Catholicism in Indonesia
Encyclopedia
Roman Catholicism in Indonesia is one of the six approved religion
s in the country, the others being Islam
, Protestantism, Hinduism
, Buddhism
, and Confucianism
. According official figures, Catholics make up 3.05 percent of the population in 2000. This would yield the number of the Catholics to about 6,5 millions.
The Church is organised into 10 archdioceses and 27 dioceses. It is led by Archbishop
Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo
. There are several active religious orders
, including the Jesuits, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
- MSC and the SVD
.
The history of Catholicism in Indonesia began with the arrival of the Portuguese
in search of the Spice Islands
in the 16th century.
in 1511. They came for the spices, but Catholic missionaries soon arrived in the region, most notably Francis Xavier who worked in Ambon, Ternate
and Morotai (Halmahera
) in 1546–1547. Dominican missionaries also made many converts in Solor
. With the expulsion of Portugal from Ternate in 1574, many Catholics in the northern Moluccas were killed or converted to Islam. Ambon was conquered and occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1605. Subsequently the Catholics were forced to convert to Protestantism. The same happened in Manado
and the islands of Sangihe-Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activity was reduced in Flores and Timor
, which were still under Portuguese administration.
It wasn't until 1808, under H.W. Daendels as Governor General, that Catholics were permitted freedom of worship in the Netherlands Indies, though this measure was mainly intended for European Catholics. Daendels ruled under Napoleonic France. This was consolidated by Thomas Raffles.
From 1835 the Catholic Church was affiliated with the colonial state: clergy received a salary from the colonial government which in turn had the right to reject church appointments. In 1846, clashes over policy led the Dutch authorities to expel all but one of the Catholic priests in the colony. In 1848 there were Catholic churches in only four centers in the colony.
Active mission work did not begin until the second half of the 19th century and was concentrated in a few areas. Larantuka in the island of Flores was a particularly important mission field under the Jesuits, because the freedom of the Catholic Church was guaranteed there under an 1859 treaty with Portugal which settled conflicting territorial claims in the region. Bengkulu, Bangka, West Borneo, and the islands south of New Guinea were also important. In other regions such as the interior North Sumatra, Catholic mission work was banned. In 1898, a mission program also began in Muntilan, though the first ethnic Javanese priest was not installed until 1926.
After Indonesian independence the Church grew steadily although the Dutch and other Europeans were expelled. Then the Roman Catholicism as well as other religions grew phenomenally after the so-called abortive communist coup attempt in 1965.
s arrived in the Maluku Islands
in 1534, with the goals of converting the natives to Roman Catholicism and to obtain valuable spices
endemic to the region. The Spainard
Francis Xavier
, a co-founder of the Jesuit Order
, worked in the islands from 1546 to 1547, and baptised
several thousand locals of the islands of Ambon
, Ternate
and Morotai
(or Moro), laying the foundations for a permanent mission there. Following his departure from Maluku, others carried on his work and by the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, and by the 1590s there were 50,000 to 60,000. Portuguese Dominican
priests also had some success in missionary activities on Solor
where by the 1590s the Portuguese and local Catholic population is thought to have numbered 25,000.
was the first Dutchman who sailed east to modern day Indonesia in 1595. Although his expedition could be considered a commercial failure, it showed the Dutch they were able to sail east in search for the spices. In 1602 the VOC or the Dutch East India Company
was created. Subsequently Ambon was conquered and occupied by the VOC in 1605. As a result, the Catholics were forced to convert to Protestantism. The same happened in Manado
and the islands of Sangihe-Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activity was reduced in Flores and Timor, which were still under Portuguese administration.
The Catholic priests were replaced with Protestant priests from The Netherlands
. Many Christians at the time converted to Protestantism. For some time, Catholic priests were threatened with capital punishment if found to be residing in VOC territory. In 1624, Father Egidius d'Abreu (SJ), was executed in Batavia
during the administration of Governor General Jan Pieterszoon Coen
for celebrating Mass
in prison.
Father Alexander de Rhodes
, a French
Jesuit who invented the Vietnam
ese westernised alphabet
system, was forced to watch his cross and Mass accessories burned underneath where two convicted thieves were just hung to their deaths. De Rhodes was then expelled from VOC territories in 1646.
