Summing up Flores findings

The Catholic Church does a lot of important work in many sectors of society. It has hundreds of primary and secondary schools, high schools, vocational schools, and tertiary educations, and has special agricultural centres and workshops for practical education. It is also heavily involved in health projects, and run clinics, hospitals, nursing schools, and family planning projects. These are just a few examples; the Church is involved in almost all aspects of society in Flores.

In many places, the Church has lost some of its importance in the society over the last years. In places where most of the people have officially converted to Catholicism, the stream of missionaries has dried up. This has caused a decline in funds from abroad, but the Church has also always been dependent on revenue obtained through donations. With the present poverty levels, people give less than before, which again results in less development work going the other way.

The Romos still have a big influence though, and the religion is still a big part of people’s lives. Even though it faces competition belief-wise from the traditions, or adat, which are very important for the identity of the people, the religion has respectfully acknowledged there is room for both, and is working on ways to implement adat in the liturgy.

Many, if not most, traditional leaders are Christians, and have a good dialogue with the local priests. It can sometimes be challenging for a Romo to help people without offending, though, as many traditional rituals demand big sacrifices to be made, which can plummet people further into poverty.

Trying to change the old ways for what the Church sees as better has to be done carefully. On the subjects of modernisation and globalisation, both Kepala Adat and Catholic leaders we met with shared the view that this was something to go about carefully. While agreeing that television and Internet has its educational purposes, many were sceptical of a lot of the ‘low moral’ aspects of these mediums, and especially the influence it could have on children.

A school for priests we visited in Maumere even taught their students to watch out for negative aspects of modernisations. We also witnessed sermonies where the subject came up.

Where the Church is not able to help, one is inclined to think that the government should play a bigger role, and to a certain extent it does. However, a lot of the money for development work never makes it to its destinations, and KKN takes its toll. In the many rural areas we visited, one of the biggest issues was infrastructure and the lack of or general low standard of it. Stories of broken promises from politicians campaigning with issues about roads and electricity were many. Criticising the government has traditionally been associated with danger, and a lot of people are reluctant to speak too openly about it.

The people who do, for instance those working in ‘Be Smart Radio’ in Ruteng, can tell stories of difficulties and even threats when investigating KKN issues.

Being a truth seeker is difficult, as a ‘freedom of information act’ is yet to be ratified by the government. Criticism of the Church can also be dangerous in Flores. After questioning the use of 1 billion Rupiah for building a new house for a priest in the area, the mentioned radio station was attacked by an angry mob. Cases like this and the history of dictatorship and lack of freedom of speech are instrumental in keeping people from being politically active.