A Bell for Nagasaki

Professor James L. Nolan, Jr., Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College and author of Atomic Doctors, will discuss the unique manner in which the Catholics of Nagasaki responded to the plutonium bomb that was dropped on their city on 9 August 1945.

The Fat Man bomb demolished Nagasaki’s Urakami Cathedral (the largest Catholic Church in East Asia at the time). In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, the cathedral was rebuilt by the community in the years after the war. Included in the new building is one of the original bells recovered from beneath the rubble of the ruins. The other bell was destroyed and to this day the left tower of the rebuilt cathedral remains empty.

At the invitation of a parishioner at the cathedral and with the blessing of the Archbishop of Nagasaki, Nolan is leading the Nagasaki Bell Project, an effort to replace the second bell and install it before the 80^th anniversary of the bombing (August 9, 2025). This gift from American Catholics to their fellow Japanese Catholics is a beautiful project and a transcendent way to find healing from such a cataclysmic event.

Friday, 3/28/2025 Schedule:

• 5:00 pm EDT: Doors open for registrant check-in
• 5:30 pm EDT: “A Bell for Nagasaki” presentation by Prof. Nolan (this portion will be offered both in-person and virtually via a livestream) with Q&A
• 6:30 pm EDT: Atomic Doctors book signing & light happy (half) hour with Prof. Nolan
• 7:15 pm EDT: Conclusion

“A Bell for Nagasaki” is offered for both in-person and virtual attendance. Copies of Atomic Doctors are available for purchase at the CIC’s bookstore.

RSVP today!