Joaquim Magalhães de Castro
The Holy Year celebrations of the Archdiocese of Jakarta coincide with the launching of the “Kabar Baik” (“Good News”) initiative. The newly created Catholic platform is dedicated to evangelization and the dissemination of religious content in the Bahasa language. The “Kabar Baik” platform aims in particular to inspire Catholic journalists to make the main messages of Pope Francis’ magisterium accessible and disseminated to a wider audience.
The new evangelization initiative was presented during a special Jubilee pilgrimage held in recent days by the faithful of Jakarta to the “Prayer Garden of Our Lady of Akita”, located in the riverside area of Pantai Indah Kapuk, in the north of the Indonesian capital.
Although it was only recently built in 2023, the “Prayer Garden of Our Lady of Akita” has quickly become a pilgrimage site for Catholics from all over Indonesia seeking places of prayer and reflection. Edisson Djingga, director of the shrine, confirmed to the Vatican news agency that “faithful from all over the archipelago and also Catholic pilgrims from mainland China” travel there.
The jubilee pilgrimage, which was attended by more than 700 faithful from various parishes in the diocese, was led by Fr. Yustinus Sulistiadi, initiator of the “Kabar Baik” platform, who also presided over the Eucharist concelebrated by priests from other parishes.
The pilgrimage aimed to provide the Catholic community with an opportunity to reflect on their faith and embrace the renewal and spirit of conversion offered to each believer during the Holy Year. Father Sulistiadi encouraged the faithful to welcome the launch of “Kabar Baik” with a spirit of hope. The initiative marks “the beginning of a deeper journey to understand, implement and spread Pope Francis’ pastoral messages.”
The platform aims to “take on, accompany and deepen three key messages” from Pope Francis’ visit to Indonesia in September 2024. One of them is the importance of “building strong and fraternal relationships with people of different religions”; the second is the care for “our common home”; and the third commitment to promoting social justice, since “the Church plays a crucial role in promoting human dignity, equality and justice in society”. Through initiatives such as “Kabar Baik,” the priest concluded, “the spirit of the Jubilee Year will continue to inspire and guide the Catholic community in Jakarta and throughout Indonesia.”
A little further east, on the Island of Flores, the Jubilee Year of 2025 has already given new hope to the Camillians (MI) in Indonesia with the ordination of five young priests, which represents a new historical moment in their missionary presence.
On January 19, Bishop Ewaldus Sedu ordained five new priests at the Camillian Seminary of Maumere, bringing the number of “our native priests in this great Asian country to 19 in just 15 years since our arrival,” as Father Luigi Galvani (MI), pioneer of the mission on the island of Flores, tells Fides. The last priestly ordinations on the island of Flores date back to July 2024
The Camillians, as well as dozens of male and female congregations, have arrived in the archipelago in the last two decades with great enthusiasm and the desire to make their apostolic contribution to the Indonesian Catholic Church, which is still experiencing “an encouraging moment of grace in the number of priestly and religious vocations”.
In Maumere, the most populous city on the island, there is the largest Theological Seminary of the Catholic Church, with around 1,500 students from five dioceses and several religious orders. “Bishop Sedu had the privilege of ordaining 450 new priests in the six years of his ministry. Among them, there are several dozen who were sent as missionaries to various countries”, explains Father Luigi Galvani.
The missionary also highlights that in this Jubilee Year the Camillians celebrate another significant event: the 450th anniversary of the conversion of their Founder, Saint Camillus de Lellis.
Conquered by the love of Christ, the transalpine Camillo de Lellis – born in Chieti, Reyno de Naples, and died in Rome in 1614 – radically changed his life and dedicated himself entirely to serving the sick and the poor.
Certainly the Founder’s example will give young Indonesian Camillians more courage, good will and new enthusiasm to expand their missionary presence and thus realize Saint Camillus’ dream of becoming “signs of hope” so that more and more sick and poor people may love and serve.
De Lellis was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1742, and canonized by him four years later, in 1746. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him patron of all hospitals and the sick. In 1930, Pope Pius XI named him co-patron, with Saint John of God, of nurses and nursing associations. His assistance is also invoked to prevent the harmful effects of gambling.
Follow