Joanes Kaspar Kratz, an Austria
n, was forced to leave Batavia due to difficulties with the administrators due to the help he gave to Catholic priests who were in transit in Batavia. He was moved to Macau
, joined the Jesuit Order, and died as a martyr in Vietnam in 1737.
At the end of the 18th century Western Europe
saw intense warfare between France and Great Britain
and their respective allies. The sympathies of the people of the Netherlands were divided, and the Netherlands lost its independence. In 1806 Louis Bonaparte
assigned his brother Louis Napoleon, a Catholic, to the throne of the Netherlands. In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt and was dissolved.
(also known as Koning Lodewijk Bonaparte in Dutch), a fervent Catholic, brought a positive effect. Religious freedom was recognised by the government. On May 8, 1807, the leader of Catholic Church in Rome was given permission from King Louis to establish an Apostolic Prefecture of East Indies in Batavia
.
On April 4, 1808, two Dutch priests arrived in Batavia. They were Fr. Jacobus Nelissen and Fr. Lambertus Prinsen. Nelissen became the first Apostolic Prefect
, when the Apostolic Prefecture of Batavia was created in 1826.
Governor General Daendels (1808–1811), replaced VOC
with the government of Dutch East Indies
. Religious freedom was then practised, although Catholicism was still difficult.
when Frans van Lith
, a priest from The Netherlands came to Muntilan
, Central Java
in 1896. Initially, his effort did not produce a satisfying result, until 1904 when four chiefs (the heads of the town) from Kalibawang region came to his house and demanded him to give them education in the religion. On 15 December 1904, a group of 178 Javanese were baptised at Semagung, between two trees called "Sono". This became the place that is nowadays called Sendangsono, which is located in Muntilan
, district Magelang
, Central Java, near the border of province DI Yogyakarta.
Van Lith also established a school for teachers in Muntilan called "Normaalschool" in 1900 and "Kweekschool (also for teachers)" in 1904. In 1918, all Roman Catholic schools were put under an institute, called "Yayasan Kanisius", which produces the first priests and bishops of Indonesia. In 20th Century, the Roman Catholic Church grew fast.
In 1911, Van Lith established "Seminari Menengah" (Seminari, an Indonesian word, is a school that give instructions to future priests). Three out of six candidates that were in the school during 1911-1914 were received into priesthood in 1926-1928. Those priests were FX Satiman SJ, A. Djajasepoetra SJ, and Albertus Soegijapranata SJ.
On 20 December 1948, Father Sandjaja and Frater Hermanus Bouwens SJ were killed in a village called Kembaran, near Muntilan, when Dutch soldiers attacked Semarang which continued to Yogyakarta. Father Sandjaja is recognised as Indonesian martyr in the history of Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia.
Monsigneur (abbreviated Mgr., normally reserved for a bishop) Soegijapranata with Bishop Willekens SJ faced the Japanese colonial rule, and they managed to keep Saint Carolus Hospital to operate normally.
Many Indonesian national heroes are Catholics, including Agustinus Adisoetjipto (1947) (his name became the name of Yogyakarta International Airport, Adisutjipto Airport
), Ignatius Slamet Riyadi (1945), and Yos Soedarso (1961).
was Justinus Darmojuwono
on 29 June 1967. Indonesian Roman Catholic Church is active in the worldwide Roman Catholic Church
. Indonesian Bishops took part in Vatican Council II - Konsili Vatikan II which was on 1962-1965.
Pope Paul VI
visited Indonesia on 1970, followed in 1989 by Pope John Paul II
. The places that were visited were Jakarta
(capital of Indonesia), Medan
(North Sumatra
), Yogyakarta
(DI Yogyakarta), cities of Central Java
province, Maumere
(Flores
), and Dili
(Timor Timur), which is now part of East Timor
.
The former (arch)bishop of "Keuskupan Agung Jakarta" (translated as Archdiocese of Jakarta), and also Indonesia's only Cardinal is Julius Darmaatmadja, SJ
. He took part in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI
.
Roman Catholicism, as well as other religions, experienced an enormous growth especially in areas inhabited by large numbers of Chinese Indonesians and ethnic Javanese. For example in 2000 in Jakarta alone, there were 301,084 Catholics while in 1960, there were just 26,955. This is an increase of factor 11 while the whole population almost tripled from 2,800,000 to 8,347,000.
