What’s it like growing up Catholic in the world’s largest Muslim nation? To find out, Sandpiper caught up with Indonesian-born Sr Hartini, Fr Addin and Fr Adi, all now serving in ministry in our Diocese. Their stories suggest there are lessons to be learned from our close northern neighbours, and they might not be what you’d expect.
Until recently, all three of these faithful servants were based in the Shepparton area, an improbable concentration of Indonesians, given the relatively small diaspora. Around 0.4% of Australia’s population is Indonesian-born, and less than 4% of Indonesians identify as Catholic.
Sr Augustina Suhartini FJC, from Sleman Yogyakarta, is the newest of the three, having arrived in February 2025. She was sent by her Order, the Faithful Companions of Jesus, to continue their presence in Shepparton and serves in pastoral ministry. Sheppartonians might have seen her riding her bicycle around town. A teacher, Sr Hartini has served in the eastern islands of Indonesia, Manila and London.
Fr Addin Doe RCJ, from Ende, Flores, was formed at seminaries in Flores and Sumba in Indonesia and later Cavite, in the Philippines. He came to Australia in August 2024 and now serves as Assistant Priest in the Shepparton area, residing in community with fellow Rogationists at St Brendan’s, Shepparton.
Fr Adi Indra, originally from Jakarta, was working as a software engineer in Perth when he felt called to the priesthood. After studying at Corpus Christi College, Carlton and the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he was ordained a priest of Sandhurst in 2021 and is now Assistant Priest at Wodonga.
A worldly trio, they each bring different experiences and unique gifts, but share a worldview shaped by faith, culture and life in Indonesia. They also share a sense of solidarity that comes from being migrants in Australia, enjoying the opportunity to converse in Bahasa Indonesia, not the mother tongue of their hometowns, but the official language that unites the 287 million Indonesians who speak over 700 dialects.
Their shared background includes Pancasila, Indonesia’s founding philosophy, formulated at independence in 1945 to hold together a diverse nation. Its principles – belief in the one and only God, just and civilised humanity, unity, human dignity, consensus building and social justice – shape public life and have, in their own way, formed these three ministers alongside their Catholic faith.
Christianity in Indonesia has a long and complex history, with the Catholic faith taking hold in the 16th century through Portuguese and, later, Dutch influence. For these three, though, the story is much more recent. Their grandparents were not Christian, so their families’ journey to faith is still in living memory.
“I remember my baptism clear as day,” says Fr Adi, who was baptised with his whole family when he was almost seven years old. “My family has Chinese ancestry, so we were non-practising Buddhists,” he explains. “My grandmother converted to Catholicism in her 60s and then led my family, and many of her siblings and friends to the Church.”
Sr Hartini’s parents were raised Muslim. “My father converted after meeting missionary priests from the Netherlands, and my mother became Catholic when she married him,” she says. They went on to raise nine children in a devout Catholic home, with two entering religious life.
Fr Addin’s story shows a similar fluidity. His Muslim father converted when he married Fr Addin’s Catholic mother but, as a child, Fr Addin was nearly raised Muslim. “I spent my early childhood preparing to be a Muslim,” says Fr Addin. “My paternal grandfather’s brother had nine daughters and no sons, so he wanted to adopt me because, in our culture, inheritance laws work better if you have a son,” explains Fr Addin. The grand plan derailed, however, when six-year-old Addin refused to return with his Great Uncle after a visit to his parents. “I hid myself so well that eventually my Uncle went home alone.”
Fr Addin spent the rest of his childhood with his Catholic parents, attending Catholic schools with his siblings, and eventually being ordained a Catholic priest. This easy co-existence of religions, even within families, is not unusual in Indonesia. At his ordination, Muslims and Catholics celebrated together. “Everyone was happy,” he says, noting that his would-be adoptive sisters still proudly display photos of their ‘little brother’, the priest, in their Muslim homes.
“Indonesians – Muslim or Christian, we believe that we believe in the same God,” explains Fr Addin, echoing the first principle of Pancasila: ‘Belief in the One and Only God’.
Fr Adi’s own parish began thanks to a Muslim neighbour who offered his garage to Catholic missionaries. That “garage church” grew into a thriving parish where his family was baptised. “He believed it was still service to God,” Fr Adi says. “In Indonesia, the default assumption is that everyone is a person of faith, regardless of what that faith is. It’s natural to speak openly about spiritual matters and about God in public life, without hesitation or tiptoeing.”
Arriving in Australia, the contrast was striking. “I’d never heard the phrase ‘Bible basher’ before,” says Fr Adi. “The idea that the media and society could be so dismissive of religion was astonishing to me,” he said.
Fr Adi, who had a career before joining the seminary, explains that it can be very difficult for overseas clergy to adjust to the relatively small parish numbers and quiet Australian style of worship. “In my home parish in Indonesia, there's always around 500,” he explains.
He was also surprised by recorded music at Mass. “Back home, there are too many music ministry volunteers,” he laughs. “The priest almost has to fight them off!”
Fr Addin misses the strong lay involvement, where music and even liturgical dance are part of worship – prayer expressed through local culture. “If you’ve been to a Samoan Mass or the Filipino Sinulog, it’s similar,” he says.
Yet all three are quick to recognise the depth of faith in Australia. Through hospital visits and pastoral care, Sr Hartini observes a deep faith in those she ministers to. “People are very close to God,” she says. She visits anyone who asks, not only Catholics. “Why should I distinguish?” she adds simply. “It’s like Catholic schools; half the children come up for a blessing, not communion, it’s a good thing.”
From his time as a school chaplain, Fr Adi believes young Australians are searching. “There is a hunger for spirituality, it’s just hidden,” he says.
In the end, their stories point to something larger; this meeting of cultures reveals the universality of the Catholic Church: one faith, lived in many ways, across nations and generations.
NOTE: The Catholic Church views the monotheism of Islam as a shared belief in the one, true God, the Creator and sustainer of all things. While noting significant differences in the understanding of God's nature, particularly the rejection of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus by Islam, the Church affirms that Muslims and Catholics "together... adore the one merciful God"