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The Archbishop of Jakarta Card. Ignatius Suharyo presided over the rite of vows for the new novices. The cardinal encouraged them to continue in the announcement as a ship that “sets sail and sails” to remote areas. They came from Holland, where they were born, but today the heart of the mission is in Indonesia. A change marked by the sending of some sisters to the Old Continent to give a new impetus to the congregation.
Jakarta () – The profession of vows by nine novices at the Mass presided over by the Archbishop of Jakarta, Card. Ignatius Suharyo, was the central moment of the celebrations of the last days on the occasion of the 125 years of missionary activity in Indonesia of the Sisters of the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (SJMJ). This month of June marks the anniversary of his presence in the country, an occasion to remember his works and his service with a “simple but participatory” celebration in the parish of San Ignacio de Loyola, in the center of the capital.
The Eucharist was concelebrated by the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the priests Fr. Johnny Luntungan and Fr. Setya Gunawan, who presented the ring and cross to each of the novices. It was a festive occasion for the women’s religious institute that was founded in the Netherlands in 1898, is present in three Indonesian provinces (Makassar, Manado and Jakarta) and whose headquarters are today in Wates, a special region of Yogyakarta, in Central Java. .
During the homily, Card. Suharyo paid tribute to the missionary spirit and their vocation, which drives them to spread the word of God and take the Gospel to the most remote areas of the archipelago. The cardinal recalled once again the motto chosen for the 125th anniversary of the mission, which reads: “Sailing towards the mission, to proclaim God’s mercy.” “That their boat can set sail and navigate towards those remote areas where they will be called to proclaim the merciful love of God,” the archbishop stressed.
The congregation has the presence of more than 300 nuns distributed in the three provinces, a considerable number that makes the SJMJ the most numerous and “powerful” in the country, thanks to its many works in social ministry, health and education. Among the latter, a Bukit Doa (sanctuary dedicated to prayer) and a women’s vocational center stand out on the island of Lembata, in the province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
In her speech during the celebrations, the Superior General, Sr. Theresia Supiyati, recalled how, at first, out of 400 novices who wanted to be missionaries in Indonesia, only six were finally chosen. Today, however, it is the Indonesian sisters who are going to mission in the Netherlands, where the congregation was born and where there is a “shortage” of religious: there are only a dozen left – and they are very old – and new vocations. Hence also the decision to move the General House from the heart of the Old Continent to the Indonesian archipelago and the change in perspective of the mission: in April of this year, in fact, two sisters of the Indonesian YYMJ were sent to the Netherlands, where she was born 125 years, to “give new impetus to the mission” and “others will be sent in the coming months.”
