The animated short film, Arrupe in Japan, focuses on the late Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ. Perfect for classroom use, this beautifully executed film is a collaboration between the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific and the Digital Arts and Computer Animation Department of the Ateneo de Naga and Elisabeth University of Music.
It represents Fr Arrupe’s experiences quietly and meaningfully. The video is suitable for older primary school and high school students. The narrative is useful for discussing the Catholic Church’s approach to war with its focus on the human costs of conflict, human dignity, peace and remembrance, rather than glorifying battle. In telling Fr Arrupe’s story as he witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki firsthand and his call to be a ‘man for others’ in the tradition of the Jesuits, it shows how Catholics contributed to helping the wounded in a gentle and discerning way.
The film begins as the young Spanish Jesuit is sent to pre-World War II Japan where his experiences will influence the rest of his life. The film recounts Arrupe’s encounter at the summit of a mountain and imprisonment on suspicions of spying. However, the climax of the film occurs in 1945, when he was the Master of Novices in Nagatsuka, just six kilometres outside of Hiroshima. Fr Arrupe is caught up in the onslaught as an atomic bomb is dropped on the city by an American warplane. With his medical knowledge Fr Arrupe and his companions helped injured survivors.
There’s sometimes criticism of the Catholic Church’s response to war in a Western mainstream media that fails to understand Christian beliefs, how dispersed Catholics are across the world (often on both sides of conflicts), the nature of Catholic dialogue or the personal and local nature of the work of religious communities. This film details one influential Catholic’s experiences, providing a model for how we should approach both conflict and war.
Fr Arrupe was certainly a man for others – not only in Japan where he was side by side with the Japanese people during one of the most difficult moments of history – but also throughout his life. The cause for Fr Pedro Arrupe’s beatification and canonisation was opened in February 2019.
You can watch the film here.
Post-viewing reflection questions:
1. What is a missionary? As a missionary, what did Fr Arrupe hope to achieve in Japan and why?
2. Describe Fr Arrupe’s relationship with the local people? How can we tell? Explain using evidence from the film.
3. What formative experiences helped shape Fr Arrupe in the lead-up to the bombing of Hiroshima and his contribution to the recovery effort afterward?
4. What can Christians learn from his experiences?
5. Describe how the film uses silence, soundtrack and atmospheric noise to tell its story. How does this reflect the Christian approach to war and conflict?
6. Contrast life in the area where Fr Arrupe lived before and after the bombing. How does the short film use visual language to convey this information?
7. What did the injured people assisted by Fr Arrupe and his companions learn about Christian charity?
8. What did Fr Arrupe admire about the people of Hiroshima?
Further resources:
A letter to Pedro Arrupe by Micahel McGirr, Australian Catholics
Michael McGirr writes to Pedro Arrupe congratulating him for being on the road to sainthood. The article mentions major events in Fr Arrupe’s life, linking them back to the Eucharist, and making observations about our relationship with God. This resource is suitable for the Religious Education and English classroom, as a model for personal, reflective and letter writing.
Pedro Arrupe’s Hiroshima diary by America, the Jesuit Review.
This moving video is a good companion to the video Arrupe in Japan as it contains an excerpt from Fr Arrupe’s diary that is voiced and set to music and images. The text is accessible to high school students of all abilities, providing an eye-witness account of the bombing of Hiroshima. It is useful for the Religious Education and history classrooms (study of the events of WWII).
A man for others by David McMahon, Communications manager, Society of Jesus in Australia
This article is a discussion with the film’s writer and producer, Ria Lamjap. It contains both information on Fr Arrupe SJ and the film-making process. The article would be useful for the religious education, English and media classrooms.
Pedro Arrupe’s path to sainthood
This article describes of Fr Arrupe’s work as a Jesuit and the cause for his canonisation. It is useful in the religious education classroom in investigations into the work of the Jesuits, Catholic Social Teaching, social justice and understanding the process of making someone a saint, or in the English classroom in studies around heroes and role models.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
All Saints, All Souls and Catholic remembrance – questions and activities
Catholic remembrance is about gratitude, learning and connecting with those who are already in God’s presence. The antithesis of this is glorifying war. As Catholics remember, we consider the preciousness of each human and how God loves us all.