氏 名
0000000000
0000000000
Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido
000-0000 JAPAN
14 June 2010
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
Most Holy Father,
I am a Catholic lay faithful and am a Japanese who lives in Japan. First of all, I would like to apologize to you for my incomplete English. Because I have not gotten enough education, I don't know nuance of English very well. So, even if I wrote to you in a slight rude manner, please forgive me. It is not my true intention.
Holy Father, I thank you for your
SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM from the bottom of my heart and also thank for your preference for kneeling and receiving on tongue in Holy Communion, which we have known through Web for several years. And of course I thank you for your other many efforts, too. In particular, I thank you most deeply for your great tolerance,
the removal of the excommunication of SSPX Bishops.
However I am writing to tell you about our grief over the churches in our country. Neither your explicit instructions nor implicit signals are minded almost at all in our country（明示的な指針も暗黙的なシグナルも気にされてません）. Our leaders don't receive your intention in regard to Liturgy. Only a few faithfuls have intense impatience on their chest while seeing that your intentions are ignored.
In our country, how many Masses following the Roman Missal published by Pope John XXIII have been celebrated after SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM? There has been nothing. Nothing, Holy Father! Even one Mass has not been celebrated with open attitude（一つの御ミサさえ開かれた態度で捧げられることがありませんでした）. Only a few priests seem to celebrate the old Mass, traditional Mass, without making it public, quietly, as if they are hiding（僅かの司祭たちが、公然とでなく、静かに、半ば隠れるようにして伝統的な御ミサを捧げているようです）. In any case, the Mass in the extraordinary form has not been celebrated at all generally（いずれにせよ、特別の形式の御ミサは一般には全く捧げられませんでした）.
How about kneeling and receiving on tongue in Holy Communion? It is totally the same as the above. Among our priests and bishops, who has told us his preference for those? There has been nobody. Nobody, Holy Father! On the contrary, for example, the Cathedral of Diocese of Sapporo, Kitaichijo Church, removed kneelers (cushions) from the seats of faithfuls in 2007. To be precise, they introduced benches without kneelers when they had made all pews new. Therefore, as a matter of course, the people of the cathedral now remain standing during the consecration, against their old practice. So, who on earth would mind the posture at the time of Holy Communion particularly?（このようなことになっているのですから、いったい誰が、特に御聖体拝領の時の姿勢を気にしますか？） Holy Father, I feel almost despair.
And recently, I heard one rumor. One day, a certain priest told his archbishop about his wish to celebrate the old Mass. The archbishop replied, “Yes, you can do it. However, if you do it, you must return to your mother country.” This is a rumor, hearsay. But I think that this may have actually happened.
Holy Father, I thank you for your many efforts heartily. However, I must inform you that our leaders receive neither your explicit instructions nor your implicit signals. In our many churches, even the people who are preparing their own baptism, if they wish to receive the Sacred Body kneeling and on tongue, they suffer very much（自分の洗礼を準備している人達でさえ、もし跪いて舌での御聖体拝領を望むならば、非常に苦しみます）. They always worry very much about whether their priest would permit them to do that（彼らの司祭がそれを許してくれるかどうかと）. And in many cases, facing the face of priest, they lose courage and give it up（多くの場合、司祭の顔に直面して、彼らは勇気を失い、諦めてしまいます）.
I want your new instruction on Liturgy. At least, please express your preference for kneeling and receiving on tongue by your own words
（少なくともそれらに対するあなた様のお好みをご自分の言葉ではっきりと表現して下さい）. We have already listened to the words of the persons whom we regard as your spokesman
（私達は既にあなた様の代弁者と思われる人達の言葉は聞きました）, for example, the Prefects of Divine Worship (His Excellency
Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith and His Eminence
Cardinal Canizares Llovera) or the Director of the Vatican Liturgical Office (His Excellency
Bishop Guido Marini). But now we want to listen to your own words clearly. In the present situation, to the eyes of all of us, your preference might be only your “personal preference."
（今のままでは、あなた様のお好みは、私達全ての目にとって、あなた様の「個人的な好み」というだけであるかも知れません）
With regard to the old Mass, I think that there is room for effort on our (laymen's) side because you built a road for us by SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM. We must continue to make effort without too much complaining. However, with regard to kneeling and receiving on the tongue, I beg your strong guidance.
I humbly ask your holiness, your blessings.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
氏 名
Lay Faithful
