Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: Matthew on November 12, 2025, 12:35:45 PM
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Here are your "hidden Christians". Read through to the end:
Approximately 30,000 secret Christians, some of whom had adopted these new ways of practicing Christianity, came out of hiding when religious freedom was re-established in 1873 after the Meiji Restoration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration). The Kakure Kirishitan became known as Mukashi Kirishitan (昔キリシタン), or 'ancient Christians', and emerged not only from traditional Christian areas in Kyushu, but also from other rural areas of Japan.[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-enc-1)
Some Kakure Kirishitan did not rejoin the Catholic Church, and became known as the Hanare Kirishitan (離れキリシタン, 'separated Christians').[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-enc-1)[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-:0-3) Hanare Kirishitan are now primarily found in Urakami (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urakami) and on the Gotō Islands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotō_Islands).[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-d-2)
In the early 1990s, anthropologist Christal Whelan discovered some Hanare Kirishitan still living on the Gotō Islands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotō_Islands) where Kakure Kirishitan had once fled. There were only two surviving priests on the islands, both of whom were over 90, and they would not talk to each other. The few surviving laity had also reached old age, and some of them no longer had any priests from their lineage and prayed alone. Although these Hanare Kirishitan had a strong tradition of secrecy, they agreed to be filmed for Whelan's docuмentary Otaiya.[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-6)
The Kakure Kirishitan still exist today, forming "what is arguably a separate faith, barely recognizable as the creed imported in the mid-1500s by Catholic missionaries".[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-:0-3) In 2025, it was reported that there were less than 100 Hidden Christians left on the island of Ikitsuki in Nagasaki, down from 10,000 in the 1940s.[7] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan#cite_note-AP_news-7)
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The Catholic Faith is a habit of life. If you cease to practice the Catholic Faith, you will cease to be Catholic. It's simple. How can you stay Catholic without practicing your Faith for decades?
Home-Aloneism proponents such as Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer LOVE to bring up and promote the "Japanese Hidden Christians". But far from being a good model for Traditional Catholics, these Japanese Christians were in VERY sad shape. They kept a faint memory of a couple basic dogmas (priestly celibacy, etc.) and not much more. I shudder to think how many of them lost their souls. The Hidden Christians are the "patron saint" of Home Aloners and Home Aloneism-promoters.
I have no respect OR devotion to these so-called "hidden Christians". Why would I? They weren't saints, they might have all gone to hell for all we know. We should NOT base our current actions on what these particular Japanese did, nor follow their path.
They used a Buddhist goddess statue, but secretly calling it Mary. But after centuries of using a Buddhist goddess statue, guess what happened? Many of them lost the Faith. THE FAITH IS A HABIT OF LIFE.
"Catholic is as Catholic does."