The mission in the parish of St. Montfort Serawai, located in Sintang district, West Kalimantan, and cared for by the fathers of the Congregation of the Mission, tells of missionaries who, driven by their evangelical commitment, work not only for the spread of the Catholic faith, but also for the socio-cultural development of the population.
Saint Montfort Serawai
Serawai. A sub-district in the district of Sintang, West Kalimantan, with an area of 2,127.50 km2, located about 200 km from the city of Sintang with a travelling time of about six hours by water using a speedboat or by land with a distance of 7-8 hours. Serawai is the centre of government and economy located at the junction of the Melawi and Serawai rivers. 64.52% of the area is undulating to hilly highland and has branch rivers from the main Melawi and Serawai rivers.[1] With such regional structure, Serawai has 38 villages spread along the Melawi and Serawai rivers to the mainland.[2] The means of transport that are generally used to get to one village to another through waterways with speedboats, longboats, small boats or by land with motorbikes or cars, but with limited road access, because the road conditions are not all feasible and connected to each other.
In 2021 the population of Serawai reached 21,580 people. Nanga Serawai village as the capital of the sub-district is the village with the largest population of 2,264 people, followed by Begori village with a population of 1,068 people. Meanwhile, the village with the smallest population is Nanga Tangoi village with a population in 2021 of 141 people.[3] Most of the Serawai population comes from the indigenous Dayak U’ud Danum tribe, then Malay, Chinese descendants of the Khek-speaking tribe, migrants from Java, Sumatra, etc. In daily life, Serawai people work as field farmers, gold miners and also palm oil workers. While the migrants are more involved as traders, Civil Servants (ASN) both in offices and schools. The traders in Serawai itself are dominated by people of Chinese descent. Only a few indigenous Dayak people work as traders. Civil servants mostly work in government offices as employees and schools as teachers, mostly in the centre of Serawai sub-district.
The availability of educators in the centre of Serawai makes the level of education quite good, starting from elementary school (SD), junior high school (SMP) and senior high school (SMA). However, education facilities in Serawai villages are not the same. Most of the villages do not have a complete school level (generally only elementary school).[4] This is why parents in the villages eventually choose to send their children to the centre of Serawai sub-district in the hope that they will get a much better education. If Serawai people want to continue their education to a higher level as students, they have to go to the city. So far it is common to find Serawai children studying in big cities such as Pontianak, Malang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Jakarta. This is a sign that openness to the importance of education is increasing from time to time, although there are still many things that still need to be addressed regarding educational facilities in villages in Serawai.
Based on data in 2022, the population of Serawai consists of 6,359 Muslims, 3,180 Protestant Christians, 11,811 Catholics, 2 Hindus, 150 Buddhists, 80 others. [5] From this data, it can be seen that the majority of Serawai’s population is Catholic. This number certainly did not appear in a short time. The long journey of spreading the faith in the Serawai region has been started since 1937 by the Capuchin priests (OFM), then continued by the Montfortian priests (SMM), and finally the Lazarist priests (CM) until today. The 11,811 Catholics[6] in Serawai belong to a unified Catholic Church called St. Montfort Serawai Parish, which is currently divided into four groups (around the parish centre) and 36 stations with varying distances from the parish centre. As a parish in the hinterland of West Kalimantan, the Parish of St. Montfort Serawai is one of the parishes under the Diocese of Sintang. Serawai Parish which is located on the banks of the Melawi River borders with other parishes, namely the downstream side of the Melawi River borders with St. Louisa Parish, Menukung (other CM confreres serve here), the upstream side borders with the village of St. Mary Immaculate Parish, Ambalau Kemangai. The strong determination of the early missionaries is undeniably the forerunner of the seeds of Catholic faith that flourish and bear fruit until today.
