History of Kaizuka Church

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Before the Franciscan Atonement Fathers came to the Kawasaki area, the Sisters of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament established welfare facilities near Ōshima-chō. Together with their chaplain, Father Shigeru Kuno (Philip) of the diocese, and later Father Billings of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, they worked for the evangelization of that region.

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At that time, along the Tōkaidō railway line, the only churches after Ōmori in Tokyo were at Shin-Koyasu, Hodogaya, and Odawara. Even then, Kawasaki already had a population exceeding 260,000 and was rapidly growing. In response to a request from the Diocese of Yokohama to establish a church in Kawasaki, Father Katsuno, the regional superior of the Franciscan Atonement Fathers, and others began making preparations.

On December 17, 1950, the Franciscan Atonement Fathers founded the Kawasaki Kaizuka Church. They placed it under the patronage of Saint Clare of Assisi—“who loved poverty, lived in poverty, fought for poverty, and departed this world embraced by holy poverty”—and named it St. Clare Church.

Built in the industrial zone of Kawasaki, the church played a significant role in the city’s development. Although six more churches were later established in Kawasaki, for its first eight years this was the only Catholic church in the entire area.

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By the mid-1980s, the walls, pillars, and other structures had severely deteriorated, and the building had become quite old. In December 1994, the present church building was dedicated.

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In 2008, after 58 years of missionary work, pastoral care, education, and—above all—walking closely with the local faithful, the Franciscan Atonement Fathers transferred the church to the Diocese of Yokohama, under which it continues today.

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