by Tongil Foundation on Monday, December 31, 2012 at 2:48pm ·
Rev. Gentaro Kajikuri, who recently passed into spirit world while serving as president of the Japan Unification Church, was described at his Seonghwa Ceremony as a hero of the providence in remarks by Kook Jin Nim.
"You all have known President Kajikuri much longer than I," Kook Jin Nim told members and guests who packed the sanctuary of the headquarters church of the Japan Unification Church in Shibuya, Tokyo, for the Dec. 28 Seonghwa Ceremony. The ceremony, which followed Rev. Kajikuri's passing on Dec. 26, was broadcast live to some 280 Unification Church congregations around the country.
Kook Jin Nim and other church leaders view the body of Gentaro Kajikuri during the Seonghwa Ceremony of Dec. 28, 2012.
"Together with him, you have fought many battles for the sake of developing the Unification Movement and the worldwide church providence," Kook Jin Nim said. "And you all have known President Kajikuri to be a warrior, a man of principle, righteous spirit, without fear for his own personal situation or even personal safety."
[Click here for the article on President Kajikuri's Seonghwa Ceremony on the official Japan UC web site.]
Kook Jin Nim recalled that the decision in 2009 to appoint Rev. Kajikuri as church president was not an easy one. Rev. Kajikuri's health was already quite poor at the time he accepted the position.
"In 2009, when our church was facing the most difficult time in its entire history here in Japan, Father asked me to come to advise the church and advise him on how to overcome the situation," Kook Jin Nim recalled. "Even at that time, Kajikuri san’s body was broken and diseased, and he was dying."
"But given the situation, we had to make some very difficult decisions," Kook Jin Nim said. "If we were to overcome the challenges that we faced, there were going to be tremendous and difficult fights to come."
"So at that time, President Tokuno, who was the president, acted very courageously to take moral responsibility for the disturbance in society, even though he himself had done nothing wrong," Kook Jin Nim said.
"And I reported to True Father that, even though this man’s body is dying, [Rev. Kajikuri's] spirit is what the church in Japan needs to overcome its challenges," Kook Jin Nim said.
"And despite many concerns from many people all throughout the church, not just in Japan, Father made the courageous decision to appoint Kajikuri as the president of the Japanese church," Kook Jin Nim recalled.
As president, Rev. Kajikuri was a model of the type of leadership that the Unification Church community strives for.
"From day one of his appointment, [Rev. Kajikuri] conducted himself with courage and honor," Kook Jin Nim said.
"He worked in two areas: of course, to reform in areas where we needed to reform as a church, but also to stand up for the righteousness and dignity of our church members here in Japan, to fight for their right to be free, to be free to believe in the religion of their choosing, to be free from the violence of kidnapping," Kook Jin Nim said.
"For his courage in the face of adversity, all the members of the Unification Church will remember him as a hero of this providence," Kook Jin Nim said.
Kook Jin Nim called on the Japanese church to continue the reforms of the church and the fight for members' rights that Rev. Kajikuri championed.
"We have pursued very clear policies, and these policies should continue," Kook Jin Nim said.
"We have worked to harmonize with society, but that does not mean we have surrendered," Kook Jin Nim said. "More vigorously, we must fight to defend the rights of our brothers and sisters and their human dignity."
Kook Jin Nim called on leaders to find ways to lighten the burden placed on Japanese members by the world providence.
"We have a responsibility to all members of our community to understand their burdens and their troubles, to feel their pain," he said.
"And we as a community must understand how we must address those issues to lighten the burden of our brothers and sisters who have carried the weight of this providence on their shoulders," Kook Jin Nim said.
"The leadership must understand that as leaders we hold the public trust," Kook Jin Nim said. "That trust requires us as leaders to put the welfare of the people before ourselves."
"This is the heart with which President Kajikuri conducted his duty in his public office, and this is the heart in which our leaders from now on must conduct themselves in their public office: to stand for justice, for justice, not only for yourself but for all," Kook Jin Nim said.