12/18/2015, 00.00
INDONESIA
Send to a friend

Kalimantan: Catholics urged to reconcile (politically as well)

by Mathias Hariyadi
​Regional elections were held in the province on 9 December. In the diocese of Sintang, which is without a bishop, Catholics went to the polls divided. The vicar general opened the Holy Door on 13 December in front of 3,000, urging the faithful to "Let the spirit of reconciliation be our spiritual repentance during the year of Mercy".

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – May the Year of Mercy "be a time when all Catholic congregations reconcile with their brothers after the regional elections," said Fr Miau on 13 December, at the opening of the Jubilee in Sintang, West Kalimantan province (Borneo).

"This act of reconciliation is important for the Diocese of Sintang, which includes two districts with a Christian majority that must elect the local district chief,” the priest said.

Regional elections were held in West Kalimantan province on 9 December. The event proved divisive for the local Catholic community at a time when the diocese is without a bishop.

For this reason, Fr Miau, vicar general of the diocese, called on the faithful to be united and put aside political divisions.

"Let us forget the past,” he said. “Let the spirit of reconciliation be our spiritual repentance during the year of Mercy".

The priest opened the Holy Door in front of 3,000 people in St Fidelis Parish, the oldest in the West Kalimantan.

Fr Paskalis Nores, pastor at St Fidelis, noted that seven districts in West Kalimantan participated in elections. Two of them come under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Sintang.

Founded in 1890, the church was the first point of propagation of Catholicism in Kalimantan, the priest said.

Mgr Agustinus Agus, the former Bishop of Sintang, now Archbishop of Pontianak, declared St Fidelis as a Jubilee church in the diocese.

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
Pope: At the Holy Door, Jesus says "Arise!". "With my heart healed I do works of mercy"
10/08/2016 11:50
Pope Francis:The Gospel of mercy, an open book to be written with concrete acts of love
03/04/2016 11:52
Pope: "Mercy cannot remain indifferent in face of the suffering of the oppressed"
27/01/2016 15:48
For Muslim scholar, the Jubilee message of forgiveness is for all religions
11/12/2015
Bangkok cardinal calls for the rediscovery of confession and spiritual works of mercy in the Jubilee Year
11/12/2015


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”