The dramatic increase of the number of Catholics in particular and Christians in general has led to enmity and allegations of 'Christianization
'.
The second half of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s were also marked by violence against Catholics in particular and Christian in general. However former president Abdurrahman Wahid
, himself a leader of Nahdatul Ulama
, one of the biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia, has made several contributions in bringing together the different parts of the population.
As recently as 2010, there were incidents where Catholics and other Christians were banned from having Christmas services.
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
s in the country, the others being Islam
Islam in Indonesia
Islam is the dominant religion in Indonesia, which also has a larger Muslim population than any other country in the world, with approximately 202.9 million identified as Muslim as of 2009....
, Protestantism, Hinduism
Hinduism in Indonesia
Hinduism in Indonesia, also known by its formal Indonesian name Agama Hindu Dharma, refers to Hinduism as practised in Indonesia. According to the 2000 census Hindus consisted 1.79% of the total population with 88.05% in Bali and 5.89% in Central Kalimantan...
, Buddhism
Buddhism in Indonesia
Buddhism in Indonesia has a long history, with a considerable range of relics dated from its earlier years in Indonesia. Buddhism is recognized as one of six official religions in Indonesia, along with Islam, Christianity , Hinduism and Confucianism.According to the 2000 national census, roughly...
, and Confucianism
Confucianism in Indonesia
Established in 1955, the Supreme Council for Confucian Religion in Indonesia , is a religious organization to promote the development of the teaching of Confucius.-History:...
. According official figures, Catholics make up 3.05 percent of the population in 2000. This would yield the number of the Catholics to about 6,5 millions.
The Church is organised into 10 archdioceses and 27 dioceses. It is led by Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo
Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo
Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo is currently the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia, having previously served as Archbishop of Semarang ....
. There are several active religious orders
Roman Catholic religious order
Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular ; monastics ; mendicants Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular (canons and canonesses regular...
, including the Jesuits, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart is a missionary congregation in the Latin Church,one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church led by the Bishop of Rome...
- MSC and the SVD
Divine Word Missionaries
The Society of the Divine Word , popularly called the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a missionary religious congregation in the Latin Church, one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church. As of 2006 it consisted of 6,102 members composed...
.
The history of Catholicism in Indonesia began with the arrival of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
in search of the Spice Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
in the 16th century.
Brief history
In the 16th century the Portuguese sailed east to Asia and eventually captured MalaccaMalacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
in 1511. They came for the spices, but Catholic missionaries soon arrived in the region, most notably Francis Xavier who worked in Ambon, Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and Morotai (Halmahera
Halmahera
Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
) in 1546–1547. Dominican missionaries also made many converts in Solor
Solor
Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the languages of Adonara and Lamaholot. There are at least five...
. With the expulsion of Portugal from Ternate in 1574, many Catholics in the northern Moluccas were killed or converted to Islam. Ambon was conquered and occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1605. Subsequently the Catholics were forced to convert to Protestantism. The same happened in Manado
Manado
Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 405,715 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar...
and the islands of Sangihe-Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activity was reduced in Flores and Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
, which were still under Portuguese administration.
It wasn't until 1808, under H.W. Daendels as Governor General, that Catholics were permitted freedom of worship in the Netherlands Indies, though this measure was mainly intended for European Catholics. Daendels ruled under Napoleonic France. This was consolidated by Thomas Raffles.
From 1835 the Catholic Church was affiliated with the colonial state: clergy received a salary from the colonial government which in turn had the right to reject church appointments. In 1846, clashes over policy led the Dutch authorities to expel all but one of the Catholic priests in the colony. In 1848 there were Catholic churches in only four centers in the colony.
Active mission work did not begin until the second half of the 19th century and was concentrated in a few areas. Larantuka in the island of Flores was a particularly important mission field under the Jesuits, because the freedom of the Catholic Church was guaranteed there under an 1859 treaty with Portugal which settled conflicting territorial claims in the region. Bengkulu, Bangka, West Borneo, and the islands south of New Guinea were also important. In other regions such as the interior North Sumatra, Catholic mission work was banned. In 1898, a mission program also began in Muntilan, though the first ethnic Javanese priest was not installed until 1926.
