There are two strategic and fundamental issues urgently addressed by the Catholic Church of Indonesia and its Catholic institutions, including religious groups and their “profane” social institutions in educational, pastoral, health, and social services.
The two urgent matters are:
- Legal recognition by the state and its administration over the Church’s entities, organizations, and institutions.
- The Church is advised to seriously address the ministerial decree issued by the Ministry for Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (BPN) last May 2024, urging the Church and her entities to legalize their property assets, particularly land.
The Crucial Problem
In Central Jakarta earlier this July, a one-day conference was held by the Indonesian Ministry for Religious Affairs’ Catholic Guidance General Directorate (locally known as Direktorat Jenderal Bimas Katolik Kemenag RI). The meeting was attended by the department’s officials in Jakarta as well as 400 other participants across the nation via an online platform.
The strategic issue emerging in the meeting is how Church leaders, religious group chiefs, and other Catholic institutions could invest their best efforts within the mandatory one-year period to complete the required legalizations. This concerns how the state, through its Ministry for Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (BPN), would grant official recognition to any property assets owned by the Church, religious groups, and other Catholic institutions.
The problems now emerging are as follows:
- There is only a one-year period to manage and resolve various issues related to land ownership.
- How can the Church, religious groups, and any Catholic institution address this urgency while land ownership has been legally recorded under the name of “others” and not the Church’s bodies, religious groups, or Catholic institutions?
Helpful Solutions to Tackle Issues
Speaking to the audience at the meeting, Catholic Guidance General Director Mr. Suparman gave his moral support for any Church entities, religious orders, and Catholic institutions to take care of everything within the available one-year period as stipulated by the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency. He emphasized, “with our helpful hands to find solutions as needed.”
In Indonesia, it is widely known among certain Catholic people that the Church has frequently made grave mistakes by purchasing land assets and legalizing the property under the name of “individual buyers.”
“What has become a serious hurdle in these issues is the fact that the buyer was sometimes the priest’s ‘best friend,’ family member, or someone else. When all these people are now deceased, a serious legal process emerges. In this matter, a legal process to ‘release’ the name of the proprietor should first be done before changing to the new name of ownership,” explains Mr. Suparman.
“Our agency (i.e., Regional Bimas Katolik Kemenag in every regency) is advised to extend their helpful hands to assist the process,” he adds. Suparman’s remarks referred to the ministerial decree issued by the Indonesian Ministry for Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency Chief No 21/Pnj/KEM-ATR/BPN/VI/2024, appointing Church agencies as legal standing organizations authorized to own property assets: land.
“Our meeting today aims for all parties to understand the decree’s message and its extending consequences,” adds Catholic Affairs Director Dr. Aloma Sarumaha.
Supporting Documents Needed
A recommendation from the Bimas Katolik Kemenag is needed by any Church entities to legalize their property assets in order to obtain a land certificate, explains the ministry’s top official on legal issues. Based on the ministerial decree, these Church entities are authorized to have property rights to own land: Bishop Conference of Indonesia (KWI), diocese, parish, parochial region, seminary, High School of Philosophy & Theology, religious order/congregation, religious association, and Catholic institutions with certain apostolate service works (school, hospital, etc).
Speaking to the audience, Fr. Ary Dianto, Jakarta Archdiocese’s Asset Management Chief, reaffirms that “any Catholic bodies need a decree from the regional Land Office in order to be able to extend requests or to release the right of property ownership from certain individuals to Church agencies,” he said.
“In order to get a ‘decree’ from the Regional BPN Office, our local Bimas Katolik Office is expected to help the process,” confirms Mr. Suparman.
