Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jayapura (Fides Service) - A Lenten campaign to build reconciliation and tolerance has been launched in Jayapura diocese in the Indonesian province of West Papua, (or Irian Jaya), affected by violence and fighting as the Indonesian army tries to suppress armed separatist activists.
Local Church sources told Fides said that the diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace, very active in promoting the Culture of Peace and Reconciliation Campaign as a means to solve disputes and build harmonious and peaceful co-existence, has distributed 4,000 booklets to promote the campaign and give people ideas on how to work for peace. The booklet written in popular language, explains the situation and refers to everyday realities lived by the majority of the community. Often people do not take action because they do not know what to do and feel overwhelmed by a reality that is often very complex and difficult to understand.
In preparation for the campaign 35 catechists, academically trained teachers of religion, from all over the diocese of Jayapura, attended a one-week workshop to try to translate the basic peace building concept into catechetical materials discussion modules and so forth for communities.
The local people, Catholics and non, of many different ethnic groups, are showing immediate interest and willingness to be involved in peace building. The booklet distributed in parishes, schools, and villages also non Christian villages is helping people to recognise problems and see how they can contribute towards building peace in their own environment.
Jayapura diocese and the Bishop, Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar, in the first place, is deeply committed to promoting justice peace and respect for human rights. Recently it opened a web site www.hampapua.org which offers visitors a wealth of information, past and present, facts and figures on situations of violence in particular violation of human rights on the part of Indonesian soldiers since 1960, when western New Guinea was annexed as a province of Indonesia. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 11/3/2004 lines 34 words 349)
