• Society for the Propagation of the Faith
• Holy Childhood Association
• Society of St. Peter Apostle
• Missionary Union
National Office • 366 Fifth Avenue • New York, New York 10001
• (212) 563-8700 • FAX (212) 563-8725

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 22, 2005
For further information, please contact Monica Yehle,
(212) 563-8706, or e-mail myehle@propfaith.org

A MISSIONARY JOURNAL – A VISIT TO THE CHURCH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

On December 26, 2004, when the devastating tsunami hit Southeast Asia, the eyes of all the world focused on the fate of the people in the area. This series of reports looks also to that part of the mission world, but specifically at the Church there and the faith of its people. It is based on first-hand reports from Monsignor John E. Kozar, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who journeyed there in mid-March at the invitation of Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor, and former international president of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome, Italy. This first of three reports comes from a visit to East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste.

Starting a three-day visit March 18 to Timor-Leste, Archbishop Ranjith and Monsignor Kozar were met at the airport by Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili – and by a crowd of 500. They were then escorted by hundreds of this nation’s poor riding on motorized scooters through the streets of Dili to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
“Thousands lined the route to the cathedral, pouring out from their homes,” Monsignor Kozar reported in a telephone update to his national office in New York. “It was a very emotional welcome.”
Inside this cathedral, dedicated in 1989 by Pope John Paul II, more than 3,000 gathered for a prayer service; thousands more crowded the streets outside the church. Speaking in English, which was simultaneously translated into the native language, Archbishop Ranjith, representing the Holy See as nuncio there, spoke of “standing in solidarity” with the bishops and faithful of Timor-Leste. He encouraged them to “not be afraid,” no matter the challenge to their rights and freedom.
For this country, the first new independent nation of this millennium, struggle and suffering have become the signature of everyday life. The fighting began in 1975 when neighboring Indonesia illegally invaded East Timor, until then a Portuguese colony. Some 200,000 people – nearly one-third of the territory’s original population – died from the resulting wars, famines and killings of the 1970s and 1980s.

A vote for independence in August 1999 kicked off another fiery nightmare throughout the country, with shooting, burning and looting. But as a new century began, Timor-Leste started to find a way toward peaceful independence. In a country that is 98 percent Catholic, these people who shed their blood for freedom and their rights – including their freedom of religion – now face another challenge, specifically to maintaining religious education in schools. “Archbishop Ranjith encouraged all here to be strong, to not be afraid and to continue to fight for their God-given rights that no one can or should be able to take away from them,” Monsignor Kozar explained. “The blood shed by those who died in the civil war should not be in vain.
“To be here with these people at the start of Holy Week,” he continued, “is a profound faith experience for me. They have lived Good Friday, for decades. It is a missionary story of great impact, one where the Gospel has taken root and where the people have followed the way of the Cross.”
After the prayer service at the cathedral that Friday, there was also a Stations of the Cross, carried out by university students.
Saturday, March 19, featured a pastoral visit to a newly formed parish two hours west of Dili. “Some 1,500 people came from the mountains to greet us,” Monsignor Kozar said. Archbishop Ranjith confirmed 200 young people during that parish visit.
Palm Sunday found the archbishop and Monsignor Kozar back in Dili; 5,000 gathered for the Liturgy that officially began Holy Week. The message from Archbishop Ranjith was clear, Monsignor Kozar said: “Never compromise on what we know is from Christ. He is the truth and will set you free.”
On Sunday evening, a three-hour Way of the Cross took place with some 7,000 high school students. Archbishop Ranjith read from the Holy Father’s letter to youth, urging the country’s young people also to “not fear” but to “trust in Jesus.”
For his part, Monsignor Kozar pledged the continued prayers and support of U.S. Catholics through the Pontifical Mission Societies, including the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood Association. “This is a very, very poor country,” Monsignor Kozar said, “but the Church continues to grow, including in vocations to the priesthood and Religious life. They need our support of this growth.”
Throughout the visit, Monsignor Kozar was particularly struck by the unanimity among the people and by their vibrant faith. “Masses, prayer services would last for hours, and people would walk for miles – in blazing sun – to celebrate their faith in Jesus, a faith many of them have witnessed to with their blood,” he said. “I am grateful for the gift of being here, grateful for being able to personally witness their strong faith in our Lord in this Holy Week.”
Next stop: Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 23, 2005
For further information, please contact Monica Yehle,
(212) 563-8706, or e-mail myehle@propfaith.org

A MISSIONARY JOURNAL – A VISIT TO THE CHURCH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

On December 26, 2004, when the devastating tsunami hit Southeast Asia, the eyes of all the world focused on the fate of the people in the area. This series of reports looks also to that part of the mission world, but specifically at the Church there and the faith of its people. It is based on first-hand reports from Monsignor John E. Kozar, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who journeyed there in mid-March at the invitation of Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor, and former international president of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome, Italy. This second of three reports details a visit to Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Eyewitnesses to the devastation wrought in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, by the earthquake and tsunami have compared the scene to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. Monsignor Kozar, who visited there with Archbishop Ranjith on March 22, the Tuesday of Holy Week, agreed.
“Everything, everything has been destroyed, leveled,” he said in a telephone call to his New York national office. “There is an occasional palm tree or a part of a shell of a building – but little else.”
Some 200,000 perished in the tragic natural disaster of December 26, 2004; tens of thousands fled to Medan, some 600 kilometers away. During the past three months, there has been a lot of removal of rubble and debris, but there is so much more that has yet to be removed, Monsignor Kozar observed, including a 150-foot long ship that was carried in by the tsunami waters and which literally pulverized homes in the area. He was surprised by the particular devastation caused by the earthquake itself, and spoke of a five-story building which collapsed as a result of the tremors, burying 30 people in the rubble who have yet to be unearthed.
“There are still bodies being found throughout the area,” Monsignor Kozar said. “Disease accompanies the physical devastation we saw.”

