Nagasaki Cathedral blesses new bell to replace one lost in 1945 atomic bombing
The new bell was blessed and named the "St. Kateri Bell of Hope,' by Peter Michiaki Nakamura, archbishop of Nagasaki, at the Urakami Cathedral in a ceremony Thursday attended by more than 100 followers and other participants.
The bell is scheduled to be hung inside the cathedral, filling the empty bell tower for the first time, on Aug. 9, the anniversary of the bombing.
The U.S. bomb that was dropped Aug. 9, 1945, fell near the cathedral, killing two priests and 24 followers inside among the more than 70,000 dead in the city. Japan surrendered, ending World War II days later.
The bombing of Nagasaki destroyed the cathedral building and the smaller of its two bells. The building was restored earlier, but without the smaller bell.
The restoration project was led by James Nolan Jr., who was inspired after hearing about the lost bell when he met a local Catholic follower during his 2023 visit to Nagasaki. Nolan lectured about the atomic bombing in the southern city and its history about Catholic converts who went deep underground during centuries of violent persecution in Japan's feudal era, to raise funds for the bell restoration.
"I think it's beautiful and the bell itself is more beautiful than I ever imagined,' Nolan, who was at the blessing ceremony, said after he test-rang the bell. He said he hoped the bell "will be a symbol of unity and that will bear the fruits of fostering hope and peace in a world where there is division and war and hurt."
Kojiro Moriuchi, the follower who told Nolan about the bell, prayed and gently touched it.
"I'm so grateful,' he said. "I hope Urakami Cathederal will be a place for peace-loving people from around the world to gather.'
A sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, Nolan is the grandson of a doctor who was in the Manhattan Project - the secret effort to build the bombs - and who was on a survey team that visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after the bombings.
Nolan wrote the book "Atomic Doctors,' about the moral dilemmas faced by medical doctors who took part in the Manhattan Project, based on materials his grandfather left behind.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
10 hours ago
- Arab Times
Pilot safe after F-35C crashes near central California Naval installation
LEMOORE, Calif, July 31, (AP): A pilot was safe after an F-35C fighter jet crashed near a central California naval installation on Wednesday, officials said. Authorities received a report that a military jet had crashed and was engulfed in flames around 6:40 pm, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post. Responding deputies, firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers and EMS personnel found the wreckage in a cotton field just north of Lemoore Naval Air Station. The pilot, who had ejected, was found with a parachute in a nearby field, the sheriff's office said. He was flown to a hospital for evaluation and was expected to be OK. Firefighters used a bulldozer to cut a path to the jet so fire engines could get close enough to extinguish the fire, the sheriff's office said. Naval Air Station Lemoore confirmed that the F-35C attached to the VFA-125 Rough Raiders went down near the installation. The pilot was safe after successfully ejecting and no other personnel were affected, the installation said in a statement posted on social media.
Arab Times
14 hours ago
- Arab Times
Fact Focus: No, Oprah Winfrey didn't block access to a private road amid tsunami warning evacuations
HONOLULU, July 31, (AP): Even as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route. The warnings followed one of the century's most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation. But the roadway does not actually belong to Winfrey, and efforts to open the road to the public started soon after the tsunami warning was issued. Here's a closer look at the facts. Claim: Winfrey owns the private road and refused to allow public access for residents trying to reach higher ground, only relenting following public pressure. Fact: This is false. Despite being commonly known as "Oprah's road,' the portion of Kealakapu Road is privately owned - but not by Winfrey. It belongs to Haleakala Ranch, which also owns the land surrounding the road, its president Scott Meidell told The Associated Press. Winfrey has an easement agreement with the ranch, which allows her to use and make certain improvements to the road, her representative told the AP in a statement. Winfrey has paved the road as part of the agreement, Meidell said. The decision to open the road to the public is principally up to the landowner, Winfrey's representative noted. Meidell said Haleakala Ranch "had conversations with Ms. Winfrey's land management staff during this process. So, they're consulted to be sure.' Haleakala Ranch contacted the local fire department and the Maui Emergency Management Agency just after 3 p.m. local time, shortly after the tsunami warning went into effect, Meidell said. The road was made accessible shortly after 5 p.m., he said, and ranch personnel assisted in the evacuation of around 150 to 200 vehicles until the final group of cars were escorted up the road at 7 p.m. Maui County officials said in a press release shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday that "Oprah's road' was accessible to the public, an advisory repeated in a 9:30 p.m. update. But Meidell said further evacuations weren't necessary after 7 p.m. because police had confirmed "at that point the highway was completely empty of traffic.' Maui police and the Maui Emergency Management Agency did not immediately return the AP's requests for comment. "As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA to ensure the road was opened. Any reports otherwise are false,' a representative for Winfrey wrote in a statement first disseminated to news outlets Tuesday night. The decision to open the road was made quickly "when the warning was issued to evacuate, working with local officials and Oprah's Ranch,' the representative added in a statement Wednesday. Cars were escorted in separate caravans that each "had a lead vehicle and a sweep vehicle to make sure that there weren't any incidents on the mountain road,' Meidell said. Haleakala Ranch encompasses nearly 30,000 acres of open space from the southern shoreline to Upcountry Maui, according to its website, and has been family-owned and operated since the late 1800s. The private road connects a public roadway with a highway on the island's oceanside. Some Hawaii residents have long expressed frustration with the large swaths of land that wealthy public figures like Winfrey own on Maui and have advocated against short-term rentals that dot the region and worsen the already low housing supply. The islands have faced a chronic housing shortage only exacerbated in 2023 when a deadly wildfire destroyed most of Lahaina, a town on Maui and the historic former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom. The wildfire was the deadliest in U.S. history in a century that left more than 100 people dead. Users claimed with no evidence then that Winfrey had hired private firefighters to protect her land before the fires started, and hired security to keep others of her land during the evacuations. Some X users also spread false claims linking Winfrey to the cause of the blaze. Winfrey teamed up with Dwayne Johnson to launch the People's Fund for Maui and committed $10 million to help residents who lost their homes in the wildfires. The fund raised almost $60 million as of April 2024. In 2019, Winfrey confirmed on X, then Twitter, that county officials were given permission to use the private road immediately after a brush fire started on Maui's southern area. The road ultimately was not used, Maui County spokesperson Chris Sugidono told the AP at the time.
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Arab Times
3 people found unresponsive after plane crashes into ocean off California coast
MONTEREY, Calif, July 28, (AP): Three people were found unresponsive Sunday morning after a small airplane crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the central California coast, authorities said. Emergency crews responded late Saturday following reports of a plane down about 300 yards (275 meters) off Point Pinos in Monterey County, the US Coast Guard said. Witnesses said they heard an aircraft engine revving and then a splash in the water, KSBW-TV reported. People on shore later reported seeing debris wash up from the crashed plane. The twin-engine Beech 95-B55 Baron with three people aboard took off from the San Carlos airport at 10:11 pm and was last seen at 10:37 pm near Monterey, according to flight tracking data from Coast Guard boat and helicopter crews were launched to search for the victims, with assistance from local law enforcement and fire agencies. Searchers in a boat found one person around 3 a.m. Divers found the remaining two people inside the aircraft between 6:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. All three were unresponsive, the Coast Guard said. "In this case unresponsive means no signs of life, however it is the coroner's office and Sheriff's office that make the distinction of dead/deceased,' Petty Officer Ryan Graves said in an email. Messages were sent to the coroner's office seeking more information. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