After Indonesian independence the Church grew steadily although the Dutch and other Europeans were expelled. Then the Roman Catholicism as well as other religions grew phenomenally after the so-called abortive communist coup attempt in 1965.
Portuguese era
Portuguese explorerExploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
s arrived in the Maluku Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
in 1534, with the goals of converting the natives to Roman Catholicism and to obtain valuable spices
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
endemic to the region. The Spainard
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...
, a co-founder of the Jesuit Order
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, worked in the islands from 1546 to 1547, and baptised
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
several thousand locals of the islands of Ambon
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
, Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and Morotai
Morotai
Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...
(or Moro), laying the foundations for a permanent mission there. Following his departure from Maluku, others carried on his work and by the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, and by the 1590s there were 50,000 to 60,000. Portuguese Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
priests also had some success in missionary activities on Solor
Solor
Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the languages of Adonara and Lamaholot. There are at least five...
where by the 1590s the Portuguese and local Catholic population is thought to have numbered 25,000.
The VOC era
Cornelis de HoutmanCornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman , brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade...
was the first Dutchman who sailed east to modern day Indonesia in 1595. Although his expedition could be considered a commercial failure, it showed the Dutch they were able to sail east in search for the spices. In 1602 the VOC or the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
was created. Subsequently Ambon was conquered and occupied by the VOC in 1605. As a result, the Catholics were forced to convert to Protestantism. The same happened in Manado
Manado
Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 405,715 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar...
and the islands of Sangihe-Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activity was reduced in Flores and Timor, which were still under Portuguese administration.
The Catholic priests were replaced with Protestant priests from The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Many Christians at the time converted to Protestantism. For some time, Catholic priests were threatened with capital punishment if found to be residing in VOC territory. In 1624, Father Egidius d'Abreu (SJ), was executed in Batavia
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
during the administration of Governor General Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Jan Pieterszoon Coen was a officer of the Dutch East India Company in the early seventeenth century, holding two terms as its Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies....
for celebrating Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
in prison.
Father Alexander de Rhodes
Alexander de Rhodes
Father Alexander de Rhodes was a French Jesuit missionary and lexicographer who had a lasting impact on Christianity in Vietnam. He wrote the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, the first trilingual Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dictionary published in Rome in 1651.- Biography...
, a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Jesuit who invented the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese westernised alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
system, was forced to watch his cross and Mass accessories burned underneath where two convicted thieves were just hung to their deaths. De Rhodes was then expelled from VOC territories in 1646.
Joanes Kaspar Kratz, an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n, was forced to leave Batavia due to difficulties with the administrators due to the help he gave to Catholic priests who were in transit in Batavia. He was moved to Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, joined the Jesuit Order, and died as a martyr in Vietnam in 1737.
At the end of the 18th century Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
saw intense warfare between France and Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and their respective allies. The sympathies of the people of the Netherlands were divided, and the Netherlands lost its independence. In 1806 Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
assigned his brother Louis Napoleon, a Catholic, to the throne of the Netherlands. In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt and was dissolved.
The East Indies era
The change of politic in The Netherlands, mainly because of the accession of Louis BonaparteLouis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
(also known as Koning Lodewijk Bonaparte in Dutch), a fervent Catholic, brought a positive effect. Religious freedom was recognised by the government. On May 8, 1807, the leader of Catholic Church in Rome was given permission from King Louis to establish an Apostolic Prefecture of East Indies in Batavia
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
.
On April 4, 1808, two Dutch priests arrived in Batavia. They were Fr. Jacobus Nelissen and Fr. Lambertus Prinsen. Nelissen became the first Apostolic Prefect
Apostolic prefect
An apostolic prefect is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a missionary area where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese....
, when the Apostolic Prefecture of Batavia was created in 1826.
Governor General Daendels (1808–1811), replaced VOC
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
with the government of Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. Religious freedom was then practised, although Catholicism was still difficult.
The Van Lith era
Catholicism started to spread in Central JavaCentral Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
when Frans van Lith
Franciscus Georgius Josephus van Lith
Franciscus Georgius Josephus van Lith SJ or often called "Frans van Lith" was a Jesuit priest from Oirschot, Netherlands who pioneered the Catholic mission in Java, especially Central Java....
