Catholicism in Indonesia

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Catholicism in Indonesia refers to Roman Catholicism in Indonesia, where it is one of the five approved religions. It began with the arrival of the Portuguese in search of the Spice Islands in the 16th century.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 See also

[edit] History

[edit] Portuguese era

Portuguese explorers arrived in Indonesia in the Maluku Islands in 1534, with the goals of converting the natives to Roman Catholicism and to obtain the spices. Francis Xavier visited the islands from 1546 to 1547, and baptised several thousand locals.

[edit] The VOC era

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) came to Indonesia in 1619 and took over control from the Portuguese traders. Having come from a Protestant country, the company banned the Catholic church from operating in Indonesia, reducing Roman Catholicism to areas of the island of Flores and East Timor, still under Portuguese influence at the time.

The Catholic priests were replaces with Protestant priests from The Netherlands. Many Christians at the time converted to Protestantism. For some time, Catholic priests were threatened with capital punishment if found to be residing in VOC territory. In 1624, Father Egidius d'Abreu (SJ), was executed in Batavia during the administration of Governor General Jan Pieterszoon Coen for celebrating Mass in prison.

Father A. de Rhodes, a French Jesuit who invented the Vietnamese westernized alphabet system, was forced to watch his cross and Mass accessories burned underneath where two convicted thieves were just hung to their deaths. De Rhodes was then expelled from VOC territories in 1646.

Yoanes Kaspas Kratx, an Austrian, was forced to leave Batavia due to difficulties with the administrators due to the help he gave to Catholic priests who were in transit in Batavia. He was moved to Macao, joined the Jesuit Order, and died as a martyr in Vietnam in 1737.

At the end of the 18th century Western Europe saw intense warfare between France and Great Britain and their respective allies. The sympathies of the people of the Netherlands were divided, and the Netherlands lost its independence. In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte assigned his brother Louis Napoleon, a Catholic, to the throne of the Netherlands. In 1799 the VOC went bankrupt and was dissolved.

[edit] The East Indies era

[edit] The Van Lith era

[edit] The independence war era

[edit] The post-independence era

[edit] Demographics

According to the 1998 census the adherents in Indonesia consist of Muslim 88%, Protestant 5%, Roman Catholic 2%, Hindu 3%, Buddhist 1%, other 1%.

The Constitution guarantees of religious freedom apply to the five religions recognized by the state, namely Islam (87%), Protestantism (5%), Catholicism (2%), Hinduism (3%) and Buddhism (2%), and In some remote areas, animism is still practiced.