Making the Church More Colorful (Bro. Martinus Sariya Giri FIC, taken from Brothers-FIC Magazine June 2020 issue)

Introduction

Observing the history of our congregation, Mgr. Rutten, has brought us to a clear understanding of the position of the congregation in the Church. Mgr. Rutten who was a diocesan Priest initiated the establishment of this religious congregation that was both strange and amazing at the time. Who has encouraged Msgr. Rutten to do all this? Yes, of course we already know the answer. It was Jesus who inspired Rutten to do all that. Rutten's social heart was touched by the situation, and this prompted him to do something. This was also the experience of Jesus when He went around doing good (const. art. 15).

Likewise, when we reflect on the presence of FIC in Indonesia, this is also because the Brothers were driven by the situation of the Church at the time. Father Van Lith, with his Teacher Training College Muntilan, required the presence of Brother-teachers from the Netherlands. He proceeded to ask the FIC Brothers to come to the Indies to help. There are two amazing facts: FIC was founded by a diocesan priest, and FIC is growing and increasingly impacting positively on society.

The above are 2 practical realities of how the Church relates to the presence of FIC Brothers. The FIC Congregation can never be separated from the Local Church. There is a similar situation between the beginning of the congregation and the beginning of the presence of FIC in Indonesia, namely the urgency of the situation that the local Church cannot do it alone. The Church needs people with different gifts, the Church needs catechetical and pastoral ministry partners from the non-priestly staff. Such facts had flourished long before the second Vatican Council in 1965 gave birth to its official documents.

This article does not intend to make a scientific review of the role of the FIC Congregation in the local Church, but rather to give practical experiences and reflections that confirm the presence of the FIC Congregation, which also enriches the work of the local Church. How relevant is the work of the FIC Congregation to the local Church? What kind of presence is possible for the FIC Congregation in the local Church? And what the Brothers must do to make the presence of FIC truly felt by the Church and fellow human beings.

Congregation of FIC and the Local Church

We understand the meaning of local Church as the Church at the diocesan level. The closest environment to the FIC community is the parish. The presence of FIC is always due to ecclesiastical reasons. There is no work of the Congregation which was established first for profit making. Our presence is always closely related to the local Church. The presence of FIC Indonesian Province includes Semarang Archdiocese (KAS), Jakarta Archdiocese (KAJ), Palembang diocese, Ketapang diocese and Purwokerto diocese. Our presence is also felt in TimorLeste. The context is always the Church. Almost all the works of the FIC Congregation are engaged in education and youth formation. The Congregation's involvement in the work of the Church and the manifestation of the Gravissimum Educationis (GE) is real. Moreover, all schools owned by the Brothers FIC are well accepted and considered qualified in the community.

Although the presence of FIC is an inseparable part of the Church, our work has a different character and also maintains a different level of relationship with the local church. Characteristics of relationships are sometimes influenced by the personality of each priest or brother. But in general relations with the parish are really good. The attention of the parish priest to the work of the Brothers is also quite good. Some bishops and parish priests are the product of the formation of the FIC Brothers who will naturally create a good relationship between the two.

The presence of FIC makes the Church more colorful

I am currently working at Pangudi Luhur Domenico Savio Semarang. The number of students is more than 1000. Next to this is the school of Br. Agustinus Marjito, Pangudi Luhur Bernardus Elementary School with more than 1000 students. Noticing the home addresses of the students, they are scattered in various parishes. In most of these parishes, some teachers and students of Pangudi Luhur are church activists. Some of these teachers are lay-leaders, pro-deacons, and administrators of the parish council, while the students are quite active as lectors, acolytes and choir members of the church.

Why do they get involved? This certainly cannot be separated from the school education model of the Brothers FIC. Pangudi Luhur schools are institutions that never leave Catholicism, both in the atmosphere of the educational environment and the educational approach provided. The Catholic educational atmosphere appears in the human relationships within. The educational impact is felt in religious activities. Pangudi Luhur schools educate and form Catholic Smart Characters (CSC). The fruits of such education encourage teachers and children to get involved in the local church, and thus the presence of the Brothers' schools really makes the Church more colorful compared to places that have no Brothers' schools.

The presence of the Brothers in the parish also makes the church more colorful. Brothers usually get involved in sharing communion, choir groups, community recollections, deepening of the environment and religious studies for new baptisms, charismatics and visits of the sick.

In Indonesia, through the Budi Mulya Foundation Semarang (YBMS), the FIC congregation is significantly involved in the social work of the church. This made the FIC congregation give color to the local church. Through YBMS, the Congregation helps many children with scholarships, hundreds of disaster victims, hundreds of sick people with inexpensive treatment, and give some families economic empowerment.

The most important thing is not "how many people we help", but how we do it all. Yes, we must do all with a happy heart. That is the mark of our religious life as Brothers. What we do is our logical consequence as followers of Jesus, who "went around doing good, bore witness to the truth, came to serve, and carried the message of love. By doing all that, we have become a sign of surrender and service to the Kingdom of God. "(Const art 15).

One more thing, absolutely we must not forget our concern for the small, the weak, the poor, the marginalized and disabled people as well as those who experience no love. This is the legacy (message) of Br. Bernard that we have to keep alive. *)

With Great Love