TheJakartaPost
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Santa Clara congregants unable to celebrate Xmas in their church this year
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Hundreds of people with Muslim symbols stage a protest against the construction of the Santa Clara Catholic church in Bekasi, West Java, Aug. 10, 2015. (tribunnews.com/Dennis Destryawan)
M
embers of the Santa Clara Catholic Church congregation in North Bekasi, West Java, will again hold Christmas Mass in a shop house in Wisma Asri instead of in their church, which remains under construction.
The congregation expected to celebrate Christmas at their church for the first time this year after more than 18 years doing so in the shop house.
Santa Clara priest Raymundus Sianipar said the church, which managed to get a building permit in 2015 amid rejections from local hard-line Islamic groups, might be ready in the next four months.
“The construction of the church is 70 percent completed. Christmas Mass will be held [in the shop house] at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” Raymundus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
While the congregation has around 9,000 members, the shop house is only able to occupy 200 people. Therefore, during Mass, many people crowded outside the church and sat in chairs provided outside the shop house. (ahw)