Archbishop Ranjith and Monsignor Kozar visited the people who remained in the area, including spending time with a group of persons with leprosy who were displaced after the tsunami and are now living in tent cities. The parish priest in the area is hoping to find land for them soon in order that they may be in a safer environment, one where they can continue medical treatment and one that ends the risk of contamination for others. An area clinic, founded and run by an American missionary priest-doctor from Georgia, Camillian Father Scott Binet, treats from 175 to 240 patients a day. Smaller clinics also serve the people.
On this predominantly Muslim island of Sumatra, there is only one Catholic parish in Banda Aceh, Sacred Heart of Jesus; the church and school buildings both suffered heavy structural damages. Before the tsunami, there were 400 parishioners; today there are 50. “The people who fled to Medan have not returned,” Monsignor Kozar explained. “They are afraid to return and feel that they have nothing to come back to.”
Providing for the future here – providing a future, in fact – was the subject of discussion during this pastoral missionary visit. Archbishop Ranjith and Monsignor Kozar met with Patrick Johns, director for emergency operations and security for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), as well as with representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Indonesia and of the Archdiocese of Medan.
“This parish, Sacred Heart, is the only Catholic Church presence in Banda Aceh,” Monsignor Kozar emphasized. “It is critically important this be maintained, and all those who met together pledged a willingness to collaborate to ensure that that happens.
“I stressed the approach of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, a collaborative spirit,” he continued. “In that spirit, we encourage continued support of the great work of CRS, and also help for the Pontifical Mission Societies as we look to meet the long-term needs of the Church here.”
The Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States established a Solidarity Fund for the Church in Southeast Asia after the tsunami for such long-term assistance for the Church. After a gathering of information from the nuncios and bishops in these areas, this financial assistance can then be directed appropriately to rebuild the infrastructure of the Church to serve the people as they rebuild their lives.
The day concluded with Mass in the evening. “This, to me, was the highlight of this part of the visit,” Monsignor Kozar stated. “All of us together gathered around the altar – especially the presence of the missionary priest, Father Binet, and the parish priest who, day after day, give witness of the hope of Jesus’ Resurrection to the suffering poor.”
Next stop: Jakarta, Indonesia, with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday celebrations.

A MISSIONARY JOURNAL – A VISIT TO THE CHURCH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

On December 26, 2004, when the devastating tsunami hit Southeast Asia, the eyes of all the world focused on the fate of the people in the area. This series of reports looks also to that part of the mission world, but specifically at the Church there and the faith of its people. It is based on first-hand reports from Monsignor John E. Kozar, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who journeyed there in mid-March at the invitation of Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor, and former international president of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome, Italy. This third and final report speaks of celebrating the Easter Triduum and Easter Sunday in Jakarta, March 24 to 27.

It is more an area marked by Good Friday experiences than Easter Sunday ones. Just days after Monsignor John Kozar visited there with Father Patrick Byrne, SVD, international secretary-general of the Holy Childhood Association, a powerful earthquake struck again, bringing more suffering to a people who had already endured earthquake and tsunami.
“But there is such hope here,” Monsignor Kozar observed in a telephone call to his New York national office.
The two found hope and the power of faith in Christ in their experiences in Jakarta, marking the Easter Triduum and Easter Sunday on this predominantly Muslim Indonesian island. On Holy Thursday, Monsignor Kozar said he felt “privileged” to wash the feet of participants, along with Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, their host and the apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor (Timor-Leste).
On Good Friday, an overflowing crowd came to the nunciature. “It was an international gathering – Indonesian people, but also many from Malaysia, the Philippines, and other countries,” Monsignor Kozar said. “It brought to mind Pentecost with the many nations gathered to hear the ‘Good News.’ It also reminded me in a vivid way of the universality of our Church – and of her mission.”

On Easter Sunday, Monsignor Kozar and Father Byrne were concelebrants at a special liturgy attended by 1,500 young people and their parents in a Muslim village in Jakarta. “It was a beautiful experience, seeing the great faith in Jesus of these young people,” said Monsignor Kozar. And the young people gave gifts of flower leis to both priests as a “blessing to them.”
Monsignor Kozar explained that celebrating the days leading to Easter and then Easter itself in this part of the world was most poignant. “It made the whole concept of the Crucifixion, and looking to the Resurrection, so real,” he said. “These are very much a ‘Good Friday’ people. They have known great suffering on so many levels. You see the tremendous remnant of that suffering in so many places – like Banda Aceh, for example.
“But you also sense in people’s hearts and souls tremendous hope,” Monsignor Kozar continued. “It is a sustaining hope that they will all somehow overcome this. And this hope flows from their faith in Jesus Christ.”
Near the end of Monsignor Kozar’s mission visit, a second earthquake struck that part of the world, on the day after Easter. Both he and Father Byrne were on the Indonesian island of Bali, and did not feel the power of the quake, but immediately offered prayers and Masses for the people affected, most notably those on the island of Nias. A building collapsed on the priest from the Catholic church on that island; he was airlifted to Medan with serious head injuries but is doing better.
As there are warnings of a third earthquake, the people hold fast to their faith, Monsignor Kozar explained.
“I return to the United States to share with Catholics there the enduring, sustaining faith of these people, and how I have been uplifted by that faith – and to encourage them to continue to offer their prayers and support for them,” he concluded.