U.S. Catholics fund replacement for cathedral bell destroyed in atomic bombing of Nagasaki

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Catholics in the United States are helping to fund the replacement of a cathedral bell destroyed in the Nagasaki blast. 

The two U.S. bombings represent the only use of atomic weaponry in combat to date. The bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, killed as many as 250,000 civilians and soldiers directly and indirectly. 

The bombings resulted in the near-total destruction of the two cities. Among the ruined structures in Nagasaki was the Urakami Cathedral, originally completed in 1925. It represented the largest Catholic cathedral in East Asia at the time. It was rebuilt in 1959. 

Dr. James Nolan, a professor of sociology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, told CNA he has spent “a considerable amount of time” in Nagasaki while writing and researching a book about the local Catholic population’s response to the bombing. 

“It looks at the response to the bomb among Nagasaki Catholics and seeks to understand it against the backdrop of the history of their persecution and suffering,” Nolan said.

After the bombing, Catholics in Nagasaki managed to dig up one of the cathedral’s original bells and save it; it is presently installed in the rebuilt cathedral’s right bell tower. 

In the course of his research Nolan spoke to a parishioner at the Urakami Cathedral who noted that the other tower remains empty. 

“He said, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if American Catholics gave us the bell for the left tower?’” Nolan said. “I thought that was a wonderful suggestion, and I’ve been working on it since.”

Funding for the Nagasaki Bell Project is being raised via the St. Kateri Institute, an organization that offers “opportunities for people living and studying in northwestern Massachusetts to engage with the Catholic intellectual tradition.”

“The bell is being built by a foundry in St. Louis,” Nolan told CNA. “We are raising the funds for it. The cost for the bell itself is $54,200. To this point we’ve raised about $37,000. We’re about $18,000 away from the total cost of the bell.” 

Nagasaki Archbishop Michiaki Nakamura has given his blessing to the project, Nolan said, with plans to have the bell fully installed in less than a year. 

“He wants it installed by the 80th anniversary of the bombing, August 9, 2025,” Nolan said. 

Nolan himself has a more-than-academic interest in the bombing. His grandfather served as the chief medical officer at the Los Alamos, New Mexico facility where the atomic bomb was developed.

He said that 8,500 Catholics were killed in the Nagasaki bombing, from a population of about 12,000. 

And yet  “their response was one of peace, reconciliation, and rebuilding their community,” Nolan said.

Archbishop Nakamura, meanwhile, told the Yomiuri Shimbun this week that the project will symbolize both the destructive conflict and hopes for the future. 

“The bells will ring out to convey the tragedy of war and to wish for peace,” the archbishop said.

This article was written by Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. 

Featured image: Postcard of the memorial service held at the Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral, November 23, 1945. (The Pictorial Post-Cards Regarding the War Calamities, Suffered on August 9, 1945). Credit: Nagasaki City Office (長崎市役所), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons