What it’s like to be a Catholic in the world’s largest Muslim country

Jakarta, Indonesia, Sep 3, 2024 / 06:08 am (CNA).

As a Catholic living in the world’s largest Muslim country, Baso Darmawan does not think twice about making the sign of the cross as he prays before a meal at a restaurant in the bustling capital of Jakarta.

Darmawan says that he personally knows many Indonesians who have converted from Islam to Catholicism, including his own father. He told CNA that living alongside his Muslim neighbors in Bogor, Indonesia, can also be an everyday reminder of faith.

“With the Muslims praying five times a day, sometimes I use their prayer call as a reminder for me to pray the Angelus or the Office of the Hours because the time is similar to our times to pray,” he said.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, is home to more Muslims than any other nation. While 87% of the country is Muslim, 29 million Christians are also scattered across the vast archipelago’s 17,000 islands.

As Pope Francis visits Indonesia this week, the delicate and complex relationship between the nation’s Muslim and Catholic communities will be put in the spotlight.

In the capital city of Jakarta, Istiqlal Mosque is located across the street from Jakarta’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. The buildings even share a parking lot. Many Indonesians, including local Catholics, point to this as a sign of the country’s religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

However, Indonesia faces challenges to its tolerant image, most notably the rise of hardline Islamist groups who have been more vocal in recent years. These groups have sometimes clashed with more moderate Muslim voices and religious minorities leading to concerns about the erosion of Indonesia’s tradition of pluralism.

In 2021, two suicide bombers attacked Sacred Heart Cathedral in Makassar on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island during a Palm Sunday Mass, wounding 20 people. The two attackers were believed to have been a part of the local Islamic State affiliated group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), according to the national police chief.

Despite these incidents, numerous efforts have been made to promote interfaith understanding in Indonesia. Dr. Paul Hedges, a professor in Interreligious Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, observes, “In general terms, over the last few decades, Catholic-Muslim or general Christian-Muslim relations have been quite good in Indonesia.”

“It’s a place of a very moderate and inclusive form of Islam, and it’s something actually the government has wanted to stress quite a bit.”

The professor points out that Indonesia’s social stability is deeply tied to its religious tolerance, a principle enshrined in the national ideology known as Pancasila.

“If you lose your social cohesion, you start having more tensions, and this affects both the economic conditions on the ground and also a lot of inward investment that people become less willing to come and invest there,” he explains.

Hedges also notes that Indonesia, as the largest Muslim-majority nation, often gets overlooked internationally, but Pope Francis’ visit may draw significant global attention.

Pope Francis, who has prioritized building bridges and outreach to Muslim-majority countries in his international travels, has chosen Indonesia as a key destination in his broader mission to foster global interreligious dialogue.

While in Jakarta Sept. 3-6, the pope will visit both the cathedral and the Istiqlal Mosque, where he will take part in an interfaith meeting with representatives of the six officially recognized religions in Indonesia: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.

Istiqlal mosque’s Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar told EWTN News that many Muslims in Indonesia are very happy that the pope will visit their country “because the pope is one of the most important people in the world today.”

Ahead of the pope’s trip, Imam Umar proposed the creation of an underground “Tunnel of Friendship,” which physically connects the cathedral and the mosque, to symbolize the harmony between the two faiths.

Pope Francis will visit the tunnel with the grand imam before both sign a joint declaration, which Umar describes as addressing “humanitarian, tolerance, and environmental issues” during the pope’s visit to the mosque on Sept. 5.

Sheikh Yahya Cholil Staquf, the general chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest independent Muslim organization, welcomed Pope Francis’ visit with a message: “Enjoy the country of unity, the country of tolerance and brotherhood.”

The Indonesia-based Nahdlatul Ulama movement calls for a reformed “humanitarian Islam” and has developed a theological framework for Islam that rejects the concepts of caliphate, Sharia law, and “kafir” (infidels).

Staquf told CNA in an interview in 2019 that he was “thrilled and excited” when Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb signed the Abu Dhabi declaration on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” because it expresses the vision of “compassionate Islam” his organization has advocated for decades.

The experience of religious tolerance in Indonesia is not just theoretical but lived out in everyday interactions. Sister Martha Driscoll, the founding superior of the Monastery of Gedonof on the island of Java, said that her Trappist community lives in peace and friendship with the local Muslims. 

“All of our workers are Muslim, and we have sisters who were from Muslim families who converted to Catholicism. Their families would come and visit, and there is no problem,” she said.

The sister said she also had “Muslim spiritual sons, who are still Muslims but they come to the monastery. They are deeply moved when I speak of forgiveness, something that is lacking in normal Muslim practice. A number of Muslim figures have come just to pray and to spend the night. Not to have formal discussions — just to be friends.”

“That’s a side of Muslim life that many people in the West don’t realize,” she said, adding that Muslims in Indonesia can show the world what it is like to live in harmony with a minority.

Despite being a minority, Catholics in Indonesia — who number around 8.3 million according to the latest Vatican statistics — play an active role in the nation’s social, religious, and cultural life.

Yanuar Nugroho, a Catholic who works in the Indonesian government’s Ministry of National Development Planning, told EWTN News that he has never personally experienced discrimination for being a Christian.

Nugroho described the Catholic Church in Indonesia as “quite strong” on the country’s social issues by taking the side of the poor, upholding human rights, and giving a “moral voice” to issues facing the country.

Father Thomas Ulun Ismoyo, deputy secretary for the Archdiocese of Jakarta and spokesperson for the papal visit committee, said, “Catholics are only 3% of the total population. But we don’t feel inferior with the numbers. Quality is more important than quantity.”

“If you come and visit Indonesia’s Catholic churches on Sunday, the church is packed. People are coming to the church not only on Sunday,” he said, but also are very involved in religious activities in their parishes.

Indonesia also produces many vocations. St. Peter Major Seminary on the island of Flores is considered among the world’s largest Catholic seminaries by enrollment. According to the Vatican, the country has 4,024 major seminarians and 3,945 minor seminarians.

For many Indonesian Catholics, Pope Francis’ visit represents a moment of spiritual reinforcement. Darmawan believes that the pope’s presence in his country will be “a blessing for Indonesia.”

“I think for the Catholics in Indonesia, the pope’s visit is in a way strengthening not just the faith, but also the unity,” Nugroho said.

For more on the Catholic Church in Indonesia, watch EWTN’s special coverage of Pope Francis’ trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore Sept. 2-13.