austraLasia 1462

Disinterested service of the young in the world's largest Muslim nation

JAKARTA: 24th February 2006 -- Cardinal Darmaatmadja SJ has been Archbishop of Jakarta for the past ten years.  The Salesians have been in that city of 12 million people for twenty, and were made very welcome by Cardinal Soeroto SJ at the time. He remained a good and warm friend of the early Salesians in the city.  Recently, in private audience with the Salesian Extraordinary Visitor and the local superior of Wisma Don Bosco, Cardinal Darmaatmadja expressed his satisfaction with the growing Salesian presence in his diocese (now a parish, a vocational centre and two formation communities), and some hopes for the future.
    Catholics make up 450,000 of the city's population - by no means a large proportion, but still a large flock to be nurtured.  There are only 27 diocesan clergy but 366 religious priests, 50 brothers, 561 sisters and 56 parishes.  Clearly, then, it is no surprise to find words like 'dialogue', 'openness', 'collaboration', 'communion', amongst the terms the cardinal uses to describe the needs of his archdiocese.  He is pushing for the strengthening of the Basic Ecclesial Community structure in parish and deanery settings.  Our own Salesian parish at Sunter, for example, has 8 districts divided into 40 smaller sectors, each considered to be a BEC.  In the cardinal's mind, if that is indeed so, for prayer and for social involvement, and in communion with other sectors under the guidance of the parish priest, then this is the ideal parish achievement.  The two central targets for the strategy in practical terms are the family and the young.  It has been difficult for Jakarta's Catholic community to involve the young.
    Looking more widely at Salesian involvement in the nation, it is not difficult, at least from the Cardinal's perspective, to see where the Salesians fit in. Technical education/vocational training is a crying need throughout the nation, and young people, especially street children in the urban areas are the other group amongst the poorest in every respect.  Again the cardinal stresses the importance of many people working together, in 'disinterested service of the young, offering the free gift of social service and education in the multi-ethnic, multi-faith context of Indonesia'.  
    The future of the Indonesian Church lies in inter-religious dialogue which, the cardinal points out, can be more difficult than ecumenical dialogue.  On the one hand there are fundamental Muslim groups and on the other some very aggressive Protestant and equally fundamental groups.  Moderate Catholicsm does not always find easy existence between the two.
    The Secretary of the Episcopal Conference adds his own thoughts: the most Catholic regions in Indonesia are also the most backward: Irian Jaya, Flores, Sumba, Kalimantan; 7-8 million Catholics needing the most in terms of human development.  There are very few Catholics involved in public and political life.  While in the past, Catholic (Jesuit) schools and hospitals were much respected, now Government has poured large amounts of money into similar institutions.  But - the area of basic human formation and vocational training is a huge need.
    Good background for the Visitor as he begins his two month long visit in a vice province that stretches from Tigaraksa in Western Java to Fuiloro in East Timor.
GLOSSARY
disinterested:  not influenced by selfish motives.  Avoid confusion with 'uninterested' which means lack of interest!
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