SHOWING AND SHARING

Advancing in retreat                         

Christians celebrated Easter in April though not in packed churches as Covid-19 continues to thrive.  An alternative is to seek isolation and contemplate alone.

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Marie Luise (right) doesn’t care who books into the Catholic retreat she runs outside Malang as long as they’re seekers of wisdom.

“We’ve had Muslims, Hindus and Protestants staying here,” she said. “They’ve come from the US, Singapore, Malaysia and South America. 

 “Jesus was a Jew – he didn’t follow a Christian denomination.  In heaven there are no religions.”

Maybe – who knows?  But anyone planning to use the lush and well equipped retreat on the lower slopes of Mount Kawi for  ‘social distancing’ must be prepared for heavy Catholic iconography, from posters to statues – including some made by Muslim sculptors.

Should non-Catholics fear seduction by portraits of Jesus the celebrity looking like a Hollywood heartthrob?  Will Biblical quotes on walls become lodged forever in the mind? Can touching grotto walls and accidentally brushing against a concrete crucifix lead to a sudden conversion?

Sister Marie laughs away the idea that religions infect the unwary like coronavirus: “People who come here can find their own God and believe what they want to believe. 

“I just ask:  ‘What hopes do you have for this life?’ If you find Islam – well, that’s OK.  I’ve been in mosques.  I need to understand Islam, and so should we all.

”I want to see an improvement in relationships between religions. I want to break down barriers.  We must treat all with respect. 

“Never forget our national motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. (The Javanese words from the 14^th century poem Kakawin Sutasoma are usually translated as ‘Unity in Diversity’ or ‘Although in pieces, yet One').  I also draw inspiration from Vatican II.”

In 1962 the reformist Pope John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli 1881-1963) rocked the established church and its 1.2 billion members when he initiated the three-year Council, though he died before its completion.

Ecumenicals hoped his standout statement:  ‘We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike,’ would draw different denominations and faiths together.  That was before the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks and the war in Syria which  triggered a tsunami of Islamophobia.

Now the crisis facing Christians in the West and driving many from churches is the discovery of pedophiles in the clergy, Catholic and Protestant – an issue rarely discussed in Indonesia, though not by this nun:  “This is a great sin. I feel very angry. They should all be in jail and excommunicated.”

She remains positive and when pressed by this cynical journalist as to whether she’d report a church pedophile to the police, burst into songs about reconciliation and love, much like a Pentecostal Protestant.  It’s a technique more effective at diverting hard questions than the standard duck-and-weave response favored by politicians.

Sister Marie has a mixed heritage, Chinese, Sundanese, Minahasa (North Sulawesi) and Japanese.  “I have never felt discrimination,” she said.

She grew up in a Shinto family in Jakarta. Her father was a bank accountant and her mother a medical worker. Her grandmother was a Muslim. There were seven children in the family.

She converted to Catholicism in her teens disappointing her boyfriend:  “If I’d married I could only serve my husband and children.  Now I can serve everyone.”

The Rumah Retret dan Aula Pondok Bethlehem (Bethlehem Retreat, Hall and Accommodation) was opened earlier this century but despite its youth is already showing defects. 

Most are more annoying than serious, but need fixing.  Prayer may be fine for healing a wounded soul but it doesn’t repair a holey roof.  Scrambling across wet tiles is no task for six middle-aged nuns who live on site, so locals are recruited to hammer and nail.

If donors think they’ll get free passes to a joyful afterlife then there’re must be many families and business happy their names are on plaques of grottos and statuary.

The nuns run an organic commercial garden, orchards and other ventures to raise funds.  They offer accommodation at Rp 200,000 (US$ 14) per person, per night including meals.  The standard is the equivalent of a two-star hotel.

For those seeking solitude there’s an abundance of space plus nooks and crannies for meditation.  Some land has been set aside for reforestation.   

Apart from Vatican II the 62-year old nun and a former high school principal in Central Java takes her progressive cues from Clara Fey (1815-94).  The German founder of Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus promoted education for girls.  She was beatified in 2018.

Mother Clara came from the spa town Aachen where Sister Marie spent eight months studying the initiator’s philosophy.  The Indonesian has a teaching degree from Santa Dharma University in Yogyakarta.  In 2010 she took 45 students to New Zealand to learn more about Western schooling. She was appointed to run the retreat two years ago.

“I have no problems with a secular society,” she said.  “I accept the Pancasila foundation of our Constitution. (Pancasila, or five principles, are belief in one God, a just and civilized humanity, national unity, consultation and human rights.)

“Foremost though is that Jesus never rejected anyone – so we don’t.”

First published in The Jakarta Post 19 May 2020