Faith and Resistance Retreatants meet with Mr. Yoshihiro Ohara,
Assistant to the Ambassador at the Japanese Embassy

In conjunction with Journey of Repentance, who delivered to the Mayor of Hiroshima a message of apology and a resolution to disarm, a group of Catholic Workers, people from Jonah House and concerned individuals went to the Japanese Embassy to deliver the same statement. The messages were delivered on August 6, 2009, the 64th anniversary of the United States atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Mr. Yoshihiro Ohara and staff members received the retreatants with kindness and met with us inside the embassy.

The statement, which was signed by over 800 people, said:

We apologize to the people of Japan for our country's atomic bombing of Hiroshima nad Nagasaki 64 years ago, and ask forgiveness for these atrocities and the ongoing suffering of those affected by radiation.
We repent the continued proliferation of nuclear weapons at the expense of unmet human needs. Further, we offer our repentance for the 57 times the U.S. has threatened to use nuclear weapons since the first atomic bombings of Japan.
We firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, O God, to reject the false idols of nuclear weaponry and embrace the life affirming work of abolishing these weapons of terror.

This statement was written, and signatures gathered by the participants and supporters of the Journey of Repentance.

After presenting the statement and signatures, several members of the group added their personal reflections. Sister Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, shared how her father, an admiral in the U.S. Navy, at the beginning of World War II said with distress, "To think, I've been trained all my life for this." This increased her awareness that war was not the way to solve problems.
Kathy Boylan from the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker shared about a nonviolent action that she and others performed. Kathy poured her own blood on the Enola Gay as it was on exhibit at the Air and Space Museum, and those with her poured ashes; the blood and ashes symbolized the victims of the nuclear bomb. She gave Mr. Ohara pictures of the nonviolent witness.
Art Laffin, also from the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, shared how this annual retreat has always hosted Hibakusha to share their stories. He spoke about how he was personally moved by listening to these stories.
Susan Crane from Jonah House shared that Elizabeth McAlister and George Veasey wished to be present as well, but had been arrested that same morning for holding a banner outside the Pentagon, which read, "Remember the Pain, Repent the Sin, Reclaim the Future."

August 6, 2009. At the Japanese Embassy delivering apology for our country's use of atomic weapons on the people of Japan, and resoloution to disarm nuclear weapons in our country..