West Java: Green light for a church named after Mother Teresa
The governor issued the permit in a ceremony ending battle that had lasted years. The laying of the foundation stone in September, on the feast day of the saint of abandoned people.
Bekasi (AsiaNews) - The Catholic community of Bekasi district, in the province of West Java, will finally have a church dedicated to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The permit for the building, which has been awaited for years, was officially handed over the other day by governor Ridwan Kamil. It concerns a 7,500 square metre plot of land in the municipality of Cikarang that had been duly purchased years ago by the local parish.
The problem in issuing the concession for the church building had emerged in 2012; under pressure from some local Muslim groups, bureaucratic problems had been raised to justify the non-issue.
Now, however, less than a year before the elections in February 2024, a party-independent local administration has unblocked the dossier with a simple modification of the urban plan through which the place of worship has been allowed in a commercial area.
"Since I took office as interim district chief in 2021," said administration head Dani Ramdan, "I have been trying to find a good solution with all parties to end the crisis.
So now the Catholic community of Cikarang - which has many families and for years now has gathered for liturgies in a hall of the local Catholic Trinity School - will be able to have its own church.
Pastor Fr. Antonius Suhardi Antara told AsiaNews that the successful outcome was possible thanks to "long years of good relations with all parties in the Bekasi district and good communication with the new administration.
"The laying of the foundation stone of the church,' he added, 'will take place in September, in memory of the date of death of the parish's patroness, Mother Teresa of Calcutta."
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