Catholic church put faith in local architecture in bali

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): The peal of bells atop the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus resonates through houses in the predominantly Catholic village of Palasari.

The church marries Gothic and Balinese architectural designs, and serves as a memorial to the transmigrants from the Badung regency who cleared and inhabited the Pangkung Sente forest -- now Palasari -- in 1940.

The theories of Hindu Balinese architecture are named the Hasta Kosali, which incorporates the worship of Ida Hyang Widhi Wasa.

The church is a result of the Catholic acculturation mission in the mainly Hindu island. Entering the gate, the feeling is of a Hindu temple, or pura, with its grand split gateways, the candi bentar.

The building itself has walls built from smooth stone and can be reached by a set of steps.

The top of the church building is decorated with three Hindu temple pagoda roofs (meru), made from black sugar palm fiber.

Were it not for the cross on the tip of the roof, the building would look just like any other Hindu temple.

The cornerstone was laid in 1956, 16 years after Palasari was first inhabited.

In 1958, the church was refurbished in accordance with the design of Brother Ignatius Am de Vrieze. A resident of Bali for 40 years, he had close contact with Balinese intellectuals like architect Ida Bagus Tugur, who became famous when he designed the Denpasar Cultural Park in the 1970s.

The two architects became inseparable in 1988 after Ignatius asked Ida Bagus Tugur to design the church.

It was to be a Christian place of worship, hence the adoption of the Gothic shape and style, but since it was to be built in Bali for Balinese, Brother Ignatius asked Ida Bagus Tugur to merge the Gothic with the traditional Balinese style.

Ignatius provided the basic vision of a church building, and Tugur polished it with traditional local flavor.

The church has three "temples", two split gateways, a gateway (gelung kori/gapura) and dividing walls (penyengker).

Atmosphere

The church areas consist of the "three arenas" (tri mandala) of a Hindu temple -- the most sacred inner area (jeroan) where the rituals are held, the middle room (jaba tengah) for rituals with Balinese dancing, and the outer room (jaba tandeg) for the gamelan, secular dances and where traders can sell their goods.

Although the exterior design of the church reflects the spirit of a Hindu temple, similarities end there.

Hindu ceremonies lasts for days, whereas Catholic masses last a few hours, and most of the time the 33-meter-high church is empty and quiet.

Closer inspection reveals the Catholic characteristics around the church building.

"The basic form of the church is a cross," said Gede Mudi Rahardja, a lecturer in the School of Art and Design at Udayana University who conducted research on the church.

The aerial view shows a cross, the main body of which extends from north to south.

In the north, three towers symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Below is the sacristy.

The wings and the body of the cross are where the congregation sit.

The north-south layout, symbolizing sacred and profane, is identical with the kaja and kelod directions. Kaja is the sacred arena where mountains, springs, and trees are located, and kelod the profane where the sea, viewed as a dumping site, is located.

The Gothic style is reflected in the tall pillars, the three towers symbolizing the Trinity and where the bells are located, and in the dome-like ceilings.

The interior design has a Balinese flavor, exemplified by the finely carved wooden tabernacle on the altar, and the 14 paintings depicting the stations of the cross which are hung on the walls.

On leaving church after mass, worshipers gather in a spacious church square.

To the south is the council hall (wantilan) and in front of this is the Kulkul hall where the wooden alarm gong is placed.

"The parish uses this wooden alarm to call people for a meeting, when there is a death in the village, or when it is necessary to clean the village," said Wisnu Purwadhy.

Balinese architectural influence in church buildings can also be found in other villages and cities such as Denpasar, Tabanan and Gilimanuk.

"Brother Ignatius wanted this specific design for the Palasari church because he didn't want the Balinese Catholics to be uprooted from their culture," said Father Yosef S.V.D. from Palasari parish church.

This view had its origins in the 1962 Second Vatican Council. Prior to this, the Eucharist had to be said in Latin, and hymns and the like could therefore never be fully understood. The 1962 judgment allowed use of other languages.

Objections

"In Flores, the churches are also designed in local styles," said Father Yosef, himself a native of Flores.

"The idea is to adopt local culture to make it easier for Christians to fully appreciate the religion. It is also a way of helping us fully appreciate the culture."

Some Balinese Hindus do have objections to the design. They consider ceremonial bamboo poles (penjor), carvings, the temple and the split gateways, the dividing walls and other accoutrements to be sacrosanct parts of Hinduism and its philosophy.

They believe acculturation -- the adoption of Balinese Hindu culture for the church liturgy -- could be "misleading" and "confusing".

Other Hindus are more tolerant.

Ketut Wiana, a Hindu teacher and the deputy dead of Central Parisada Hindu Dharma board, said cultural aspects of Balinese Hinduism were added to the religion by local holy men in the past.

Since Catholics in Palasari are of Balinese descent, acculturation should not be a problem, he said.

"The important thing is to be devoted and a good believer," Wiana said.

Catholic Gusti Ngurah Wisnu Purwadhy Bernadus concurred.

"I socialize with my Hindu relatives in Denpasar. Although our religions are different, we have the same ancestors," Purwadhy said. He said none of his kin had objected to using traditional Hindu names "Gusti Ngurah" or "Gusti Ayu" for his children.