Period Before the arrival of CM[7]
The Congregation of the Mission is not the pioneer of the spread of the Catholic faith in the parish of St Montfort Serawai. The spread of the faith in this area began in May-June 1937 by Franciscan priests (OFM cap) who at that time were working in Sintang Parish: Egbertus Nobel and David van de Made. They were the first missionaries to visit the Serawai, Ambalau and upper Melawi regions. With limited transportion at that time, they spent one month travelling and visiting the three regions. The next visit was made by Father Octavianus OFM cap., in December 1939. After his visit, for a long time, no more priests visited the area. Until in April 1947, a Montfortian priest, Father Linssen SMM, visited the Serawai area called Rantau Malam. He also travelled along the Lekawai river, Ambalau river and Melawi upstream. Father Linssen’s visit and experiences shared with his confreres then received a positive response from the SMM leadership at that time. A priest named Adriaan Schellart SMM was then sent to Serawai and asked to stay there since 17 November 1947. This date is considered to be the forerunner of the establishment of the Serawai parish under the name “Darah Yesus yang Mulia” (Precious Blood of Jesus), which at that time was still part of the Nanga Pinoh Parish. He bought a house and land which he then turned into temporary buildings for the church, rectory and public school dormitory.
In the beginning, for about three years, the Serawai baptismal book was still part of the Nanga Pinoh Parish. It was only in 1950 that the Serawai Parish Church had its own baptismal book. This is what marks the establishment of Serawai Parish. The missionary force that came to Serawai was even stronger with the entry of Father A. Bernard SMM. In the course of time, in 1978, he built a permanent church building by giving a new patron name: Saint Montfort. This name also replaced the previous name “Darah Yesus yang Mulia”. The presence of the missionaries not only sowed and nurtured the seeds of faith in the Serawai region. They also paid attention to the importance of education of the Serawai people. This was shown by the construction of boys‘ and girls’ dormitories by Father Bernard as a support for the villagers who sent their children to Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School in Serawai which was established in 1962. According to the records of previous missionary priests, primary schools that were initially managed by the Church were later handed over to the government. Only Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School has been maintained to this day.
CM enters St. Montfort Serawai Parish[8]
In 1976, the Congregation of the Mission of Indonesia (CM) began carrying out missions in the Sintang Diocese, marked by the presence of Father Gros CM and several confreres who had previously carried out missions in Vietnam. At the beginning of his arrival, CM immediately had the opportunity to help with mission services in the Melawi region centered in Nanga Pinoh (at that time assisting Father Van Keik SMM). The presence of these CM priests became a valuable presence for the Sintang Diocese considering the decreasing number of Montfortian priests at that time. Father Grabriel Dethune became the first CM priest who then entered the St. Montfort Serawai Parish and worked with Father Bernard SMM in 1977. Two years later, Father Aryono CM joined and strengthened the mission there.
The presence of the mission in Serawai then gave birth to several parishes that were previously part of the St. Montfort Serawai Parish station. There were at least three parishes as a form of mission development in Serawai, namely: St. Peter Parish – Nanga Ella, St. Louisa Parish – Nanga Menukung and St. Mary Immaculate Parish – Ambalau. It cannot be denied that the presence of CM missionaries in the West Kalimantan region, especially in the Sintang Diocese, has had a major impact on the development of mission areas and the establishment of new parishes which were previously stations. It should also be noted that the confrere’s mission service in Nanga Pinoh itself has given birth to new parishes. There are at least four parishes resulting from mission work in Nanga Pinoh, namely: St. Paul Parish – Tuguk, Salib Suci – Nanga Tebidah, St. Joseph – Nanga Mau, and St. Mary Immaculate – Belimbing.
Since the beginning of CM’s entry into Serawai until now, there have been at least 18 confreres serving in St. Montfort Parish, Serawai. In the nearly 50 years that CM has been present in Serawai, the seeds of faith that have been sown by OFM and Montfortian missionaries have gradually grown and developed well. However, this does not mean that there are no challenges faced by CM missionaries in their mission. With a very large number of stations and difficult road access, not all stations can celebrate Sunday mass every week. Not a few stations celebrate weekly mass at least once a month. Furthermore, they celebrate the liturgy of the Word led by the station leader or pastoral staff from St. Montfort Parish, Serawai.
