Santosh Digal

Negombo: Bishops of Indonesia say that they will always support families in trouble.

“We will never turn our backs on the families that are really in misery and need mercy from the Church,” said Indonesian Bishops’ Conference (KWI) Secretary General Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin.

However, the Church faces plethora of other challenges. “Our Church in Indonesia faces series of challenges such as economic difficulties, social, cultural, and religious beliefs that are not compatible with the values of Catholic marriage such as polygamy, expensive dowry, and cultural marriage,” said the bishop.

Bishop Bunjamin of Bandung said this on Nov 30 while addressing the eleventh Federation of Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (FABC) in Colombo.

More than 140 prelates, FABC officials and visitors from nearly 40 countries sought ways to channelize Catholic families as agents of mercy in Asia during the meet at Negombo, a coastal city close to the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

The theme of the conference is: “Asian Catholic Family: Domestic Church of the Poor on a Mission of Mercy”, from Nov 28-Dec 4.

“Besides, there are other shortcomings in Indonesian are personal immaturity, the lack of understanding about Catholic marriage, living in illegal marriage, and unavoidable separation. The challenges and shortcomings bring Catholic families into crisis,” the bishop said.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country. It has a population of 243 million and Christians a minority.

The bishops of Indonesia acknowledge Catholic families as the center of evangelization, the education of moral and theological virtues, Bishop Bunjamin said.

As the house of holiness, family is the place where husband and wife learn how to be holy. As the school of humanity, family is the place where husband and wife grow into maturity and enable the same to experience for their children, the bishop said.

“We need to have pastoral conversion in shepherding difficult Catholic families in Indonesia and planning to develop pastoral guidelines for family apostolate based on mercy. We hope that through our merciful pastoral works, Catholic families grow into the community of mercy showing God’s mercy and promoting a culture of integral life despite the shortcomings and challenges. May all Catholic families able to maintain the sacredness of marriage and its mission,” the prelate stressed.

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[Santosh Digal of Matters India (mattersindia.com) prepared this report for FABC Office of Social Communication.]