 28th (Saturday), 2020, 10:00 am, at the Cathedral of Diocese of Chubu in Nagoya.
December 12, 2019, Advent
The Reverend Prof. Dr Francis Renta Nishihara