Born a Buddhist, I became a Christian,
Missionary Volunteer and Salesian
I was born a Buddhist. At 23 I finally decided to ask for baptism,
after following a formation course under the guidance of Fr Achille
Loro Piana, a Salesian missionary who lived in Japan for over 50
years. The following year I received the sacrament of Confirmation in
Tokyo, at the Salesian parish in Meguro.
At 24, I started working for the homeless in Tokyo and for people suf-
fering from mental disorder as a psychiatrist social worker. One day I
heard that a homeless person had been admitted to the hospital because she was suffering from cancer and I
was on my way to visit her in the hospital. But I wanted to buy some presents, and so I went in a store in Tokyo.
While I was on the third floor of the store, suddenly I seemed to hear a voice I had never heard before, com-
pletely different from the inner voice that I felt every day while I was praying. The voice said, “Go to Africa and
become a priest”! But how? I had no means to go to Africa!
After a year, however, I met again Fr. Loro Piana after seven years. I shared with him the call that I had
heard. A few months later I met the, then, Delegate of the Sudan during his visit to Japan, and I told him about
my desire to be a missionary volunteer.
Finally in 2011 I decided to leave behind everything to follow the call of the Lord, even if it was the most
difficult decision of my life. Before leaving Japan, I had to leave my job and convince my parents. My mother,
who is Christian, cried but accepted my choice. However, to persuade my father, who is an atheist, took a long
time. I went to Wau, in South Sudan (AFE Province), to work as a volunteer among the street children.
Eventually I decided to become a Salesian and in 2012 I entered the pre-novitiate of the AFE Province in
Nairobi, Kenya. I made the novitiate in Morogoro, Tanzania and made my first profession in 2014. Now I am stud-
ying philosophy and pedagogy in the post-novitiate in Moshi, Tanzania.
In the summer of 2015, after the first year of the post-novitiate, I returned to Japan for the first time as
a professed Salesian. During my holidays I discovered that I am not called by God to stay on top of a mountain,
but to be with young people, especially with those who are not loved and accepted in our society, and be the
poverty of Christ, the humility of Christ and the obedience of Christ. I realised that I must have an interior atti-
tude marked by profound simplicity in order to understand what God has given us.
After serving the people of the Delegation of Sudan to which I belong these past years, I dream of being a
missionary in a country where there is no Salesian, like Somalia. And, if this is the call of God, I want to be a
martyr like Bishop Luigi Versiglia and Fr. Callixtus Caravario, to be good ground for Christians and non-Christians
there. However, for now my dream is to become a humble Salesian like Fr. Cimatti.
Cl.Chihiro Morito
Japanese, missionary in Sudan
Witness of Salesian Missionary Sanctity
Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni SDB, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints
Among the prayers of Blessed Maria Romero Meneses (1902-1977), Daughter of Mary Help
of Christians, we find: “My God, change my heart, make it new, but leave me the memory
of my weakness and misery, to keep me humble and deserving new gifts from your mer-
cy ... Grant me, O God, the grace to be able to console those I will meet on the path of
Calvary ... Grant O God, that I may be an expression of your goodness and mercy”.
Salesian Missionary Intention
That our oratories and youth centres in Africa and Madagascar may really be at the fore-
front of mission and first evangelisation.
In many places of this vast region, oratories and youth centres often become a first missionary
frontier. For many youngsters who are not Christians, or who follow the gospel of Jesus Christ
still superficially, these educational environments are the places where the first contact with
a Christian environment or with those who follow Jesus takes place. It is rightly in these con-
texts that the young touch with their hands that it is possible to build a new society of peace, justice and reconcilia-
tion inspired by the gospel. In fact, this is the path indicated by Pope Benedict XVI in the post-synodal exhortation
“Africae Munus” (2010).
