SW News: This year too, the Church in Muslim-Majority Indonesia is exulting over a rich harvest of vocations as eight young men were ordained priests and 14 others received the diaconate. Every year, several young men are ordained as priests in different dioceses across the nation, which points to the vocation springtime in the country.

April 27 was a day of rejoicing for Catholic believers in Palembang in South Sumatra as eight deacons belonging to the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) were ordained priests. The solemn ceremony took place in the parish church of St Peter and it was presided over by Archbishop Yohanes Harun Yuwono of Palembang.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, only a selected number of priests, religious, community leaders and relatives of the deacons attended the ordination ceremony. Also present was Bishop Emeritus of Palembang Msgr Aloysius Sudarso.

On the occasion, Fr Suparman, who heads the Indonesian province of the Dehonians, said “I want to express my gratitude to the families of newly ordained priests for voluntarily allowing their children to serve the Lord in the Church.” He exhorted the newly ordained men that their vocation must always be enriched by the love of Jesus for human beings.

On April 28, 14 young seminarians were ordained as deacons in Malang, East Java, by local ordinary Bishop Henricus Pidyarto Gunawan. The seminarians belong to the diocese as well as other religious congregations. Next month, three Jesuit deacons and one from Merauke Archdiocese in Papua will be ordained as priests. The ceremony will be held in Yogyakarta, Central Java, on May 5 and it will be presided over by Archbishop Robertus Rubiyatmoko of Semarang.

As the vocation windfall continues in Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, many diocesan seminaries are brimming with young candidates for the priesthood although religious congregations are not that lucky in getting that many candidates.

The Priests of the Sacred Heart is a clerical congregation with pontifical rights that was established by Fr Leon Dehon in 1878 in Saint-Quentin in Aisne, France. Today, it is spread across 40 nations across five continents. Its headquarters is in Rome.