Report on Outing during ConCon at Roncali Institute, Saturday June 17 2023

Raphael Besigrinee

Saturday 17 June 2023 was set aside as a day of outing as has always been the case during our Congregational Conferences. This time we had the privilege of visiting two tourist attractions in the region of Yogyakarta. We left Roncali Institute, the conference centre at 8 AM in the Van Lith school bus and meandered through the mountains through Magelang, Muntilan, and finally arrived at the Kaliurang hills, a journey of about two and a half hours. These hills are located 25 kilometres north of Yogyakarta city. 

The first attraction we visited is called Ullen Sentalu Museum. This museum is a Javanese cultural and art museum located in the Kaliurang highlands of Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. The museum displays relics and artifacts from the royal houses and palaces of Java, such as Yogyakarta, Pakualam, Surakarta, and Mangkunegaran. The 45 minutes’ tour around the museum exposed us to the rich culture of the Javanese people and their later connection with the Dutch.  

From Ullen Sentalu Museum, we had an hour relaxation in one of the traditional restaurants nearby. After lunch, we descended the hills southwards and reached the second tourist attraction, Omah Petruk, a Cultural House located in Hargobinangun Sleman, on the slopes of Mount Merapi. 

Interestingly, the founder of this attraction is an Indonesian Catholic priest, Fr. Gabriel Possenti Sindhunata, SJ, also an editor for the local culture magazine "Basis". He also worked as journalist for a national newspaper, especially for his commentary on football review and cultural issues. With its beautiful and serene environment, this place offers some coolness with the shade of trees, making this location more suitable and comfortable for a retreat house.

This house of culture and religion is a large yard with various kinds of sculptures symbolizing a wide range of cultural and religious practices and beliefs. The symbolism of these statues show the tolerance of religious and cultural diversity that is maintained continuously by the Indonesian people. Halfway through this tour, we had to take cover in the structures that house these statues as a result of a heavy downpour that lasted more than an hour. After the downpour, brothers already showed signs of tiredness, but we still managed to end the tour before embarking on our journey back through our FIC community in Muntilan. Our stop over here had a purpose: to visit the newly constructed FIC cemetery and especially to observe a few minutes of prayer for our late fellow brother, Thomas Edison who was recently laid to rest. 

In Muntilan community, we had the unique opportunity to greet and interact with our brothers and candidates, and finally had supper together. It was an exciting moment to meet our fellow brothers in one of our largest communities in Indonesia. Participants of the Congregational Conference 2023 still had a journey to make, so we had to leave. Thanks to the careful driver of our bus, we arrived back safely in Roncali at 21:30 hours. Thank God, it was a day well spent.