A New Bell for Nagasaki | FORWARD BOLDLY
Dr. Takashi Nagai, a Catholic, survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. He lost his beloved wife Midori in the blast, and would himself eventually die of leukemia.
Approximately 30 Catholics and two priests were in Urakami Cathedral, not far from the epicenter of the blast, making their confessions. They died immediately. In fact, 60% of Japan's Catholic population was killed that day.
Among them were students at a Catholic school in Junshin. The girls had been taught by the nuns to repeat the words "Mary, my mother, I offer myself to you." They died with that refrain on their lips: "Mary, my mother, I offer myself to you."
Stories like these led Nagai to formulate a profound message, one that resonates there to this day: Nagasaki was the sacrificial lamb, the holocaust offered to God, that brought about the end of World War II. His was a message of peace, and forgiveness.
I discuss this and more with Professor James Nolan, who spearheaded the Nagasaki Bell Project, which restored the damaged bell in Urakami Cathedral this year.
