Parishes
Tama Catholic Church
Name
Tama Catholic Church
Dedicated to
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe
Date of Establishment
May 22, 1972
Parish Priest
Pascal Ryohei Miyashita
Number of Parishioners
1,144 (as of Dec.31,2019)
Sunday Mass
Sat. 6:30 pm
Sun. 9:00, 11:00 am
Weekday Mass
Mon.Wed. Thur.Fri.& Saturday 6:20 (at Kaori nursery school), 1st Friday 10:00 (at the Chapel)
Sunday School
Sun 11:15˜12:00 (For kindergarten children, elementary children and high school students )
Volunteer Activity
Please refer to the website of Tama Church.
Activity
Please refer to the website of Tama Church.
Address
1-30-2 Hijirigaoka, Tama-shi, Tokyo 206-0022 Map (28kb), (180kb for print) to Google Map
Telephone
042-374-8668
Fax
042-374-8665
Website
Facilities for the Handicapped
Slope (or Barrier free), Elevator, Toilet
Directions
【From Odakyu Nagayama Station or Keio Nagayama Station 】 15 minutes walk from Odakyu Nagayama Sta. on Odakyu Tama Line, and Keio Nagayama Sta. on Keio Sagamihara Line..
【By bus from Odakyu Nagayama Station or Keio Nagayama Station】 By KEIO BUS at No.6 bus stop behind the exits of Odakyu and Keio stations. Please take “SAKURA 22 for Seiseki Sakuragaoka Station” or “SAKURA 25 for Seiseki- Sakuragaoka Station” By KANAGAWA CHUOU KOUTSU BUS at the same bus stop Please take “SAKURA 22, SAKURA 23, or SAKURA 24 for Seiseki Sakuragaoka Station. Then get off at “Suwa-shita-bashi stop” and pass the pedestrian crossing and walk along the same direction with the bus about 100 meters long, then turn right.
【By taxi from Odakyu Nagayama Station or Keio Nagayama Station】 Tell a taxi driver “Mahiki–sawa-bashi soba no Tama Kyokai ni onegai shimasu.” The taxi fare is about 710 yen.
【From Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station】 By KEIO BUS at No.11 bus stop at the same bus terminal Please take the Keio Bus “Sakura 22” for “Suwa Yon-Chome Junkan” or “Suwa San-Chome” or” Sakura 25 for Keio Tama– Shako-mae Yuki.” By KANAGAWA CHUOU KOUTSU BUS Please take the bus “Sakura 22 for Suwa Yon-Chome Junkan” or “Suwa San-Chome Yuki” , or “Sakura 23 for Nagayama Go-Chome Yuki”, or “Sakura 24 for Tsuruoka-Eki Yuki” Then get off at “Kuruma-bashi Teiryujyo” and then walk along the same direction with the bus along the river about 200 meters and turn left.
【By taxi from Keio Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station】 Tell a taxi driver “Mahiki-sawa-bashi soba no Tama Kyokai ni onegai shimasu.” The taxi fare is about 1,300 yen. GoogleMap
Parish History
Environment
Tama parish covers Tama City, Inagi City, Fuchu City, Hachioji City, a part of Hino City & Machida City with more than 1,000 parishioners. The location of this church is along the Kamakura Road and the Kotta River, where people can recognize easily the holy cross, the chapel and the big plate of “Catholic Tama Church. This area is surrounded by seasonal beautiful scenery like cherry trees along the river and gingko trees along the road and plentiful green trees. The nearest stations are Nagayama Station on Odakyu Tama Line about 1 kilometer away and Seiseki Sakuragaoka Station about 1.8 kilometer away from the Tama Church. The patron Saint of this Church is St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe by happy providence. His sacred remains of the beard are installed at the left side of the alter. On the center of the alter the wooden image of the Risen Christ released from the cross and at the left side of the alter a icon picture, Our Lady of the sign, are decorated in the chapel. The both of them have been made by Jerusalem Religious Community in France. The stained glasses at the back of the chapel and at the both sides have been made by the famous artist of “weekly Sunday Bible readings and liturgy”, Fr. Albert Carpentier, O.P.
History
Catholic Tama Church has been started according to the word “Ecclesia” (Church) as the meeting place of people. The first chaplain, Fr. Francis Xavier Hideo Teranishi wrote on the Church News which has been started from the June,1972, as follows. “Our Tama Church has not yet our land, chapel and personage but we have more than one hundred and ten parishioners with one priest who have communicated each other holding regular meeting and offering masses together. Our Tama Church has already been borne.” The people who has attended the traveling mass at different home in the area have increased gradually and then Fr. Teranishi has lent an apartment room which became the home base of the Church. Then he has moved to a larger condominium with larger rooms and finally the temporally church has been built at the present place. in 1994. In the May of 2000, The Great Holy Year, the present Church has been dedicated and in May, 2010 the 10 years celebration Mass has been offered. As one of the memorial event of the 10th year a big sign board “Catholic Tama Church” has been put up so that many people can see there is an oasis here in the dry desert. At night LED flash light the letters on the board brighter up .to illuminate the message more clearly.
Present Situation
The 6th chaplain of this Church, Fr. Peter Masahide Haresaku, declared to put the first priority on Evangelization and the whole church community has adopted the slogan ” Our Church will aim at the living church in the dray desert”. In order to receive the suffering sad people at this church the organization and facilities have been put in good condition. The reception group, the orientation group and the visitation group for the sick have been newly revised. Every each parishioner aware of the spirit of evangelization and work for activation of the organization set up. The class schedule table for catechism and introduction to baptism are written above. We have a small shop of the church ” Angela” for neighboring people and visitors from the far. After the Sunday Mass some snack services are given by the women’s group and people enjoy the light meal and talking around the table. There are also tea services at the terrace with tables and chairs. Tama Church belongs to Tama Higashi Regional Mission Group with Chofu Church (Society of Don Bosch) and Fuchu Church (Milano Mission). They have fostered mutual trust and cooperation through the special programs as the same group like sharing the common prayers, holding the joint Mass of the Group and friendship party, and have youth summer camp. People can just drop in for a short visit at the church and join the friendly exchange time.
