Priestly ordination for two Salesians in Jakarta

By Fr. Peter Tukan, SDB

Jakarta, Indonesia, 16 August 2018 -- The new Salesian Vice-Province of Indonesia (INA) is blessed with two new priests - Fr Fransiskus Borgias Adventus da Silva and Fr Yulius Dadang Supriyanto. They were ordained as Salesian priests on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 by Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Jakarta-Indonesia, Mgr. Ignatius Suharyo. The rite of ordination was celebrated in the Holy Eucharist of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in the parish church of Saint John Bosco, North Jakarta.

In his homily, Archbishop Suharyo, a diocesan bishop from the Archdiocese of Semarang in Central Java, now the President of the Bishop Conference of Indonesia, underlined the idea of “the way”, which has deep and practical meaning in the teaching of Jesus and Christian spirituality. He said that priesthood is neither the end nor target of every individual priest and the community of believers.

Priesthood is basically the way that every priest in particular and the Church as well take and walk by in their pilgrimages to perfection, to holiness like our the Blessed Mother and saints. Fathers Advent and Dadang who have chosen this way in the Salesian style, their goal is to become holy Salesian priests. Bishop put in tune this explanation with the ordination motto of the two new priests taken from the book of Isaiah that says: “This is the way, keep to it” (Is 30,21).

Both express the important role of each family in cultivating and caring each son’s vocation. Their vocation stories in the booklet prepared for this occasion explain this detail. The two families had embraced Catholic from origin. The two priests still have father and mother alive as well as their siblings. Father Advent was born in Cibinong, Bogor-West Java in 1986 as the first of four children. His father is from Larantuka in east of the Flores Island and his mother is from Bogor regency in the West Java. From birth until the time of entering the Salesian Congregation and doing his formation, he has been with his family living in Jakarta and belonging to the Archdiocese of Jakarta. He entered the diocesan minor seminary-senior high school in Jakarta, where he found that the Salesian communities both in Wisma Salesian Don Bosco, Jakarta and BLK Tigaraksa in Banten Province were relatively near to him.

Father Dadang was born in Lampung, south Sumatera, in 1981 as the last of three children. His father and mother are Javanese by origin. Previous generations of his family had migrated to the Sumatera Island decades ago. He participated to various activities in his parish that gave him way to enter the diocesan minor seminary-senior high school in the city of Palembang, the neighbor city of Lampung. In one of his parochial activities following the period of seminary formation, came a person who introduced him the Salesian Congregation. He decided to follow that “way” and only few days later he found himself in the Salesian community of Tigaraksa. He found a real connection: the Salesian Congregation that has apostolate to young people and his services in the parish that also for young people.

Fathers Advent and Dadang are counted as the 27th and 28th Salesian Indonesian priest vocation. These numbers speak about miracles of Salesian vocation that come constantly to the Congregation from the first arrival of the missionary to this land, Father Jose Carbonell SDB, in 1985 to this moment as Indonesia is already a Vice-Province. The Provincial, Father Andy Wong assigned Father Advent to Wisma Salesian Don Bosco and Father Dadang to the Salesian community of Tigaraksa.

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