Jesuits fear after-shocks in Japan

Jesuits in Japan are assessing the damage, following the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunamis last week.

According to the Catholic News Service, the scale of the devastation was preventing church officials in Japan from assessing needs.  But according to British Jesuit, Father Peter Milward SJ, who is based at Sophia University in Tokyo, the Jesuits have survived well.

'Here in Tokyo we, and so far as I know all Jesuits in Japan, are OK,' he wrote to Jesuit Missions in London. 'We just had an earthquake of 5.5 magnitude, and our rooms were mostly in a mess.  Now we are awaiting after-shocks and perhaps a really big one this week.  So we keep our fingers crossed.  The Sendai area which was most affected was looked after by the Dominicans, and no Jesuits were there.  But I have heard no news of the Church in Sendai.'

It is a similar story for the Japanese Bishops' Conference which says that disruption of telecommunications has made it impossible for their general secretariat to contact Sendai, near the quake's epicenter, and neighbouring dioceses.

Yasufumi Matsukuma, from the Japanese bishops' conference, said: 'In Tokyo, telephone lines are so busy that I cannot contact diocesan chancellor offices in Japan.  Aftershocks have followed.  The tsunamis are terrible and we cannot get any information concerning the church yet.'