The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan ( Japanese: カトリック中央協議会, Hepburn: ''Katorikku Chūo Hyōgikai''), also abbreviated as the CBCJ, is the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, representing predominantly the members of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

Japanese Catholic Church. It was founded as the ''Nippon Tenshu Kokyo Kyodan'' (The Japanese Catholic Religious Body). After the implementation and execution of the Religious Corporations Act,the body was renamed the CBCJ, becoming a religious

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

as classified under

Japanese law The law of Japan refers to legal system in Japan, which is primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with precedents also playing an important role. Japan has a civil law legal system with six legal codes, which were greatly influenced by Ger ...

. As specified in Canons 447 - 459 of the Code of Canon Law, the main purpose of the organisation is to deliberate on matters concerning the Japanese Catholic Church and to encourage active practice of the Catholic faith and ministries. The head office of the corporation is located in

Kōtō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 488,632, and a population density of 12,170 persons per km². The total area i ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Organisation

Membership

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan is composed of multiple types of bishops: the diocesan bishops as well as their auxiliary and coadjutor bishops. It also includes of honorary bishops appointed by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

or the organisation for specific tasks. * President of the Conference * Vice President * Members (Diocesan bishops, auxiliary bishops, coadjutor bishops, honorary bishops) * Bishop in Charge The Conference is further divided into various groups, each with their functions and level of seniority within the organisation. They consist of the Standing Committee, Plenary Assemblies, Special Committees, and Sections directly under the Standing Committees.

Governance

The Standing Committee is the central executive organ of the corporation, which represents the Conference when the Plenary Assembly is not in session. the Committee consists of several individuals: * President and Vice President of the Conference * 5 additional members selected in a session of the Plenary Assembly. The duties of the Committee include the administration of the Conference, the agenda preparation for the Plenary Assemblies, the annual budget, the presentation of the statement of accounts, directions of the General Secretariat, etc. The current chair of the Standing Committee is

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi is a Japanese people, Japanese Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Society of the Divine Word, Divine Word Missionaries who has been serving as Archbishop of Tokyo since his appointment in 2017. He was ...

Archbishop of Tokyo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tokyo ( la, Archidioecesis Tokiensis, ja, カトリック東京大司教区) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. It was erected as the Apostolic Vicaria ...

Episcopal Commission for Social Issues

Committees

The role of the Episcopal Commission for Social Issues is to contribute to evangelisation of the Catholic faith and actively participate in solving current social issues in Japan and its Catholic Church. Members of the Commission include: * Chair, Japan Catholic Council for Social Justice and Peace * President and Vice President, Caritas Japan * Chair, Committee against BURAKU Discrimination through Human-Rights Approaches, * Chair, Catholic Commission of Japan for Migrants, Refugees and People on the Move * President of the HIV/AIDS Desk * the bishop in charge of the Protection of the Human Rights of Women and Children Desk The current chair of the Commission is Taiji Katsuya.

Committees directly affiliated with the Standing Committee

Committees affiliated with the Episcopal Commission for Social Issues

* Committees Affiliated with the Episcopal Commission for Social Issues ** Catholic Commission of Japan for Migrants, Refugees and People on the Move ** Caritas Japan ** Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace ** Committee against BURAKU Discrimination through Human-Rights Approaches ** Protection of the Human Rights of Women and Children Desk ** HIV/AIDS Desk

References

External links

Catholic Church in Japan {{Catholic-stub