ICC Note: The Archbishop of Jakarta considers the upcoming National Conference of the Catholic Church in Indonesia to be a positive step in the direction towards addressing the issues of the family with the goal of finding hope in current problems faced in today’s society. Modern day familial issues continue to affect many throughout the world but it is important according to the Archbishop that it “is the common decency of Catholic families who have to become not only a model for society, but also offer a quality of life from which everyone can learn.” In the largest Muslim nation in the world, Christianity has seen it share of religious persecution such as church closures and violent attacks. It is refreshing to see that although they face persecution, they maintain the composure to be the model for which others may see Christ’s work through.
11/02/2015 Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Mgr Suharyo Ignatius, Archbishop of Jakarta, said that the purpose of the upcoming National Conference of the Catholic Church in Indonesia (Sidang Agung Gereja Katolik Indonesia, SAGKI 2015) is to discuss the family in order to share “common concerns and hopes about its problems. This way the Catholic Church in Indonesia can bear witness to the goodness of the Christian proposal to live in society for the good of the nation.”
The congress, organised by the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia (Konferensi Waligereja Indonesia, KWI), begins today and will end on Friday, 6 November. This year’s topic is ‘The Catholic family: The Gospel of hope. Its vocation and mission in the Church and in the plural society of Indonesia’.
Some 500 people are expected at the event, including ten delegates from each diocese and members of Catholic organisations that work with families.
The SAGKI 2015 will focus “especially on social problems that the Church has to address,” said Mgr Shuaryo at a press conference, “like divorce, migrant workers and parents who cannot educate their children because they do not have time, with serious consequences for children.”
What Indonesia needs, according to the prelate, “is the common decency of Catholic families who have to become not only a model for society, but also offer a quality of life from which everyone can learn.”
Indonesia has an urgent need for people of integrity. “This is what we want to do with a national conference,” the archbishop explained, “where bishops, priests, religious and lay Catholics come together for the benefit of the whole nation “.
