We are the BCA.

In December, OCBC mailed the Buddhist Churches of America 2012 Calendar to each sustaining member household.  It is OCBC’s small token of appreciation for the Sangha’s generous donations and tireless volunteer help for the various activities of the temple in 2011 and for their continued support in 2012.

For February, the calendar shows the BCA Golf Fundraiser, the BCA Ministers’ Association Meeting, and the BCA National Council Meeting from Feb 22 through Feb 25 at Sacramento.  The golf tournament kicks off the two meetings and is a fundraiser for the Jodo Shinshu Center.  Each BCA temple sends their ministers to both meetings and sends two lay representatives (usually the President and Vice President) to the National Council Meeting.  This year, OCBC will be sending Rev Harada, Rev Sakamoto, Aaron Nagayama and myself.

Both meetings are business meetings where budget and other national BCA issues are discussed.  And the various BCA national organizations, the eight BCA districts and many BCA committees present their annual reports.

This year, we will also be ratifying the selection of Rev. Kodo Umezu (currently the Director of the Center for Buddhist Education) as the new Socho of the BCA.  The current Socho, Koshin Ogui, will be retiring on April 1 after serving two four-year terms.  Rev. Umezu will serve a four-year term and can be re-elected to a second term.  Also on April 1, BCA President Everett Watada (from Denver Tri-State Buddhist Temple) will complete his two-year term.  Ron Murakami (from White River Buddhist Temple) will be the new BCA President and will serve a two-year term.

Back at OCBC, the 2012 General Meeting was held on January 14, 2012 where the 2012 Board of Directors was elected by the sustaining members in attendance and they are listed below.  Also the 2012 Cabinet who were listed in the January Korin was elected by the BOD members.

2012 Board of Directors

*New Director for 2012

On Sunday February 26, Project Kokoro will be having its 25th Anniversary Luncheon.  PK will be celebrating 25 years as a Senior Citizen activity group.  This year they will honor Mrs. Terry Kosakura and Mr. Jogi Yamaguchi for their dedicated service to Project Kokoro.  For more details please see the flyer in this Korin.

On March 2-4 the BCA Center for Buddhist Education is sponsoring the 2012 TechnoBuddha Conference for young adults, ages 21-39.  It will be at the Jodo Shinshu Center and the guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Mark Unno.  Dr. Unno besides being a Jodo Shinshu minister is an associate professor of East Asian Religions and Japanese Buddhism at the University of Oregon and is currently the department head of their Religious Studies Department.  More details about the conference are in the flyer in this Korin along with the registration form.  Please give the flyer and registration form to any young adults that you know who may be interested in attending.

As one turns the months of the BCA calendar, each month contains photos from one of the eight districts in BCA or from a BCA national organization.  For example, July has photos of the Youth Advocacy Committee (YAC) and November has Southern District photos.  When I received the calendar I turned the months to see how many OCBC members and how many friends and relatives at other BCA temples I could spot.  As I viewed the members from the many temples around the country, it reminded me that every Sangha member of every temple make up the Buddhist Churches of America.  Thank you for your support of both the Orange County Buddhist Church and the Buddhist Churches of America.

Gassho,

Howard Nakagiri