10/22/2009, 00.00
INDONESIA
Send to a friend

Bishop of Jakarta: with my heart in Semarang, I respond with confidence to my new mission

by Rosalia Royani
On October 28, Mgr. Ignatius Pr Suharyo will enter the capital as coadjutor bishop in the archdiocese. After 12 years he leaves the Archdiocese of Semarang, in Central Java, the cradle of Indonesian Catholicism. In his last pastoral letter, the prelate expresses "gratitude" and asks for "prayers and support."

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - "This is a call that comes from God, an invitation to meet my new mission." These are the words of Mgr. Ignatius Suharyo Pr, Archbishop of Semarang, who on October 27 will leave the diocese to take up the post of bishop coadjutor of Jakarta. "The Holy See has given me his new position," writes the prelate in his last pastoral letter, with the "full support of the entire community of Semarang, in the end, I am happy to receive this mission."  

"Life is a total gift of God ... to be shared with others," the Bishop continues. Suharyo, who has spent much of his life as a professor of theology at the prestigious faculty of Wedabhakti and the Major Seminary of Kentungan, Yogyakarta in Central Java. "The Church has called me, I must obey this divine call to serve in a different place."  

The prelate (pictured) has asked the entire Catholic community of Central Java to pray for the new position he will take up in Jakarta. "I want to express my gratitude - he adds - for every prayer and every hope received [...] And it is precisely in the spirit of prayer, which I assume with confidence the new mission." Bishop Suharyo, who has completed 12 years of service in Semarang, makes his entrance into the archdiocese of the capital on 28 October, as a coadjutor (with right of succession) to Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja SJ, the current archbishop, who turns 75 in December.

Before being called to guide the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Cardinal Darmaatmadja was archbishop of Semarang, a land that has played a leading role in the history of Catholicism in Indonesia. The archdiocese is home to the Marian shrine of Sendangsono, the country's biggest, and it was from this land that the first seeds of mission in Indonesia sprouted. Among the protagonists of evangelization is the Jesuit missionary of Dutch origin Fr. Van Lith SJ, who in 1904 baptized 171 inhabitants of the area. The priest also founded a school that has contributed to the proclamation of Catholicism in all cities of the island of Java.  

Sendangsono today is known as the "Lourdes of Indonesia" and Fr. Van Lith SJ is remembered as "the Apostle of Java", with an explicit reference to St. Paul who spread Christianity in many parts of Central Asia. The Archdiocese of Semarang is still the richest in the country for religious vocations, both nuns and priests, boasts the highest number of faithful across the nation.

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
National Commission for Women asks for 'immediate action' in the nun rape case in Kerala
07/02/2019 17:28
Catholic music to promote dialogue in Ambon, the city of sectarian violence
17/10/2018 13:29
Campus Fidei to promote faith among Jakarta youth
05/01/2022 14:17
Archbishop of Jakarta: The Church serves refugees ‘who have no clear hope’ (Photo)
20/06/2018 13:46
Card Suharyo: The Church of Indonesia, love and service to the nation
09/10/2019 14:46


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”