By Father Ernesto Amigleo CICM
Fr Ernie with a Buddhist monk at a National Seminar on Inter-Religious Dialogue
By Fr. Ernesto Amigleo, cicm
Reforms, we need political and economic reforms! President Suharto and cronies, resign!
Lower the prices of commodities and gasoline! Stop corruption, collusion and nepotism!
By Fr. Ernie Amigleo, CICM
Fr. Ernie Amigleo, though a Filipino, is a Novice Master in an Indonesian Seminary on the island of Celebes. Here he tells us about an exposure program to help the students enter into dialogue with their Muslim surroundings.
Eleven novices with knapsacks on their backs left for the city to start a new program called Dialogue of Life with Islam Families. For two weeks, novice lived with is foster parents’ who belonged to he low-income Javanese Islamic families in the city of Ujung Pandang.
By: Fr. Ernesto Amigleo,CICM
And to show the beautiful simplicity of our people here, I received from them a present which was a bouquet of plastic flowers with a note in English: Happy Wedding Anniversary!
Remote Mountain Village
Three times I celebrated my priestly Silver Jubilee. The third celebration was held in a very remote mountain village, also part of the parish. When people heard I was going to their village they got all excited and without my knowledge they planned something for my visit. I though I would just go there to celebrate the Eucharist with them, but it turned out to be more than that.
By: Fr. Ernesto Amigleo, CICM
Land of Many Faiths
My name is Fr. Ernesto Amigleo, I am a CICM missionary lining in Indonesia- a country of many faiths but predominantly Muslim. In recent years I have been working close to Muslim community and have got to know them and their big feast deep well.
Idul Fitri
Idul Fitri Day for our Muslim sisters and brothers is a red letter day.. Last year it fell on March 25, 1993. it is a day when they blessed with “original holiness” (fitra), after thirty days of obligatory fasting or Ramadan.
Fr. Amigleo continues his account of life in Indonesia.
Muslim Lent
A religious phenomenon in Indonesia which I never witnessed before in my life is the Muslin Lebaran. It is a month of feasting which starts from six o’ clock in the morning up to six o’clock in the evening. During this month of Lebaran all activity i.e. school, office works, business, socials are practically at a stand still. The whole city, nay the whole country, observes Lebaran. This, being the case, I started wondering why the Catholic Church in Indonesia had not move moved the Lenten season to coincide with Muslim Lebaran. That, so I thought to myself, would certainly be a very concrete way of expressing solidarity and religious unity.
By: Fr. Ernesto Amigleo, CICM
I remember many years ago in 1963, as a young novice at the CICM Maryhurst Seminary in Baguio City, my novice master announced to the twelve of us novices that the superior general wanted us to write him about where or which mission country we would like to go as a missionary. We were asked to name three countries after a few days or discernment, we were ready to write Fr. General. I chose Indonesia as one of my priorities. The other two were Japan and Brazil. There were, of course, reason why I chose Indonesia. They were: 1) because Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country; 2) because it is in Asia; 3) because as a Filipino I can share our Christian faith with our Asian Muslim brothers and sister; and 4) because culturally speaking, Indonesians and Filipino come from the same Malay ancestry.