Challenges and opportunities
Currently, there are two confreres running the mission in St. Montfort Parish Serawai, namely Father Novan and Father Agus. They see several problems and challenges that they face in the Serawai mission area. For example, the limited health facilities and medical personnel available. There is only one hospital and inpatient health center with inadequate facilities and one pharmacy.[9] These limitations often pose a great risk to every resident who experiences serious health problems, because they must be referred to a hospital with more adequate facilities in Sintang or even to Pontianak with a long travel distance. When those who are sick are in Serawai villages, the chances they face to get health services as soon as possible become increasingly difficult, so the risk of death due to late medical treatment often occurs. The confreres really hope for government attention regarding adequate health facilities and medical personnel in order to minimize the risk of people experiencing health problems.
In addition to health challenges, our two young confreres are also faced with more complex challenges, not only education, limited health facilities, or inadequate access, but also ecological problems that have become increasingly concerning over time. Serawai, as part of the West Kalimantan region, is an area that used to have very large forest areas and rubber plantations. However, since the early 2000s, when palm oil companies began to enter the Serawai region, pros and cons have emerged regarding the impact of palm oil plantations on people’s lives. The most obvious impact is the increasing loss of popularly owned rubber plantations. The lure of large amounts of money is something that clouds people’s view of the dangers of their future because they prefer to sell their rubber land and get money instantly. Once the money they receive runs out, what can they do? The rubber plantation land no longer belongs to them and has been converted into oil palm land.
In addition, the offer that opening oil palm plantations will bring jobs for them also seems to promise a good future. In fact, they will be selected by nature, because to be able to survive and get a decent job in an oil palm company requires good qualifications, especially in terms of formal education. In reality, not many people in the villages have received adequate education to then be able to survive working on oil palm plantations other than as laborers. So now many people who were initially proud to be workers on oil palm plantations, then regret because they are only laborers on their own land. Another problem that then arises is horizontal conflict, namely between communities that support the entry of oil palm and communities that reject oil palm. This problem is also a sensitive issue that then also has an impact on the life of the Church. How does the Church speak out among people who support and oppose oil palm plantations? A challenge that is not easy to face.
Another obvious ecological problem is the community’s gold mining activities along the river and around the riverbed, which causes river water pollution due to chemicals used such as mercury. In addition, the impact of mining around the riverbed causes the emergence of pits that are left unattended. Of course, this situation can cause siltation of the river around the mining and also damage the surrounding environment. Gold mining that has been going on for years has ultimately led to the use of river water being very limited other than for water transport routes. It is almost certain that the river ecosystem is also disturbed by the mining activities.
How then to face the challenges? Both our confreres and the Church see the importance of adequate and quality education for the people. With better education, they believe that the people will have a more precise understanding of the importance of the environment and the negative impacts of mining and palm oil planting activities that currently exist. So the educational work that has been pioneered by the missionary predecessors and then continued by the CM confreres in a more mature manner becomes a strategic path to provide quality and adequate education in facing the challenges that currently exist, including modern life that has also penetrated the villages in Serawai. Definitively, starting in 2012, CM is present through the formal education management of Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School carried out by the Lazaris Foundation (CM Education Foundation based in Surabaya), where previously Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School was under the auspices of the education foundation of the Diocese of Sintang. Since handling Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School, the Lazaris Foundation has tried to plan and implement educational programs, improve teacher quality, and improve facilities that support the implementation of learning.
In addition to formal education, non-formal education in the form of a boys’ dormitory supervised by CM priests and a girls’ dormitory supervised by Daughters of Charity provides strategic support for parents in Serawai villages who want their children to attend Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School. Not only as a place to live for children attending Catholic Junior High School, the boys’ and girls’ dormitories also have a development program that makes them practice independence and foster spiritual life through their involvement in the St. Montfort Serawai Parish, for example through daily mass, choir, art development, etc. The presence of these boys’ and girls’ dormitories is seen as a strategic position to support the sustainability of Bukit Raya Catholic Junior High School, especially in instilling Catholic and Vincentian values for the young generation of the Serawai Church.
Hic Nunc Iesus?
