Tuesday, July 9, 2019
The World’s Largest Seminary
The churches of Europe are pretty empty generally. But in Indonesia,
with its mainly Muslim population, Christian seminaries are overwhelmed
with applicants. On a hill in the middle of the jungle on the island of
Flores lies the world’s largest seminary. More than 1000 students study
at Ledalero, and at least 600 of them are candidates for the priesthood.
The Divine Word Missionaries have been active on the Indonesian
island of Flores since 1912. Today, there are more than 2000 Divine Word
priests and brothers in Indonesia. Before the missionaries arrived,
Ledalero was virtually deserted. The indigenous people avoided the area
because they believed it to be inhabited by evil spirits. Building a
Catholic seminary there has transformed Ledalero. Now it is not only
viewed positively by Indonesians, but by Catholics everywhere. The
seminary in Ledalero educates priests who go out into the world,
proclaiming the gospel not only by preaching, but by fighting poverty
and injustice. We visited Ledalero and report on the Indonesian students
studying philosophy and theology there, many of them with the aim of
becoming Catholic priests.
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