Diasuke Kitsugawa

Daisuke Kitagawa (1910–1970) was a reverend and episcopal priest who was a leader in racial justice and social justice movements.

Biography On October 23, 1910, Kitagawa was born in Taihoku City, Japan which is currently known as Taipei, Taiwan.

In 1928 he went to one of Japan's leading schools of theology, St. Paul/Rikkyo university. One of his biggest mentors was the bishop of Kyoto, Shirley H. Nichols. He received the degree in 1940. He focused on his Episcopal studies and occasionally connected with the Japanese communities of New York city. Kitagawa even worked with the state government, authoring a report for Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl's Interracial Commission on Japanese American Resettlement in Minnesota.

International Christian Maritime Association Kitagawa represented the WCC in the formation of the International Christian Maritime Association, promoting ecumenism and cooperation among Christian seafarers' ministries. He was actively involved in recruiting new members, and the steering and working committees that led to the organization's formation. He served as the secretary and treasurer from its foundation in 1969 until his unexpected death in 1970, but was unable to attend the first official conference in 1969 due to his failing health. While Kitagawa had not himself been directly involved in ministry to seafarers prior to his work founding ICMA, historian of maritime missiology Paul Mooney describes him as an insightful commenter on seafarers and their lives. He is quoted as supporting the provision of communication services to seafarers by their employers or governments, saying"economically and technologically we are all one world. The existing structure of the international community needs to adjust to this reality. [As] President Nixon talked to a man on the moon, there is no reason why a man on board a ship could not be in touch with his family.”

Works

Race Relations and Christian Mission (1964) The Pastor and the Race Issue (1965) Issei and Nisei: The internment years (1967) “Faith And Society”, in Lambeth Essays on Faith (1969)

Death He died on March 27, 1970, at the age of 59. Shocking many, his death was caused by an unexpected heart attack in Geneva, Switzerland. His body was brought back to be interred in Hackensack, New Jersey. He was survived by his son and wife, and his son John also became an episcopal priest.