Makassar, 7 new priests in the land of the Torajas

Archbishop Ada presides over the ordination ceremony in the inland area of Makassar, home to this ethnic group with a Christian majority. The invitation to the new priests: "Draw your spiritual strength from Jesus who calls you to be his messengers".

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - On February 2, the same day on which Pope Francis mentioned vocations in Indonesia in his homily for the Day for Consecrated Life, the archdiocese of Makassar celebrated the ordination of seven new priests. The ceremony took place in the province of South Sulawesi, in the land of the Toraja, the ethnic group that has donated the largest number of priests to the local Church. The current Archbishop, Msgr John Liku Ada, and Msgr Petrus Boddeng Timang, Bishop of Banjarmasin in the province of South Kalimantan, also come from this region with a Christian majority in Muslim territory, located in the interior, a ten-hour drive from Makassar.

Five of the new priests are from the Toraja ethnic group, while two others come from ethnic Flores families who immigrated to Makassar. Fr Albert Arina Pr, diocesan head of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, told AsiaNews: "The ordination was held in the open air in Tanah Toraja. It was a great celebration in which the local population participated with the gestures and customs of their culture. Six of the new priests belong to the diocesan clergy, while another is a religious of the Scheut missionary congregation". Addressing the newly ordained priests, Bishop Ada invited them to "draw their spiritual strength from Jesus, who calls you to be his messengers".

The archdiocese of Makassar has over 170,000 faithful in 49 parishes and 548 missionary stations spread over a vast territory in three provinces of the island of Sulawesi. These communities are cared for by 113 diocesan priests and 24 priests from various religious congregations. The land of the Toraja is also increasingly becoming a tourist destination in South Sulawesi, attracting many visitors from the country and abroad because of the local customs and traditions of this ethnic group.