The Process of Handing Over a Part of the Jesuit Mission in Indonesia To
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PONTIFICIA UNIVERSITAS GREGORIANA FACULTAS HISTORIAE ECCLESIASTICAE The Process of Handing Over a Part of the Jesuit Mission in Indonesia to the Society of the Divine Word and the Erection of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Lesser Sunda Islands (1902-1914) P. Antonio Camnahas, SVD Auctore Thesis ad Licentiam in Facultate Historiae Ecclesiasticae Pontificiae Universitatis Gregorianae P. Filippo Lovison, CRSP Moderator Romae 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Probing into the task of writing about the origin of the mission of the Society of the Divine Word in Indonesia has been quite an adventurous journey for me, but I found some expert guides along the research trail who were wonderfully generous with their time. Heartfelt thanks to Fr. Filippo Lovison, CRSP Fr. Herbert Scholz, SVD and Fr. Timothy A. Lenchak, SVD for their careful reading and valuable suggestions; to Fr. Franz Bosold, SVD for the collection of some documents; to Fr. Luigi Pertoldi, SVD, Fr. David Streit, SVD, Fr. Wim Wijtten, SVD, Fr. Dominic Niu, SVD Fr. Guido Tisera, SVD and Fr. Fransiskus Ceunfin, SVD for the translations; to Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD, Fr. Ronnie Crisostomo, SVD and Fr. Paul Steffen, SVD for their assistance; and to the community of Collegio del Verbo Divino – Roma. ABBREVIATIONS AAS Acta Apostolicae Sedis (since 1909). AGSVD Archivum Generale Societatis Verbi Divini. AJ Arnold Janssen. Analecta SVD Internal series of books on the Society of the Divine Word. ARSI Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu. ARSI-1 Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, 1001 M. Bataviae. Indonesiana 1869-1920, Ind. Neerl. ARSI-2 Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, 1002 M. Bataviae. Indonesiana 1869-1922, Prov. Ind. Neerl. ARSI-3 Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Assist. Germ. 1901-1918, Missiones III. ARSI-4 Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Neerlandica IV 1905-1921, Epistolae. Praepositi Generalis ad Provinciam Neerlandicam. A die 3 Ianuarii 1906 ad diem 5 Maii 1922. MSC Missionari del Sacro Cuore di Gesù (Sacred Heart Missionaries). NEB II/IX/XIX The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Macropaedia Knowledge in Depth, II/IX/XIX, Chicago 1973-1974. ABBREVIATIONS iii Nuntius SVD Nuntius Societatis Verbi Divini. Official organ of the SVD general administration, 1896 ff. PF-1 Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide, Rubrica no.125/1915, N.S. Vol. 560. PF-2 Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide, Rubrica no.125/1913, N.S. Vol. 532. SJ/SI Societatis Iesu. SVD Societas Verbi Divini. USA United States of America. Verbum SVD It started in 1959 as «Verbum» and served for internal use of the SVDs. In 1970 it was officially made a missiological review of the Divine Word Missionaries. From that time «Verbum SVD» is used. INTRODUCTION When the so-called Kulturkampf1 erupted in Germany in 1874, many seminaries and convents were forced to close. The Kulturkampf was a clash between the Catholic Church and the newly-formed German Empire. The state under the leadership of Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) unleashed the Kulturkampf with a series of anti-Catholic laws, which severely restricted and afflicted the Church. This laws led to the expulsion of priests and religious, while many bishops were imprisoned. As a result, dioceses were without bishops and parishes had no pastors. The aim of this struggle was to attack the authority of the Catholic Church in matters such as education, marriage, and papal authority. More particularly, the pope's authority over the Catholic Church – one which demands the loyalty of all Catholics all over the world – was seen by Bismarck as a kind of intrusion which harmed the unity of the state. In the end Bismarck did not succed in attaining all his goals, but he was successful in weakening the existence and influence of the Catholic Church in Germany. In this chaotic situation Arnold Janssen2 discovered that God was calling him to undertake a difficult task. He proposed that some of the expelled 1 The Kulturkampf, which means «culture struggle», was a Church-state dispute in Germany during the 1870s. It erupted in 1874, when anti-Church liberals in the Prussian parliament attacked the influence of the Catho1ic Church. The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck joined in the attack. German Catholics rallied around their bishops and priests, forcing Bismarck to seek ways to reconcile the Church with the state after the death of Pope Pius IX in 1878. Richard P. MCBRIEN, ed., The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, New York 1995, 385; Cf. Hubert JEDIN and John DOLAN, History of the Church, London 1981, 26. 