, a priest from The Netherlands came to Muntilan
Muntilan
Muntilan is a town in Central Java, on the old railway route to Magelang, and on the recent route of tourists on their way to Borobudur.It is the main market town along the western slopes of Mount Merapi volcano in central Java, within the administrative ambit of the regional government in...
, Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
in 1896. Initially, his effort did not produce a satisfying result, until 1904 when four chiefs (the heads of the town) from Kalibawang region came to his house and demanded him to give them education in the religion. On 15 December 1904, a group of 178 Javanese were baptised at Semagung, between two trees called "Sono". This became the place that is nowadays called Sendangsono, which is located in Muntilan
Muntilan
Muntilan is a town in Central Java, on the old railway route to Magelang, and on the recent route of tourists on their way to Borobudur.It is the main market town along the western slopes of Mount Merapi volcano in central Java, within the administrative ambit of the regional government in...
, district Magelang
Magelang
Magelang is one of the largest cities of the 1,130 km² Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. It is also the largest town in the Kedu Plain between Mount Merbabu and Mount Sumbing in Central Java, Indonesia...
, Central Java, near the border of province DI Yogyakarta.
Van Lith also established a school for teachers in Muntilan called "Normaalschool" in 1900 and "Kweekschool (also for teachers)" in 1904. In 1918, all Roman Catholic schools were put under an institute, called "Yayasan Kanisius", which produces the first priests and bishops of Indonesia. In 20th Century, the Roman Catholic Church grew fast.
In 1911, Van Lith established "Seminari Menengah" (Seminari, an Indonesian word, is a school that give instructions to future priests). Three out of six candidates that were in the school during 1911-1914 were received into priesthood in 1926-1928. Those priests were FX Satiman SJ, A. Djajasepoetra SJ, and Albertus Soegijapranata SJ.
The independence war era
Albertus Soegijapranata SJ became the first Indonesian bishop on 1940.On 20 December 1948, Father Sandjaja and Frater Hermanus Bouwens SJ were killed in a village called Kembaran, near Muntilan, when Dutch soldiers attacked Semarang which continued to Yogyakarta. Father Sandjaja is recognised as Indonesian martyr in the history of Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia.
Monsigneur (abbreviated Mgr., normally reserved for a bishop) Soegijapranata with Bishop Willekens SJ faced the Japanese colonial rule, and they managed to keep Saint Carolus Hospital to operate normally.
Many Indonesian national heroes are Catholics, including Agustinus Adisoetjipto (1947) (his name became the name of Yogyakarta International Airport, Adisutjipto Airport
Adisucipto International Airport
Adisucipto International Airport is the principal airport serving the Yogyakarta area on the island of Java, Indonesia....
), Ignatius Slamet Riyadi (1945), and Yos Soedarso (1961).
The post-independence era
The first Indonesian (arch)bishop to be made cardinalCardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
was Justinus Darmojuwono
Justinus Darmojuwono
Justinus Darmojuwono was an Indonesian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Semarang from 1963 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1967, becoming the first Indonesian to be a cardinal.-Biography:Justinus Darmojuwono was born in Godean, and made his...
on 29 June 1967. Indonesian Roman Catholic Church is active in the worldwide Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. Indonesian Bishops took part in Vatican Council II - Konsili Vatikan II which was on 1962-1965.
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
visited Indonesia on 1970, followed in 1989 by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. The places that were visited were Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
(capital of Indonesia), Medan
Medan
- Demography :The city is Indonesia's fourth most populous after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, and Indonesia's largest city outside of Java island. Much of the population lies outside its city limits, especially in Deli Serdang....
(North Sumatra
North Sumatra
North Sumatra is a province of Indonesia on the Sumatra island. Its capital is Medan. It is the most populous Indonesian province outside of Java. It is slightly larger than Sri Lanka in area.- Geography and population :...
), Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...
(DI Yogyakarta), cities of Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
province, Maumere
Maumere
Maumere is the largest town of Flores, Indonesia and the centre of business. It lies on the north coast of the island and the port is in the northwest part of the town. The Maumere Airport is located in Maumere...
(Flores
Flores
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population was 1.831.000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. Flores is Portuguese for "flowers".Flores is located east of Sumbawa...
