Maryknoll Sisters

As we approach one year since the horrific tsunami in Japan, the message that moved Sr. Kathleen Reiley more than any other was from a 9-year-old boy: 'I don't want to get sick.'

I just got back from Fukushima and Iwate in Japan (which were affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami), and was also able to attend an international conference on getting rid of nuclear energy.

Here are a few important facts that I hope you will share with as many people as you know:

There are 600 tons of nuclear fuel in Fukushima prefecture.  There were 10 tons in the Chernobyl accident.

In reactor Reactor 1, 68 tons of fuel has melted and is eating through the container.  There are only about 30 centimeters left of the container – but even that fact cannot be certified – since no one can get close to the area because of the high radioactivity.

Fuel has also melted in Reactors 2 and 3. Reactor 3 contains plutonium – which has a half life of 24,000 years. Traces of it have already been found outside of the reactor.

The water being used to cool the reactors and the spent fuel stored in Reactor 4 is still leaking. They are running out of storage tanks to hold the excess water and are considering releasing it into the sea in the spring.

There are four kilometers of pipes carrying this water and now with the winter – there is danger of the pipes freezing and not being able to carry the water. If the fuel continues to eat through the container and it gets into the ground water and then flows into the sea – who can imagine what the result will be.

Because the fuel is eating through the containment vessel it will make it much harder to remove the melted fuel and it’s still very hot. It will probably take 40 to 50 years until it is removed and then the big question is where to store all this nuclear waste.

No prefecture wants to accept it.  In fact, there is no place in the world that is considered a safe place for it. Ninety percent of the workers who are doing this extremely dangerous work are day laborers.

Ordinarily, being exposed to just 30 milliseiverts can cause cancer and these men are allowed to be exposed to 250.  Then they are laid off and usually are unemployed with no real benefits.  It really is throw-away labor.  And they need 30,000 people to do this work.  Some of them are loaded on a bus and only later told they are being taken to Fukushima.

Then there is the problem of the 160,000 people who have been evacuated.  Who have no idea when they can return to their homes.  And who have already been exposed to high doses of radiation when the accident happened.  And there are still many more people in the 20-30-kilometer radius who should be evacuated but are receiving no financial help from the government to evacuate.

The iodine has disappeared after eight days but there is cesium and stronium being found in the food chain.  Cesium will be around for at least 100 to 300 years!

And China, Pakistan, India, the United States, Chile, Lithuania, Vietnam, and Jordan are all planning to build even more nuclear reactors.

If we stopped all the reactors in the world today it would take at least 50 years to really decommission them and we have all this waste to figure out what to do with.  And yet we want to build even more?

At the international conference there were many experts from all over the world but the message that moved me more than any other was by a 9-year-old boy from Fukushima.  He said, “Our lives and our health are more important than money. I don’t want to get sick.”

You know I have been working with children with cancer.  I don’t want even one child to get cancer.  It’s devastating.

A study was just released by French doctors that twice as many children who live near nuclear reactors get leukemia.  And these are stable reactors that have not had an accident and still the rate of cancer is higher near them.

Please do all you can to help end nuclear energy now. The future of our earth and our children is at stake.

Love and Peace,

Sister Kathleen Reiley, MM

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support for the people who have suffered so much in the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in Japan.

Children who have cancer make up Sr. Kathleen's ministry. She fears more cases near the damaged nuclear plant in Japan.

I have been able to go there four times and will be going again.  There are so many on-going needs and now with winter setting in it will be even more challenging.

I have been mostly involved with informal counseling and activities with children.   I have been connected with Caritas Japan and Share, a medical non-profit organization. Both groups are committed to ongoing service of the people.

Last month when I was in Kesennuma a man who had lost his home said,”We don’t like it when groups come in have a big event, take lots of pictures and then leave.  We feel they are doing that for their own publicity.  What we need is on-going relationships with people who really care about us and will struggle with us to help us know what the next step is for us.”

I have also been asked to join the Catholic Tokyo Volunteers, whose main area of responsibility is ministering to the people in Fukushima who had to evacuate because of the nuclear accident.

The radiation, especially in contaminated soil from cesium, whose half life is 30 years, is such a big concern – especially to families with small children.  They don’t know where to store it. 

They do not encourage volunteers under 40 to go to Fukushima because of the health risk.  I’m 67 now – so no problem.  I hope to go there in December for a Christmas party and then again in the New Year to help make special New Year’s traditional Japanese food.

For those of you who have donated money please be assured that it is being channeled to the people who need it the most – through very reputable groups.  I wish I had time to thank you each personally but I’m sure you understand the constraint of time that I am under.

Sr. Margaret Lacson is also using some of the money to help many of the Maryknoll Filipinos who are victims of the tsunami, too.  She also has been up there to minister to them several times.

And please continue to do all you can to alert the whole world about the terrible effects of a nuclear accident – especially the problem of nuclear waste.  I work with children with cancer and it just breaks my heart to think how many more children are threatened with getting cancer because of this accident.

 – Sister Kathleen Reiley, MM

This year on Memorial Day, I was greatly honored to light the Lōkahi Light on the occasion of the 13th Annual Lantern Floating Hawai’i Ceremony, presented by Shinnyo-en and Her Holiness Keishu Shinso Ito and sponsored by Na lei Aloha Foundation. The lights of the lanterns symbolize HOPE. They extend our gratitude to those who lived before us, allow us to reflect on the lives that we are blessed with and to offer prayers of love for others.

Each year more than 40,000 persons converge at dusk on the shores of Magic Island – Ala Moana Beach – Honolulu, Hawai’i, to witness the launching of 3,000 lit lanterns inscribed with the names of individuals who have gone before us. This tribute, honoring loved ones who have passed away, as well as victims of disasters, accidents and wars, is also reenacted by millions each year worldwide.

The Lantern Floating Hawai’i Ceremony brings us together, in one place, to give thanks to those who made a difference in our lives and to remind us of the importance of standing together — united with strength and courage especially when we encounter difficulty.

This year we have seen heartrending events unfold and many people lose their lives. In remembrance there was a moment of prayer for the people of Japan who were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as for those in the Middle East, Africa, United States, New Zealand and other places around the globe who suffered from natural disasters.

Poverty and diseases are widespread, and at times suffering and sorrow seem to cover our world. But rather than succumb to hopelessness, let us be brave and believe that no matter in what circumstances we find ourselves we know we are not alone. Pupukahi I holumua (“united to move forward”), let us propel ourselves toward a world of harmony and diversity through acts that give hope to all.

The theme for this year’s event was Diversity, Harmony and Peace. As I reflected on it I thought of the word RELATIONSHIP. The relationship between body and spirit is one but sometimes we separate the body from the soul. The body becomes identified with sin and the soul with God; the body with earth and the soul with heaven. I think it is important to make a conscious connection between the two in order for us to be in harmony within ourselves first.

We all know that peace begins with oneself. When we do not have a good connection with body, mind and spirit we create obstacles that block the flow of life from soul to mind to body. This is true about you and me. If we get past the split that cuts our souls off from daily life, our lives will be in harmony. When we experience peace within ourselves everything around us also experiences the same peace and there is a harmony.

Let us always keep the light of hope in our hearts. May our humble wishes for universal peace and harmony come together in tangible acts of goodness so that we can now realize a world of peace and harmony.

— Sister Bitrina Kirway, MM