Msgr. Taguchi sent us two legal projects promulgated by the government. We were requested to make fifty reproductions of the documents. Both projects affect the Church. One of the documents defines the powers and responsibilities of the Religious Commission, under the Interior Department. The Religious Commission was in-charge of supervising the activities of ecclesiastical and religious institutions. It was to be the intermediate agency between the Church and the State. Priests and religious teachers had to get authority from the Religious Commission before they could exercise their ministry.
The second project dealt with marriages and was based on the old practice. Both projects were prepared by the Religious Commission and were submitted to Msgr. Taguchi for study, before the approval of the High Command. The Bishop of Osaka found them too rigorous and harsh. Since at that time I could not grasp the real meaning of the two documents, I chose to reserve my judgment and comments until they had been approved and promulgated by the authorities.