Yasinta is a member of the Santa Clara congregation in Bekasi, West Java, which had to hold weekly masses and Christmas services in a chapel inside a shophouse in the city for the past 21 years after some local groups opposed the construction of a church.

In the past, unlucky members who could not find room inside the limited space, fit only for about 200 people, had to pray roofless outside of the shophouse, she said. During Christmas or other big days, a tent would be erected in the house’s front yard to accommodate the surge in attendance.

Members of the congregation could join the mass inside the church building this year, which was completed in August. It is the first official Catholic Church in North Bekasi.

As the building could only accommodate about 1,500 people, the church had to conduct two Christmas masses a day to serve its whole congregation, which consists of about 9,000 members. More than 5,000 people in total packed the church for Christmas masses on Tuesday evening and also on Wednesday.

“I can’t explain my feelings in words. I was so happy and I couldn’t believe that we could finally have our church. I believe that everything has its own time and God is preparing the best for the people and the churches who are still fighting,” Yasinta said.

The joy was shared by another member, Evan Kristanto, 19, who said the completion of the church building had added to the Christmas spirit and solemnity, as compared to services in the shophouse, wherein he would often have to be wary of the sun or the rain.

Despite having met all the requirements to build a church in 2015, the congregation was faced with difficulties in dealing with protests from groups such as the Islamic People’s Forum and the Bekasi Islamic People’s Union. In 2016, the groups rallied to urge the city administration to revoke the church’s building permit, claiming that it was an attempt at Christianization and that “Bekasi is a city of santri [Islamic boarding school students]”.

Following the protests, the Bekasi administration requested that Santa Clara halt the construction of the church “to maintain a peaceable environment”, despite Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi having issued a recommendation letter a year before to allow the construction to proceed. The administration, however, did not bow down to demands that the building permit be revoked and the construction was eventually able to continue.

Many other Christians in the country have also experienced such opposition forcing them out of their churches.

Experts have put the blame on a 2006 joint ministerial decree on places of worship, which requires congregations to get 90 signatures from their members and another 60 from locals before building a house of worship.

Some Christians have been struggling to meet the requirements and even when they did opposition from groups had often forced local administrations to give in to the protests over security concerns, such as was the case with the Santa Clara congregation.

Santa Clara priest Raymundus Sianipar, better known as Romo Ray, said an overwhelming number of congregation members had come to the church’s first Christmas masses as compared to the services in the shophouse.

This year’s Christmas adopted the theme of “becoming the brothers and sisters of all”, he said, adding that with the Christmas spirit, every Christian should build harmonious relations with other people regardless of religion, race and ethnicity.

“I hope that all other churches could soon attain their permits so that the religious communities could have better places of worship as it’s also their right. I believe that the local administrations would facilitate them as already regulated and I hope that locals could understand the need to build such places of worship in certain regions,” he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia