They are part of about three thousand Catholics living in Osaka and the capital. Large crowd at the ceremony in the church of St. Ignatius. The consequences of the earthquake have prevented the arrival of Cardinal Pham Minh Man

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - A visible sign of the contribution of Vietnamese immigrants to the country that welcomed them, Japan: these were the words of Msgr. Bernard Toshio Oshikawa as he ordained a priest and two deacons, March 26 last, in St. Ignatius Church in Tokyo.

The three, in fact, are part of that community of 32 thousand Vietnamese, who in 1975, when the communists unified Vietnam, emigrated to Japan. Among them are about 3 thousand Catholics and they live mostly in the Diocese of Tokyo and Osaka.

Many of those Catholics arrived from Osaka on Saturday, colourfully filling the church of St. Ignatius, to attend the ordination.

The Cardinal of Saigon, Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, had hoped to be there along with other bishops of Vietnam, but their visit was postponed because of the impact of the earthquake.