Catholics told to take action, not just pray

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Acknowledging that the Catholic church has not done enough to fight the moral decay gripping the nation, the Bishops Council of Indonesia (KWI) offered on Thursday a plan to help fight corruption, environmental degradation and violence.

Summing up its 11-day plenary meeting here, bishops from across the country called on Catholics to become involved in the movement to rebuild the country into a better home for the Indonesian people.

"The church has to make friends with victims of violence, the oppressed and those people who have been evicted from their homes. We cannot just pray for them, but must advocate for them and struggle for justice for them," a statement from the KWI said.

The bishops also called on Catholics to help people at the grassroots level become self-reliant, and to work with people of other faiths to monitor the performance of the executive and legislative branches of government.

In the education sector, the bishops urged Catholics to push for alternative educational programs designed to help educate the nation.

The religious leaders also suggested the church initiate an economic resilience movement, including introducing credit unions for the poor.

Thirty-nine archbishops and bishops from across the country attended the annual meeting. The attendees raised their concerns about a culture that endorses survival of the fittest, that has raised money to the level of a new god and that believes the end always justifies the means.

"We talked about social justice for all Indonesian people and we hope the new administration will make this come true," KWI chairman Julius Kardinal Darmaatmadja said during a press conference.

The bishops concluded that corruption, environmental destruction and violence remained the major challenges facing the nation. They said the "Catholic church is eager to help address these problems" despite its minority status in the predominantly Muslim country.

Julius said the KWI had been concerned about the country's apparent moral decline since 1997. Over the ensuing years the country has seen unchecked corruption, sectarian conflicts and the destruction of natural resources on a massive level.

"Corruption has become common among bureaucrats and worse, moral watchdogs have become involved. Transparency International ranked our country among the top five most corrupt countries in the world," Julius read the KWI statement.

Julius joined other religious leaders last year in the nation- wide campaign against corruption.

"Rampant deforestation causes Rp 83 billion in state losses every day, and violence has become widespread as the security forces have been turned into political tools that threaten the people. This militaristic and repressive style has also been adopted by civilians," Julius said.