Name

Kaminoge Catholic Church

Dedicated to

St. Mary of Mt. Carmel

Date of Establishment

August 15, 1952

Parish Priest

Petrus Wilfridus Soba, O.C.D.

Number of Parishioners

2,180 (as of Dec.31,2019)

Sunday Mass (in Japanese)

Saturday 6:00 pm/7:00 am / 8:30 am (with Children) / 10:30 am / 

Weekday Mass (in Japanese)

Monday-Saturday: 6:30 am
First Friday: 6:30 am / 10:00 am
Carmelite-specific feast days: 6:30 am / 10:00 am

Sunday School

3rd Sunday (Please contact us.)

Bible Study

Please ask for information.

Volunteer Activity

Please ask for information.

Activity

Liturgy of the hour & Salve Regina : Saturday 17:30 , The 3rd Wednesday 10:00 Shalom for the aged, The 3rd Thursday 10:00 Class & Mass for parents of the pre-school children. The 3rd Saturday:13:30 Monthly Meeting of OCDS The 4th Saturday 13:30 Monthly Meeting of OCDS Formatants

Address

2-14-25 Kaminoge, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158-0093  Google Map

Telephone

03-3704-2171

Fax

03-3704-1764

Website

http://www.kaminoge-church.jp/

E-mail

kaminoge_ch@carmel-monastery.jp

Facilities for the Handicapped

Slope (or Barrier free), Toilet

Directions

5 minutes walk from Kaminoge Station on Tokyu Oimachi Line. Parking available. GoogleMap

Parish History

History

In 1933, Order of Discalced Carmelites Sisters had arrived from France as the first Carmelites missionary to Japan. After that in 1951, 6 Discalced Italian Carmelite friars had arrived via China. In 1952 the monastery had been founded at Kaminoge by the Order of Discalced Carmelite, new Carmelites friars from Milan Province had arrived, and they had settled their religious life there. They has started their mission actively with the people who sought for the way to God and those who wanted to deepen their spiritual life in Discalced Carmelite. They became quite a number. In May of 1959 the wooden new chapel has been built by the special request of the chaplain, Fr. Sante Bonaldo who wished to have a Japanese style space of prayer for the new chapel which was fit to Japanese culture. It was a unique idea at that time to make Japanese style design of Catholic church in stead of ferroconcrete building. The designer Mr. Kenji Imai who had handled Catholic Seijo Church and Nagasaki 26 Martyr Memorial Chapel have accepted the image of Fr. Sante Bonaldo, changed his original plan to Japanese style, and designed Kaminoge Church. In the chapel there have been a prayerful spiritual atmosphere which many people had offered their sincere prayers and invites people to pray. Thus the chapel have been a heart of the Church community. In 1975 the Church community has been reorganized not to be a typical pyramid shape of organization but to be more liberal way which is handled by the support of the managing people so that every one can join some activity groups basically. The Church had been a sub-church of Denenchofu Parish and when the first list of the parishioners was made in early 1970 it was 540 people. In 1985 it had been increased to 850 people and in 2007 it became an independent Parish with 1887 people.

Present Situation

In the site there are monastery, chapel, assembly hall and retreat house. As the Order of Discalced Carmelite is contemplative, the church activities have also based on the same spirituality in the pastoral care, evangelization, Bible study, and spiritual guidance. The young people have joined to the Church programs actively from Sunday children school and the youth group so that they create lively atmosphere. As a family organization of the Order of the Carmelites Discalced Secular members regularly hold the meeting at the Church too and the 3rd Saturday for the assembly meeting and 4th Saturday for the formation have been held at the church. From the beginning to the present the young and the aged assemble together in harmony at the Church and it will be kept as the traditional goodness fostered by the devoted missionaries and predecessors who loved Japan and Japanese people.