Anglican Bishops to Apologize for Abuse by Former Japanese-canadian Priest
By Brian Morton
The Anglican Church of Canada will issue a formal apology Monday for the historical abuse perpetrated by one of its priests, in the hopes of making amends to victims who never came forward. The late Goichi Gordon Nakayama, a former priest in B.C. and Alberta and the father of poet and novelist Joy Kagawa, ministered to the Japanese-Canadian community. He was ordained in 1932 and left the church in 1995, the same year he died. In 1994, he confessed in a letter to church officials to sexually abusing many people and resigned from the church in 1995. The church dealt with the scandal internally, allowing Nakayama to resign. There’s nothing to indicate that the police were ever informed, said Randy Murray, communications officer for the Diocese of New Westminster, which covers most of the southwestern B.C. mainland. “There’s never been anything said about that (going to police),” Murray said on Wednesday, noting that he didn’t know why but that the bishops will address that issue. “There was nothing done.” Now, in an effort to right the wrongs, an apology will be issued by the Anglican bishops of Calgary and New Westminster in person to the Japanese-Canadian community at the Vancouver Japanese Language School Monday afternoon. Following the apology by bishops Gregory Kerr-Wilson of Calgary and Melissa Skelton of New Westminster, there will be a response by a member of the Japanese-Canadian community. Murray said that Nakayama indicated 20 years ago that he was responsible for sexually abusing people. “No one has ever come forward,” Murray noted, despite efforts by the church to encourage survivors to do so. “The assumption is that it was in the Japanese-Canadian community. He apologized and resigned (in 1995), but there was no specifics about who the victims were. “All it says in his letter is ‘sexual, bad behaviour to many persons.’ “I think the biggest part of Monday’s event is to encourage and ensure and offer healing and support for any survivors who would like to come forward,” Murray added. According to a report last year in The Bulletin, published by the Japanese Canadian Citizens Association (JCCA), Nakayama was ordained in New Westminster in 1932 and served as a priest in Vancouver until 1942. When Japanese-Canadians were interned by the Canadian government that year, Nakayama and his family were sent to Slocan, where he served as a priest. He also visited other B.C. internment camps. After the war, The Bulletin said, he founded the Church of the Ascension in Coaldale, Alberta (in the Diocese of Calgary) and served there until his retirement in 1978. The Bulletin also noted that Nakayama travelled extensively across Canada and the United States after retiring, visiting Japanese people and communities. He worked in Okinawa for a year, between 1951-52, and also travelled to South America, Asia, Africa and Europe. In 1979, he moved to Vancouver and served as a priest at Holy Cross Japanese Anglican Church in Vancouver before retiring a second time. In 1994, The Bulletin said, his offences came to light when he wrote: “I am very sorry to apologize what I did in the past. I made mistake. My moral life with my sexual bad behaviour. I sincerely sorry what I did to so many people. I hope you forgive me my past mistake.” Archbishop Curtis, the bishop of Calgary in 1995, then wrote to Nakayama that year, noting: “In your letter and during your conversation with Archdeacon Brooke Mitchell, you confirmed and admitted that you had engaged in significant immoral sexual misconduct over many years while in the office of Priest of Anglican Church. “After an extensive review of your admitted misconduct, it is my decision that some action must be taken against you regarding the same …. The charge of Immorality is now formally made against you.” Curtis gave Nakayama three options: defend himself against the charge in an ecclesiastical court; accept the penalty of Deprivation and no longer continue as a priest, or voluntarily “resign his orders.” Three days later, according to The Bulletin said, Nakayama wrote to Curtis, saying that “ … as a sign of contrition for my immoral behaviour, I will not officiate at services, visit in hospitals on behalf of the Church or be involved in any other ministry functions.” He concluded his letter with “I deeply regret the pain and suffering I have caused.” Murray also didn’t know why it took a year for the church to respond to Nakayama’s letter. In a 1982 New York Times article, Nakayama, then 82, talked of the banishment suffered by his family during four years in a remote camp in Slocan. “After all, there was a war and bad things happen in war,” he said in the article. “We do not really know what the motives of the Government were — whether they were protecting us from mob anger or if they were afraid of us. But we trusted them.” The Times writer noted Nakayama only showed real resentment when he talked about how the government had sold the house he’d bought in 1925 without his permission. “That was wrong,” Nakayama said. “We trusted them to look after our property and then one day at the camp we were notified that they sold the house for $1,500 and they sent us a check after deducting $150 for commission.” In the article, Nakayama talked about how supportive his church has been and how his family, and most Japanese-Canadians, have prospered. It said he was particularly proud that Kogawa had won national awards and critical acclaim for her first novel Obasan, which dealt with internment and its psychological aftermath. The Joy Kogawa House where the family lived before internment is now a historic landmark in Vancouver. Kogawa, who was sent with her family to Slocan during the Second World War and subsequently received the Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia, could not be reached for comment on Monday’s apology. However, Kogawa and her brother Timothy Nakayama, a retired priest, last year issued an open letter to Japanese-Canadians, published in The Bulletin, saying she was aware of an initiative into the matter by the JCCA Human Rights Committee. Kogawa wrote she hoped it would “clear the air and bring closure for the victims of our father’s heinous sexual attacks while he was a priest of the Anglican Church. “We express our solidarity with all those he harmed, the young men and boys, their families and our community and express our profound grief as members of his family. May the truth be told. May the truth be heard. And may the Love that is among us and in the universe bring healing to us. With deep gratitude to those who in their mercy have been kind to us.” Kogawa has worked to educate Canadians about the history of Japanese-Canadians and was active in the fight for official government redress. A JCCA spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Contact: bmorton@vancouversun.com
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