2 Arnold Janssen (1837-1909) is the founder of three religious congregations: the INTRODUCTION 2 priests go to the foreign missions or at least help in the preparation of missionaries. Many people said that he was not the right man for the job, or that the time was not right for such a project. Arnold's answer was, «We live in a time when much is collapsing and new things must be established in their place.»3 Slowly but surely, and with a little prodding from the Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong, Msgr. Giovanni Timoleone Raimondi (1827- 1894), the Society of the Divine Word (SVD)4 was finally founded on 8 September 1875. At present SVDs work in 72 countries and are divided into 59 provinces, regions, and missions. The 6096 members of this congregation both priests and religious brothers, come from 70 different countries5. Significance of the study The SVD in Indonesia will soon celebrate one hundred years of missionary presence (2013). So it is appropriate to see how it all started. We can say that the SVD mission in Indonesia is a great blessing to the whole Society by the mere fact that at present the largest number of SVD missionaries comes from Indonesia. In fact, Indonesian Divine Word Missionaries now rank first in the Society's over-all membership, with a total of about 1,515 Indonesians. They are working in 69 countries around the world6. Society of the Divine Word (1875), the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (1889), and the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (1896). Before founding the congregations, he served as a diocesan priest of the diocese of Muenster, Germany. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 5 October 2003. Cf. Josef ALT, Journey in Faith: The Missionary Life of Arnold Janssen, Analecta SVD 85, Roma 2002, 1036. 3 Ibid., 57. 4 The name Society of the Divine Word is a translation from Latin, Societas Verbi Divini, which is shorten to SVD. In this paper, the writer will use «SVD» as the substitute for the term «The Society of the Divine Word». 5 To this date the SVD counts 5,429 deceased members and 6,096 living members. This means that from the beginning about 11,525 individuals have been involved in the mission of the SVD. Cf. Catalogus SVD, Romae 2007, 451-464. 6 Indonesian membership is 1/5 of the entire Society; it means that for every 5 SVDs 1 is from Indonesia. There are 875 in perpetual vows, 434 are in temporary vows and 206 novices. Cf. Statistics Office of the Society of Divine Word, Rome, 7 December 2006. INTRODUCTION 3 In view of the up coming centennial celebration of the Society of the Divine Word in Indonesia, this study attempts to shed light on beginnings of the SVD mission there and on the cultural and religious situation in Indonesia at that time. Since Indonesian members form such a large part of our Society, it is beneficial to have a good understanding about the mission there. So this work is a contribution to the history of the SVD in particular as well as to the local and universal ecclesiastical history. Objectives of the study This paper will study the origins of the mission of the SVD in Indonesia. The examination of various documents reveals the reciprocal process of negotiations among various persons such as the Vicar Apostolic of Batavia, the Superior General of the SVD, the Superior of the Jesuits, the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda Fide7, the Apostolic Internuncio to the Low Countries, and others. Hopefully this work will help readers to understand and appreciate the handing over a part of the Jesuit mission in Indonesia to the SVD and erecting the Apostolic Prefecture of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Problem of the study The main question of this paper concerns the reasons for the transfer of the mission. Why did the Jesuits want to hand over some parts of their mission in Indonesia to other congregations? Were there other behind-the- scenes forces pushing for the transfer (e.g., the Propaganda Fide or the Apostolic Internuncio to the Low Countries)? As for the SVDs beginning a mission in Indonesia, it may be interesting to know whether the takeover of a part of the Jesuit mission was done smoothly and without difficulties. This study will investigate the following questions: 1. What was the cultural, political and ecclesiastical situations in Indonesia? 2. Who was the precursor of the negotiations to hand over a part of the Jesuit mission to the SVDs? 3. What was the process of the negotiations? 7 The «Propaganda Fide» is a Latin term for the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, an office of Roman Curia. In this paper, the writer will use the «Propaganda Fide» instead of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. INTRODUCTION 4 4. How and in what circumstances did the SVD start its mission in Indonesia? Methodology and Organization of the Study This historical study is based mainly on the documents of and the corespondence between the SVD and the Vicar Apostolic of Batavia, the SVD and the Propaganda Fide, and the SVDs and Jesuits and others involved in this process.