The journey of a missionary cannot be separated from the mission that he must carry out in the mission place. Celebrating the Eucharist, carrying out sacramental services, fostering the people, or even carrying out charitable activities are not enough. The basic spirit of a missionary must be based on the willingness to do the will of God himself. The mission of a missionary is the mission of Jesus himself. Therefore, every time a missionary carries out his mission, he must always place his mission from the perspective of Jesus himself. As Jesus is present in human culture and tradition, missionaries need to merge themselves in the context in which they carry out their mission.
The confreres who are currently carrying out their mission in Serawai honestly admit that in their missions of proclaiming the Gospel, they often experience challenges, difficulties and struggles when faced with local traditions, culture and beliefs, namely the Dayak tradition. For Father Novan who has only been on mission in Serawai for one year, faced with a mission place that has a different culture even though it is part of Indonesia, Simon Peter’s question to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Or Vincent’s question “Hic Nunc Iesus?”, often bothers him when he sees Dayak people who have been Catholic for a long time, but at the same time still faithfully carry out the traditions and customs inherited from their ancestors which often conflict with the teachings of the Catholic faith.
In general, Simon Peter’s words are seen more as an affirmation that the apostles will not leave Jesus, because Jesus’ words are words of eternal life. They have believed and known that Jesus is the Holy One of God, therefore they will not leave Him like the other disciples who withdrew because of their inability to face the consequences they would face for following Jesus (cf. John 6:25-71). For Father Novan, Simon Peter’s words are seen more as a form of pastoral struggle that gives birth to a new understanding as a missionary with a different cultural context: “the choice that has been made to follow Jesus always has its own challenges wherever we are”. Father Novan’s experience working for one year at the Saint Montfort Serawai parish can be an example for every confrere, especially missionaries, of how the challenges, difficulties, and struggles in proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are truly real.
As previously stated, the majority of people living in the Saint Montfort Serawai Parish are the U’ud Danum Dayak tribe. They have several traditions that are quite different when compared to the traditions and customs of other Dayak tribes in the Sintang Diocese. For example, when a U’ud Danum Dayak dies. The events surrounding the death are perhaps one of the unique parts of the Uud Danum Dayak tribe. When a U’ud Danum Dayak dies, his body must be kept in state for three days and three nights in the house. The atmosphere of death, which is generally full of sorrow, is the opposite in the U’ud Danum Dayak tribe. At night when people are waiting for the body to be buried until the third day, they usually play a fire football game in the house. This game aims to expel evil spirits that may come while the body is still being kept in the house. Another unique tradition surrounding death is during the “Darok” Ceremony (Bone Removal). The ceremony is celebrated with great fanfare, full of joy, accompanied by dances set to music. There is no sense of sadness emanating from this ceremony.
It seems that the purpose of these festive ceremonies is to entertain the grieving family. However, when explored further, there is another meaning behind the ceremonies they perform, namely the belief in the existence of life after death. The belief that there is life after death for the U’ud Danum people must be celebrated in traditional ceremonies that have been carried out for generations. For them, death is not to be mourned, but must be celebrated because there is a new life waiting for those who have died.
Starting from the understanding of the tradition of death, the interpretation of one of the Church’s celebrations eventually also experienced “strangeness”, especially in the commemoration of the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Good Friday. The Church clearly and firmly establishes Good Friday as a day of abstinence and fasting, where the character of silence, sorrow, and repentance is very striking. However, for some people who have a background in the idea of ”new life after death” in the Dayak U’ud Danum tradition, they celebrate Good Friday with joy. They mark this joy by slaughtering pigs as is the case in their culture when there are big celebrations. Such understanding and practice clearly pose a challenge in the pastoral work of the Church. There needs to be an adequate cultural understanding so as not to easily judge traditional practices that existed before they knew the Catholic faith, so that they can accept the teachings of faith as truth.
