Hi Alex —
I'm guessing my old compadre Wil is referring to me when he says 'informative Catholic' ... there used to me more of us.
My name is Alex and I have been travelling around the world for 6 months.
Places? Where from? Where to? How long? Best place? Japan? ... Don't feel pressurised or anything ...
I need to know more information about the religion in this country.
Well, basically, there's this big bloke called 'God' ... how deep d'you wanna get into this?
Good to see you!
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From what I can glean off wiki, East Timor was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century, which explains the presence of Catholicism. The country was invaded by Indonesia in 1975.
'East Timorese
animist belief systems did not fit with Indonesian (I think Islamic) beliefs, resulting in mass conversions to Christianity.'
This is intriguing, as I'm not sure what Indonesia's monotheism actually is, and why animist beliefs should lead to a preference for Catholicism, which is also monotheist. I could speculate, but I'm going to try and hunt up more stuff.
The Catholic population rose from 20% at the start of the Indonesian occupation, the figure was 95% ten years later.
Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was a prominent advocate for human rights, and many priests and nuns risked their lives in defending citizens from military abuses. Pope John Paul II's 1989 visit to East Timor brought the country much-needed media attention. He spoke against abuses in his sermon (avoiding naming the Indonesian authorities as responsible). Both Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, two leading East Timorese activists for peace and independence, received the Nobel Peace Prize for ""their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".
Seems the Church has been embracing the message of social justice put forward in the New Testament — That 'big bloke' I mentioned above had a Son who was seriously into human rights — so they're doing something right there.
Usually everyone thinks we're in the wrong, so that makes a nice change.
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As I walk along my London suburban stret to catch the train to work, the apple- and cherry-blossoms are coming out. This time last year I visited Japan and saw them bloom in Kyoto. There, and a few days in Thailand was my first journey beyond the West.
Lesson learned: People are the same the world over, and basically, very nice ...
Enjoy your travels.
Assuming you're younger than Wil and I (we have senior citizens 'grouch' rights here at IO) may I say travel, learn, grow and be happy.