), and Dili
Dili
Dili, spelled Díli in Portuguese, is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.-Geography and Administration:Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands....
(Timor Timur), which is now part of East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
.
The former (arch)bishop of "Keuskupan Agung Jakarta" (translated as Archdiocese of Jakarta), and also Indonesia's only Cardinal is Julius Darmaatmadja, SJ
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
. He took part in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
.
The post coup d'état era
In 1965 there after the so-called abortive coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party, a purge was carried out amongst Indonesian communists and alleged communists, especially in Java and Bali. Hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions civilians were killed in the ensuing turmoil by the army and vigilantes. Communism was associated with atheism and since then every Indonesian citizen was expected to adopt one of the five official religion endorsed by the state.Roman Catholicism, as well as other religions, experienced an enormous growth especially in areas inhabited by large numbers of Chinese Indonesians and ethnic Javanese. For example in 2000 in Jakarta alone, there were 301,084 Catholics while in 1960, there were just 26,955. This is an increase of factor 11 while the whole population almost tripled from 2,800,000 to 8,347,000.
The dramatic increase of the number of Catholics in particular and Christians in general has led to enmity and allegations of 'Christianization
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
'.
The second half of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s were also marked by violence against Catholics in particular and Christian in general. However former president Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman Addakhil , colloquially known as , was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001...
, himself a leader of Nahdatul Ulama
Nahdatul Ulama
Nahdlatul Ulama is a traditionalist Sunni Islam group in Indonesia.The NU was established on January 31, 1926 as a reaction to the modernist Muhammadiyah organization. In 1965, the group took sides with the General Suharto-led army and was heavily involved in the mass killings of Indonesian...
, one of the biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia, has made several contributions in bringing together the different parts of the population.
As recently as 2010, there were incidents where Catholics and other Christians were banned from having Christmas services.
Demographics
The Indonesian Central Statistic Bureau (BPS) conducts a census every 10 years. The latest data available, from 2000, drew on 201,241,999 survey responses; the BPS estimated that the census missed 4.6 million persons. The BPS report indicated that 88.22 percent (210 million in 2004) of the population label themselves Muslim, 5.87 percent Protestant, 3.05 percent Catholic, 1.81 percent Hindu, 0.84 percent Buddhist, and 0.2 percent "other," including traditional indigenous religions, other Christian groups, and Judaism. The country's religious composition remains a politically charged issue, and some Christians, Hindus, and members of other minority faiths argue that the census undercounted non-Muslims.General
- Robert Cribb, Historical Atlas of Indonesia. London: Curzon Press, Singapore: New Asian Library (2000) ISBN 981-04-2771-9
- Adolf Heuken, 'Archdiocese of Jakarta - a Growing Local Church (1950–2000)' in Een vakkracht in het Koninkrijk. Kerk- en zendingshistorie opstellen onder redactie van dr. Chr.G.F. de Jong (2005:104-114) ISBN 90-5829-611-3
- Leopold Maria van Rijckevorsel S.J., Pastoor F. van Lith S.J. : de stichter van de missie in Midden-Java, 1863-1926. Nijmegen: Stichting St.Claverbond (1952)
- Karel Steenbrink, Catholics in Indonesia, 1808-1942 : a documented history. Leiden:KITLV Press ISBN 90-6718-141-2
- Karel Steenbrink, 'A Catholic Sadrach: the contested conversions of Madrais adherents in West Java between 1960-2000' in Een vakkracht in het Koninkrijk. Kerk- en zendingshistorie opstellen onder redactie van dr. Chr.G.F. de Jong (2005:286-307) ISBN 90-5829-611-3
See also
- Religion in IndonesiaReligion in IndonesiaThe first principle of Indonesia's ideology states that Pancasila: "belief in the one and only God". A number of different religions are practiced in the country, and their collective influence on the country's political, economical and cultural life is significant. As of 2011, the population was...
- Christianity in IndonesiaChristianity in IndonesiaChristianity in Indonesia is the country's second-largest religion, after Islam. About 7% of the population of Indonesia are Protestants, 3% are Catholics, with around 86% Muslims.-Distribution:...
- Demographics of IndonesiaDemographics of IndonesiaThe population of Indonesia according to the 2010 national census is 237.6 million, with 58% living on the island of Java, the world's most populous island....