The pioneer of the Ottawa PL Church,
and the PL Church in Canada, is Mrs. Silvina Ferreira, who
has been a PL member since April of 1971.
Silvina encountered PL, while living
a very difficult life in São Paulo, Brazil. She had serious
health problems, and she and her husband had little money.
She became a member in the São Caetano do Sul, in São Paulo,
at the Church of Vila Gerti, while the late Rev. Kagitane
was the minister there. (This church has since moved.)
Through enormous blessings after doing
lots of Misasage, she and her family were able to emigrate
to Canada. Once they arrived, she was completely lost, there
was no PL and no minister to give her the consultations
she needed. Eventually she was able to get in touch with
the Glendale Church in California, where she could again
receive consultations from a minister.
In 1976 she was somehow able to participate
in Kyoso-sai in Japan, even though they had very
little money and she had pain in her lower back so severe
she could hardly sit during the flight over. But on her return
trip she found that her pain had completely disappeared.
She agreed to become a hokyoshi with the support
of her husband Riserio, and together they started propagation
Misasage in Canada.
By the time they received a minister
in 1979, they had built the Ottawa PL group to almost 150
practicing members.
Since then Silvina's health and her
family's financial situation have both improved tremendously
and her two daughters are now hokyoshis.
Arrival of the First Permanent PL
Minister to Canada
Through Silvina's dedication and propagation
in the Ottawa area, the need to establish a permanent Perfect
Liberty Church in Canada had become an important goal by
its members. Until that time, ministers from the New York
PL Church would drive up to Canada to meet and provide consultations
to local members.
In July of 1979, Reverend Ono and his
family arrived in Ottawa to permanently establish the Church
of Perfect Liberty in Ottawa. A dedication service to enshrine
the church Omitama was held on October 20, 1979.
After moving churches from one rental location
to another within Ottawa, a more permanent location was purchased
in July
of 1983.
Oshieoya-sama's Visit:
On a sunny day in June 1984, Oshieoya-sama (our
3rd Kyoso) was warmly welcomed
at the Ottawa PL Church. Oshieoya-sama had arrived to the
greetings that
morning of many members from Ottawa, and from far
away cities such as Montreal and Toronto.
To commemorate this joyous visit by Oshieoya-sama,
a sun-burst locust tree ("Gleditsia
triacanthos"), was planted in the front yard of the
Ottawa PL Church.
The Ministers
Here we would
like to
introduce each of the ministers who have come to care for
the Ottawa Church members, with
a small picture and a brief bio.
|
|
Rev.
Hisahiko Ono was the first PL Minister in Canada (1979
- 1994). He and his family moved to Ottawa in 1979,
after helping to pioneer the PL Church in Brazil (Rev. Ono
was the 2nd
PL minister in Brazil). He is now the first
PL Minister to establish a church in Australia where
he lives today.
|
| Rev.
Noriaki Mito (recently retired) was previously the Chief Minister
of the PL Church in Paris, France. After being posted to
Ottawa (1994
- 1997) with his family. He later set up a temporary
branch church
in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is now living in
Victoria and looking after BC members as a hokyoshi. |
<Picture to be posted> |
|
<Picture to be posted> |
Rev.
Mutsuo Kotaki (now retired) was previously the chief minister of
the PL Church in New York city where he worked
tirelessly
for over 15 years before taking over in Ottawa (1997 - 1999). |
| Rev.
William Trotter joined PL as a member of the Ottawa
PL Church in 1981. After retiring from his job with
the Federal Government of Canada in 1998, Bill became a
full time PL minister. He is the first Canadian PL minister and
together with his wife Yoko, they have dedicated much of their time
in translating many of PL's teachings into English from
Japanese. They have also published some of these into newsletters
and were instrumental in the creation of the perfectliberty.ca
website. "Bill and Yoko," as the members know them,
were responsible for the Ottawa Church temporarily upon
Oshieoya-sama's request when Rev. Kotaki retired in
1999. In July 2001 they were posted to the PL Church in
Brisbane, Australia to join Rev. Ono.
|
 |
|
 |
Rev. Takashi Goto, his
wife Seiko and their three children (daughter Kagami
[15], son Seita [13], and son Waku [9]) arrived in
Ottawa July 2, 2001. Before coming to Ottawa, Rev.
Goto was a minister at the San Jose, California's PL
Church, where they grew by 22 sincere members within 6
months of their arrival. Before that, Rev. Goto
served in several PL churches in Japan. |
