East Timor pastors, religious hope papal visit gives boost to local church

DILI – As Pope Francis visits the most Catholic country in Asia in terms of percentage, local pastors and religious have said his decision to visit one of the world’s peripheries is appreciated, and can help boost the local church, and encourage young people to stay on the right path.

Speaking to Crux, Australian Brother Tony Caddy, a member of the Marist Brothers who currently lives in Baucau and has been living in East Timor for just 18 months, said the papal visit has “totally dominated the whole country.”

“There are tens of thousands of people who have come from country areas, standing on the back of trucks,” he said, referring to the mostly poor population who turned out in droves to attend papal events and crowded the streets to wave at the pope as his car passes by.

East Timor, Caddy said, is “a very, very poor country, but there is a very strong faith, and having someone like Pope Francis come here has been a huge boost for the people, a help in promoting and supporting their faith in the church.”

He said there is a special appreciation for Pope Francis among East Timorese given the pontiff’s love of the peripheries and those on life’s margins.

“The people here, they have a great respect and a very strong affinity with the faith. He represents that, and also in his promoting of and support for the poor. He’s a pope who has done that in so many ways, and you can see their respect for him,” Caddy said.

He said many members of his own congregation come from very poor backgrounds, and they see Francis “as not just their leader, but a sign that they as ordinary, simple people are highly regarded and highly respected and you’re welcomed as members of the church.”

Caddy spoke ahead of the pope’s arrival for a Sept. 10 meeting with bishops, clergy and religious in East Timor, during which he issued a strong condemnation of clericalism in a country where priests are referred to as “lord,” telling pastors no to “crush” their people, but to serve humbly and prioritize the poor.

Francis will be in the East Timorese capital of Dili until mid-morning Wednesday, when he will fly to Singapore, marking the last stage of what has been the longest and farthest international trip of his papacy.

Sister Luisa Fernandes, a native of East Timor who continues to serve in the country, told Crux, “I am very happy that the pope is with us. He is close, he is with us. I hope that his visit brings us grace and also peace for all of us in Timor.”

Though the country has been “free” and independent for nearly 25 years and is living a period of relative calm, Fernandes said there are still problems within family life and among youth, especially among young people who join gangs that lead them away from their faith, and at times into violence.

“There are many young people who join these groups. Many times, there are these two desires to defend, to be something, and so what is also difficult for us is to live fraternity,” she said, saying the church tries to help those at risk “to really live this freedom with responsibility and also with faith.”

She said the pope’s visit can help push youth in the right direction, “because these young people, we see that it’s not that they are far from the church, but there are groups that lead them at times to be distant from the church.”

“Even if they always go to church, when they leave church, they follow these groups,” she said, and flagged high youth unemployment rates as another problem that needs to be addressed.

When young people finish university and cannot find a job, “what do they do? It goes like this. But the church, all of us, are trying to draw near to these young people, because they are the future of our land,” she said.

In terms of expectations for the pope’s visit, Fernandes said she hoped that it would result in what the motto of the trip says, “that your faith becomes your culture.”

“How can we live the faith, when we say that the faith becomes our culture,” she said, saying faith and its practice in daily life are what counts, “without leaving our culture, we must enculturate the faith.”

Likewise, Father John Tamonolo, who is Indonesian but has been living and serving in East Timor for the past 24 years, spoke of the country’s process of reconciliation and the need to address challenges such as healthcare and education, as well as the influence of modern society the risk it poses of pulling people away from the faith.

East Timor, he told Crux, “is a new country, it’s in the process of developing everything, school, health, and other areas. So, now we are happy,” he said.

Referring to the process of reconciliation between Indonesia and East Timor since the latter obtained its independence in 2002, Tamonolo said the two nations “are like family,” so “there’s no problem to process reconciliation.”

There is a cultural connection and, for many, especially those who live along the border, there is also a faith connection, and because of this, “they did not need a long process,” he said, noting that many Indonesians near the border with East Timor traveled to Dili to attend papal events.

The church is strong, he said, but “the big problems are how to grow with the culture and modern times,” he said, noting that at times people “look for their necessity in how to enjoy modern times, so that it’s a challenge.”

Caddy, Tamonolo and Fernandes also addressed the issue of clerical sexual abuse, with several prominent cases that have made international headlines in recent years.

The most prominent cases involve allegations against Nobel laureate and national hero, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, the former bishop of Dili, and American missionary ex-priest Richard Daschbach, who was defrocked in 2018 after admitting to sexually abusing girls and sentenced to 12 years in prison by an East Timorese court in 2021, but who maintains close ties with political elites.)

Caddy, Fernandes and Tamonolo each indicated that the topic of clerical abuse was not something that was frequently discussed in the country, despite the major allegations that have come to light.

Both Fernandes and Tamonolo said clerical abuse is not really a big concern in East Timor, with Tamonolo citing other challenges, and Fernandes saying the problem is mostly limited to small, isolated groups, and does not extend beyond that.

What is important, she said, is that “we always return to the teachings of Jesus, the mercy that God wants.”

Caddy said that in his experience, in his limited time in East Timor, the abuse issue “is not something that comes up a lot.”

“I often speak with the young brothers,” he said, saying, “I’ve never heard of them having experienced it, but I have no doubt that there has been some” discussion about it.

However, as someone from Australia, where the clerical abuse scandals had a massive public impact and were a major source of national shame, he said that in his view, “I would image it has had a great effect.”

“I’ve seen the effects of abuse of young people, and that is ongoing. I hope the abuse is not ongoing, but the story about the abuse and the fact that the church too has had to bow its head in shame” is a reality that continues, he said.

Asked whether clerical abuse was a taboo issue in East Timor given the elevated status clergy enjoy and the broad support for the church, with some 98 percent of the population identifying as Catholic, Caddy said he has not been around enough to answer, but that the issue does not come up much.

“The church here is very, very strong. It has a great influence over the people, and the people have great respect for the church and for church people,” he said, saying there is a high level of commitment to the faith, and to the church, among the population.

This is clearly evident with the papal trip, he said, “where there are hundreds of thousands of people that will be attending the Mass and lining the streets. The faith is very, very strong, and faith and culture go very much hand in hand here.”

In terms of his own expectations for the pope’s visit, Tamonolo said he hopes that the country would grow in “humanity and love,” and that the people implement their faith in order to “make the community better.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen