Confucianism. According to official figures, Catholics made up 3.12 percent of the population in 2018.[2]
The number of Catholics is, therefore, more than 8.3 million. Indonesia is primarily Muslim, but Catholicism is the dominant faith in certain areas of the country.
kingdom. This mission was a pioneer one, providing the church with some information about Asia. At that time the Catholic church was not yet established in the region, with Hinduism and Buddhism being the religions of the majority of the population.
In the 16th century, the Portuguese sailed east to Asia and eventually captured
Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activities declined in Flores and Timor, even though these were still under Portuguese administration.[5]
It was not until 1808 under H.W. Daendels, as governor-general, that Catholics were permitted freedom of worship in the Dutch Indies, though this measure was mainly intended for European Catholics since Daendels ruled under the authority of Napoleonic France. This freedom was consolidated by Thomas Raffles.
From 1835 the Catholic Church was affiliated with the colonial state: clergy received a salary from the colonial government which in turn had the right to reject church appointments. In 1846, clashes over policy led the Dutch authorities to expel all but one of the Catholic priests in the colony. In 1848 there were Catholic churches in only four centres in the colony.[5]
Active mission work resumed in the second half of the 19th century and was concentrated in a few areas. Larantuka in the island of Flores was a particularly important mission field under the Jesuits because the freedom of the Catholic Church was guaranteed there under an 1859 treaty with Portugal, which settled conflicting territorial claims in the region. Bengkulu, Bangka, West Borneo, and the islands south of New Guinea were also important. In other regions, Catholic mission work was banned. Many Batak people in the interior of North Sumatra adopted Catholicism at this time, even though authorities banned Catholic missionaries in other parts of the province. In 1898, a mission program also began in Muntilan, though the first ethnic Javanese priest was not installed until 1926.[5]
After Indonesian independence, the Church grew steadily although the Dutch and other Europeans were expelled. Catholicism and other religions grew phenomenally after the
Overthrow of Sukarno
in 1965.
Portuguese era
Portuguese
Jesuit Order, worked in the islands from 1546 to 1547 and baptised several thousand locals of the islands of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai (or Moro), laying the foundations for a permanent mission there. Following his departure from Maluku, others carried on his work and by the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon; by the 1590s there were 50,000 to 60,000. Portuguese Dominican priests also had some success in missionary activities on Solor whereby in the 1590s the Portuguese and local Catholic population is thought to have numbered 25,000.[6]
VOC era
Cornelis de Houtman was the first Dutchman who sailed east to modern-day Indonesia, in 1595. Although his expedition could be considered a commercial failure, it showed the Dutch they were able to sail east in search of the spices. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was created. The Netherlands, like Britain, had a staunchly Protestant government at the time, which extended to the VOC; even though there were many Dutch Catholics, they had little influence. Ambon was conquered and occupied by the VOC in 1605, and the Catholics were forced to convert to Protestantism. The same happened in Manado and the islands of Sangihe-Talaud. In 1613 Solor also fell to the Dutch, and Catholic mission activity was reduced in Flores and Timor, which were still under Portuguese administration.[5]
The Catholic priests were replaced with Protestant clergy from the
Alexander de Rhodes, a French Jesuit who invented the Vietnamese westernized alphabet system, was forced to watch his cross and Mass accessories burned underneath where two convicted thieves were just hung to their deaths. De Rhodes was then expelled from VOC territories in 1646.[7]
John Gaspard Cratz, an Austrian, was forced to leave Batavia due to difficulties with the administrators when he helped Catholic priests who were in transit in Batavia. He was moved to Macau, joined the Jesuit Order, and died as a martyr in Vietnam in 1737.[7]
At the end of the 18th century Western Europe saw intense warfare between France and Great Britain and their respective allies. The sympathies of the people of the Netherlands were divided, and the Netherlands lost its independence. In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt and was dissolved. In 1806 Napoleon assigned his brother Louis Bonaparte, a Catholic, to the throne of the Netherlands.
East Indies era
The change of politics in the Netherlands, mainly because of the accession of Louis Bonaparte, a fervent Catholic, brought a positive effect. Religious freedom was recognised by the government. On 8 May 1807, the pope in Rome was given permission from King Louis to establish an Apostolic Prefecture of East Indies in Batavia.
On 4 April 1808, two Dutch priests arrived in Batavia. They were Fr. Jacobus Nelissen and Fr. Lambertus Prinsen. Nelissen became the first
. Religious freedom was then practised, although Catholicism was still difficult.
Van Lith era
Catholicism started to spread in
Frans van Lith from the Netherlands came to Muntilan, Central Java, in 1896. His effort showed little progress until 1904 when four chiefs (the heads of the town) from the Kalibawang region came to his house and demanded that he catechize them. On 15 December 1904, a group of 178 Javanese were baptised at Semagung, between two trees called "Sono". This place is now called Sendangsono in Muntilan, district Magelang, Central Java, near the border of the province of DI Yogyakarta
.