Another tradition or custom that poses a challenge for evangelising in Saint Montfort Serawai Parish is marriage. For the Serawai people in general, marriage can be done quite easily, namely through a traditional marriage which is considered valid. The impact that then arises is the large number of early marriages. In a certain sense, this customary marriage can become the legality of “kumpul kebo”.[10] When early marriages occur frequently, the preparation for couples to build a family seriously and well becomes very lacking, because economically and mentally they are not yet mature. This economic and mental immaturity is what often triggers divorce in families who marry at an early age. Usually, this divorce is also handled according to custom, because most of these customary marriages cannot be legalized by the Church considering the obstacles to marriage. Another impact that arises from this customary marriage is the obstacle in processing official documents in the civil government (eg: Family Card, Child Birth Certificate, etc.). This is because Indonesia considers a marriage valid if it has been legalized through a religious institution. Of course with the minimum age limit for marriage that has been determined: exactly 16 years for women and exactly 19 years for men. These marriage issues are a challenge for the confreres who are on mission in the Saint Montfort Serawai Parish in proclaiming the One, Holy, and Indissoluble Catholic marriage. The ease of divorce by local tradition makes the sanctity of marriage a foreign concept to the people here.
So how do we deal with such a reality? Is Jesus also present in this place? Perhaps a more appropriate question to ask in dealing with this situation is “how do we present the face of Jesus in their midst?” An interesting message from the words of Saint Vincent when he spoke about “zeal for the missions” seems to be able to be the spirit in presenting Jesus in the midst of the Serawai community for the confreres who are currently working there:
“How happy will those be who, at the hour o f death, can say these beautiful words of Our Lord, Evangelizare pauperibus misit me Dominus! You see, brothers, that the essential aim of Our Lord was to work for poor persons. When He went to others, it was only in passing. But woe to us also if we become lax in carrying out the obligations we have to help poor souls! For we have given ourselves to God for that purpose and God is counting on us”.[11]
The soul of a missionary must always hold on to Jesus’ own mission to proclaim the Good News to the poor. The presence of missionaries is to help souls in need of Jesus’ helping hand through those whom He has sent. As Jesus, the Son of God, who was incarnated as a human and entered their lives to save them, missionaries must also enter the midst of the lives of the communities where they are on mission, so that they can understand how the lives of those communities are lived and understood, so that in the end the proclamation of the Good News becomes contextual and can be accepted by the local community.
By: Fr. Ignatius Novan A., CM & Fr. Antonius Hari P., CM
[1] Cf. Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) Kabupaten Sintang, Kecamatan Serawai Dalam Angka 2023, 5.
[2] Cf. Ibid, 17.
[3] Cf. Ibid, 27.
[4] Based on data from the Statistics of Sintang Regency 2023, from 2020-2022 there were three primary school and two junior secondary school closures in Serawai sub-district. Cf. Ibid, 38. When a school is closed, it will also have an impact on the referral for further schooling. Thus there are two possibilities: they either have to leave their village to attend further education or they stop going to school because there is no further school they need to continue their education.
[5] Cf. BPS Kabupaten Sintang, Kabupaten Sintang Dalam Angka 2023, 135.
[6] Government data and data from the parish have significant differences. According to the confrere who is currently serving at St Montfort Serawai, the data of the parishioners in 2019 is 16,578 people. It seems impossible that in a period of 3 years, the number of parishioners decreased by about 5,000 people. Therefore, it is necessary to further confirm the number of parishioners by conducting a new census.
[7] Cf. Keuskupan Sintang, Aku Menyertai Kamu Senantiasa Sampai Akhir Zaman. Kenangan Syukur 50 tahun Gereja Katolik Keuskupan Sintang 1961-2011, Keuskupan Sintang, Sintang 2011, 94-96.
[8] Cf. Ibid., 96-97.
[9] Cf. BPS Kabupaten Sintang, Kecamatan Serawai Dalam Angka 2023, 42.
[10] The term “kumbul kebo” is used to refer to those who live together as husband and wife outside of marriage.
[11] Repetion of Prayer, October 25, 1643. Cf. Pierre Coste, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, Volume XI. Conferences to the Congregation of the Mission vol. 1, New City Press, New York 2008, 122.
