Season of Creation 2024 and franciscan friars in Indonesia.
Since the 2000s, the JPIC Office of the Province of St. Michael Archangel initiated the Ecopastoral Project as a new form of evangelization and pastoral care in the field of environment and agriculture. There were two main reasons for this initiative. Firstly, the mandate of the Holy Gospel who said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”. The message of salvation is not only addressed to humans, but also to the entire creation. Therefore, caring for creation is the vocation of the Christian faith. Secondly, the spirituality and way of life of St. Francis of Assisi who valued all of creation as brothers and sisters.
The Ecopastoral has mission to spread the spirituality of St. Francis Assisi especially in the areas of JPIC, to improve the livelihoods of farming communities, to restore the sustainability of forests and water sources, to support local customs and culture, and to increase the role and skills of women through creative economy, for example, in processing local foods. Currently, the Ecopastoral Project is working on three focuses
Organic farming
Indonesia is an agrarian country. About 30 per cent of the working-age population are farmers. However, there are many major problems in some peripheral area, for example in the island of Flores, such as high dependence on chemicals in cultivating the land by using more fertilizers and pesticides; being heavily indebted as the market is controlled by financiers and traders; the land getting drier due to water depletion as a consequence of climate change; the high cost of agricultural production; and so on.
In response to these difficult circumstances, the Franciscans took the initiative to address the problem and help the farmers by offering an alternative model of farming, namely ‘organic farming’ how to farm without chemical fertilisers, a way of farming that is less damaging to the environment and less expensive. To date, they have developed in several areas such as Pagal, Pagal, Tentang, Kurubhoko, Timor (West Timor), Timor Leste (East Timor), Ciloto-Sindanglaya (West Java).
Forest and Spring Conservation
To accelerate transformation, the Franciscans worked on the interconnectedness of soil and farming systems, forests and springs. Since agriculture cannot exist without springs, and springs cannot exist without forests, humans need to protect forests. That is why the Ecopastoral Project places forest and spring conservation as an essential activity in its programme.
Ecological Education
To support the next generation of organic farming, the friars promote organic farming at various levels of education to engage the younger generation. Through this ecological education, we hope that the younger generation will care about protecting the environment by prioritising an eco-friendly lifestyle and developing organic farming without chemical fertilisers.
Br. Fridus Yansianus Derong, OFM
