by Mathias Hariyadi

A national meeting is held on the mission of lay Catholics in Indonesian society, focusing on their daily involvement in building peace and social justice in the face of the challenges of religious radicalism. Here is an interview with the secretary of the Commission for the Lay Apostolate.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Lay Catholics represent  hope for the Church and the country on the path to build peace and social justice, says Fr Guido Supranto, secretary of the Commission for the Lay Apostolate (CLA) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia (KWI). He spoke to AsiaNews about the role and the mission of lay Catholics in Indonesian society.

Between 24 and 27 May, a national meeting was organised by the CLA in Wisma Shalom, Bandung. It brought together 125 lay Catholic activists from 37 dioceses, including representatives of the Bhumiksara Non Profit Foundation, APTIK (Catholic University Association), ISKA (Catholic Intellectual Association) and WKRI (Catholic Women Association).

Mgr Yustinus Hardjosusanto, bishop Tanjungselor (East Kalimantan), Mgr Johannes Pujasumarta, bishop of Semarang (Central Java) as well as many professionals, intellectuals and human rights activists were among the participants.

Ping Royani, executive director of the Bhumiksara Foundation, said such meetings favour personal involvement and are useful for professionals to network and promote the Church’s mission. She said she hoped that similar meetings would occur at a regional level with organised by local churches.

“This national meeting takes place every five years,” Fr Suprapto, a diocesan priest in Palembang, told AsiaNews. “It brings together Catholic professionals, activists, politicians and intellectuals,” serving as “a forum in which everyone can share their personal experience about what it means to be a good Catholic in daily life.”

AsiaNews: What were your expectations concerning the national meeting?

Fr Suprapto: “Radical changes have come to the country, including at the socio-cultural level. The Church of Indonesia, more specifically the KWI, expects a lot from lay Catholic professionals in relation to their Catholic mission in their professional activities and place of work. However, the Church expects them to be even more active in the socio-political field.”

AsiaNews: What was the meeting’s objective?

Fr Suprapto: “In short, we hope that in the future more lay Catholics will able to live in society according to their faith and Catholic principles. This means that a number of rules must be established and institutions set up to accommodate this need. These people must be the ‘front-line’ messengers of the Church in promoting the Word of God. We have great expectations that they will promote peace and social justice.”

AsiaNews: What does it mean to be a “Catholic messenger” in the nation’s current situation?

Fr Supranto: “We have adopted Pancasila as our political platform as way to promote pluralism. We have strong expectations that every lay Catholic professional will promote the same spirit in society.”

Mgr Pujasumarta agrees. President of the KWI’s Interfaith Commission, he told AsiaNews that promoting the spirit of Pancasila is important, including the spirit of pluralism.

At the meeting, he urged lay Catholic participants to breathe new life into the mission. He noted that in the past few years, the country has increasingly faced a problem of religious radicalism by some groups whose goal is to replace Pancasila and the constitution of 1945 with a political platform based on religious doctrine.

“Violence is promoted as a way to remove obstacles,” he said. “In this situation, we in the Indonesian Church must find openings that allow us to realise our faith and promote peace, whilst supporting nation-building in the country based on our traditional national values, Pancasila.”

• indonesia
• church
• meeting
• pancasila
• nation-building
• catholic