On August 9, 1945 the largest Catholic Cathedral in East Asia was destroyed by the Fat Man atomic bomb. The original church had two bell towers. The bell from the right tower was recovered from the ruins and reinstalled in the new church that was built after the war. All these years later, the left tower has remained empty. The St. Kateri Institute is honored to be part of a project to make and give to the Nagasaki Catholics a new bell for the left tower. We are working with a foundry in St. Louis to make the new bell, which will look much like the original. Thank you for your contributions to this effort.
We are pleased to announce that as of July 15th, we have raised the $125,000 needed for the Nagasaki Bell Project. This total includes the cost of making the bell, transportation, and installation. We are extremely grateful to the more than six hundred donors who have contributed to this project. After the installation ceremony on July 17th, the bell will ring out for the first time from the left tower of the Urakami Cathedral at 11:02 a.m. on August 9th, 2025, exactly eighty years after the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
The St. Kateri Institute is a tax-exempt, charitable, religious organization listed in the Federal Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). Your gift is tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law.
A Japanese news network shows the bell ringing for the first time. We are excited for the bell to arrive in Nagasaki later this year. The bell can be heard one minute and forty-four seconds into the video.
The remains of the bell we will be replacing
The Cathedral ruins after the bomb
The new Cathedral
Nagasaki’s A-Bombed Urakami Cathedral Bell to be Restored; Grandson of a Manhattan Project Doctor and U.S. Catholics to Make Donations
August 23, 2024
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The St. Kateri Institute is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