Van Lith also established a school for teachers in Muntilan called "Normaalschool" in 1900 and "Kweekschool (also for teachers)" in 1904. In 1918, all Catholic schools were put under the jurisdiction of an institute named "Yayasan Kanisius", which produced the first priests and bishops of Indonesia. In the 20th century, the Catholic Church grew quickly.
In 1911, Van Lith established the "Seminari Menengah" (minor seminary). Three out of the six candidates that were at the school during 1911–1914 were received into the priesthood in 1926–1928. Those priests were FX Satiman SJ, Adrianus Djajasepoetra SJ, and Albertus Soegijapranata SJ.
World War II and the War of Independence
native Indonesian bishop and known for his pro-nationalistic stance, often expressed as "100% Catholic, 100% Indonesian".[8]
Albertus Soegijapranata SJ became the first Indonesian bishop in 1940 and later Archbishop of
Semarang
.
On 20 December 1948, Father Sandjaja and Brother Hermanus Bouwens SJ were killed in a village called Kembaran, near Muntilan, when Dutch soldiers attacked Semarang. Father Sandjaja is recognised as a martyr by the Indonesian Catholics, (not officially canonized or approved by the Holy See).
Monsignor Soegijapranata with Bishop Willekens SJ faced Japanese colonial rule. They managed, however, to keep Saint Carolus Hospital operating normally.
Some of the most notable Indonesian national heroes are Catholics, including
The head Archdiocese of Jakarta ("Keuskupan Agung Jakarta"), is Archbishop
SJ. He took part in the conclave which elected Pope Benedict XVI. For health reasons, however, he declined to take part in the recent conclave that elected Pope Francis
.
In 1965, after the
overthrow of Sukarno, a purge was carried out against Indonesian communists and alleged communists, especially in Java and Bali. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of civilians were killed in the ensuing turmoil by the army and vigilantes.[9] Communism was associated with atheism and since that time every Indonesian citizen has been expected to adopt one of the then five official state-endorsed religions.[10]
Catholicism and other minority religions have experienced enormous growth especially in areas inhabited by large numbers of Chinese Indonesians and ethnic Javanese. For example, in 2000 in Jakarta alone there were 301,084 Catholics, while in 1960 there were only 26,955. This means the Catholic population increased elevenfold while in the same period the population of Jakarta merely tripled, from 2,800,000 to 8,347,000.[10] This growth may also be attributed to increased migration to the capital from Christian parts of Indonesia when in 1960 there were not so many from the regions residing in Jakarta as now.
The dramatic increase of the number of Catholics in particular, and Christians in general, has led to enmity and unfounded allegations of "Christianization".[11]
The second half of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s were also marked by violence against Catholics in particular and Christians in general. However, former president
Nahdatul Ulama
, one of the biggest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, made several contributions in reconciling the simmering antipathy among the different religious groups.
As recently as 2010, there were incidents where Catholics and other Christians were banned from celebrating Christmas services.[12][13][14]
The Indonesian Central Statistic Bureau (BPS) conducts a census every 10 years. Data available from 2000 drew on 201,241,999 survey responses. BPS estimated that the census missed 4.6 million people. The BPS report indicated that 85.1 per cent of the population label themselves Muslim, 9.2 per cent Protestant, 3.5 per cent Catholic, 1.81 per cent Hindu, 0.84 per cent Buddhist, and 0.2 per cent "other," including traditional indigenous religions, other Christian groups, and Judaism. The country's religious composition remains a politically charged issue; as some Christians, Hindus, and members of other minority faiths argue that the census undercounted non-Muslims.
^In Central Java, the mass killings were carried out by the army much while in East Java the mass killings were also carried out by others. Robert Cribb (2000:170).
^For instance, when Pope John Paul II visited Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 1989, he received a letter full of such accusations. The letter was written by Moh. Natsir, K.H. Masykur, K.H. Rusli Abd Wahid, and H.M. Rasyidi. These gentlemen were prominent Muslim leaders at that time. Panji Masyarakat 31-10-1989. This information is cited from Adolf Heuken (2005:107)
Gonggong, Anhar (2012). Mgr. Albertus Soegijapranata SJ: Antara Gereja dan Negara [Mgr. Albertus Soegijapranata SJ: Between the Church and the State] (in Indonesian) (Revised ed.). Jakarta: Grasindo.
Adolf Heuken, 'Archdiocese of Jakarta - a Growing Local Church (1950–2000)' in Een vakkracht in het Koninkrijk. Kerk- en zendingshistorie opstellen onder redactie van dr. Chr.G.F. de Jong (2005:104-114)
Leopold Maria van Rijckevorsel S.J., Pastoor F. van Lith S.J. : de stichter van de missie in Midden-Java, 1863-1926. Nijmegen: Stichting St.Claverbond (1952)
Karel Steenbrink, Catholics in Indonesia, 1808-1942 : a documented history. Leiden:KITLV Press
Karel Steenbrink, 'A Catholic Sadrach: the contested conversions of Madrais adherents in West Java between 1960-2000' in Een vakkracht in het Koninkrijk. Kerk- en zendingshistorie opstellen onder redactie van dr. Chr.G.F. de Jong (2005:286-307)
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