Catholic churches reveal the past

By Ida Indawati Khouw

After being banned by the Dutch colonial authorities for almost two decades, Catholics in Batavia, as Jakarta was then known, started to build places of worship. The following article on Jakarta Cathedral and Santa Maria de Fatima Church is the fifth on historic churches in Jakarta. It is also the 39th article in a series on historic and protected buildings in the capital, appearing every Saturday.

JAKARTA (JP): The capital's only two old and protected Catholic churches -- the Jakarta Cathedral and Santa Maria de Fatima Church -- conceal many stories about Catholicism in Batavia.

After landing in what would become Batavia in 1619, the Dutch forbid Catholicism and declared the Dutch Reformed Church the territory's official religion.

Historians have noted that the presence of Catholic priests was intolerable at the time.

The colonial authorities consequently banned Catholics from building any churches during this period. It was not until 1808, after significant changes in the Netherlands, that the Dutch relented.

One of the first results of the new policy was the cathedral, which was the tallest and regarded as the most glorious building at that time in Batavia.

The 60-meter tall building was not actually the first Catholic church in the city, but it has a special place in the country's heritage since it is the only structure in the capital that has a Neo-Gothic architectural design.

According to Sejarah Seputar Katedral Jakarta (The History of Jakarta's Cathedral) written by former cathedral priest R. Kurris S.J., the Catholic congregation's first church was built in 1810 in Senen, currently located in Central Jakarta.

The land and the building, which used to be the home of a small Protestant church, was granted to Catholics by the Dutch government, Kurris wrote.

In 1826, a large fire swept through Senen, damaging part of the building. Three years later, the congregation got a new church in the Lapangan Banteng area, which was modified from the large house of armed forces commander Gen. de Kock.

"The church purchased the land for 20,000 gilders," Kurris wrote.

However, the church building only lasted for 61 years. It collapsed in 1890 due to poor construction.

The present cathedral, currently located on a street named after the church itself in Central Jakarta, was built in 1901 with three million bricks, "which cost between 2.2 Dutch cents and 2.5 Dutch cents each," Kurris wrote.

Architect Han Awal, who has participated in the renovation of the cathedral, said that unlike other Neo-Gothic churches, which traditionally are made solely of stones, the cathedral has a vast wooden ceiling, 60-meters long and 20-meters wide.

It was designed like this mainly "because earthquakes sometimes used to occur in Java," Han said.

From a distance, passersby can clearly make out the church, with its two 60-meter-high iron towers at the front.

"(The towers made) the cathedral the tallest building in Batavia," said Kurris.

The grandeur of the church can still be sensed up to the present, especially due to its rich decorations, even though it is no longer the tallest building in the city.

While praying, the congregation can enjoy the solemnity of the church while being surrounded by statues of saints and beautiful carvings.

The other protected Catholic church is the Santa Maria de Fatima, which is hidden away on hectic and crowded Jl. Kemenangan III in West Jakarta's Chinatown.

Chinese restaurants, shops, houses and two old temples -- Jin De Yuan and Toasebio -- surround the old building, believed to have been constructed in the 1800s.

Judging from the shape of its roof, wooden carvings, ornaments and its dominant color of red, the church is more like a Chinese temple than a Christian place of worship.

The only thing which indicates it is a church is a cross on top of the building.

The congregation still prefers to call the church Toasebio, which is taken from the old name for Jl. Kemenangan.

The style of the church is not surprising since the building once belonged to late Chinese "captain" (a community leader during the colonial era), Tjioe Bok Liem.

The antique structure located on a one-hectare plot of land was sold to the church in 1953 for Rp 3 million.

One of Tjioe's children, Winny Wijaya who spent her childhood in the complex, said her parents decided to sell the building because it had turned into a refugee camp during the period of Japanese occupation.

"It was better to sell it because we found it difficult to drive the people out. They were refugees in my (former) house for years," said the 62-year-old woman.

While at the same time the church badly needed a piece of land in Chinatown so that could minister to Chinese people.

"The main purpose of the purchase was to build a church, a school and a boarding house for Hoakiauw (overseas Chinese)," a book commemorating the church's 40th year anniversary records.

But only one year later the building officially became a church, without many significant changes to the building's interior and exterior.

That is why one can still see a couple of lion statues in the front yard, indicating the high status of the building's former owner and an altar full of Chinese characters among other things.

The main change was that the courtyard, one of a Chinese building's main features, was covered over by a roof to fulfill the need for a hall for mass.

The church's priest, Giuseppe Bagnara, said that besides the building's character, the congregation also preserved Chinese traditions as well.

The church serves mass for Chinese New Year, something which probably does not happen at other churches across the globe. Another unique feature is that the church also serves mass in Mandarin.

At certain events, like matrimony mass, priests also wear red gowns with Chinese lettering on them. Red is the symbol of cheer, the dominant color used during Chinese marriage ceremonies.

Bagnara said that about 90 percent of the congregation was of Chinese descent.

"I persist in maintaining the Chinese heritage," he said.

"As it is a dominant Chinese congregation, it is also their right to have their own culture represented," he said.

Bagnara said that he also let worshipers pray in a Chinese fashion. "Sometime they use joss sticks during prayers," he said.