Nearly four decades as one family

The Indonesian Catholic Apostolate in New York (KKI NY) began in 1985, on the initiative of Ibu Yvonne Ellong, Bapak F.X. Paul Polax, Bapak Sugiarto Gunadi, Saudara David Triestanto, Ibu Ninik Lapy and Saudari Olvie Wuaten, who were then living far from home in America. Before that idea took shape, several Catholic families worshipped alongside other Christians at the Oikumene Church, led by Pendeta Alice Hermanus Rampengan. That shared worship rested on a sense of belonging to one nation, one language, and the same Lord Jesus. Even so, they longed for the Eucharist celebrated in Bahasa Indonesia.

By His guidance, in January 1985 Ibu Yvonne Ellong, then a parishioner of St. Michael’s Church in Flushing, New York, together with Romo P. Hardono Hadi, Pr., an Indonesian priest serving at St. Philip and James in the Bronx, discussed whether Mass might be celebrated in Bahasa Indonesia. They had met the year before at a joint service at the Oikumene Church. Out of that conversation a gathering of Indonesian Catholics was formed, later blessed by the local pastor, Msgr. Joseph Greenfelder.

On 30 March 1985, at the home of Ibu Yvonne Ellong at 147-32 Roosevelt Ave, Apt. 3B, Flushing, New York, that gathering celebrated its first Mass in Bahasa Indonesia.

The Mass continued from house to house among the Catholic families of the time, until they agreed to hold it regularly on the fourth Saturday of each month.

It could be sustained thanks to the Indonesian priests then studying at the Jesuit Community in Manhattan and Maryknoll Seminary in upstate New York. Those gatherings proved of wide benefit in strengthening, confirming and deepening the practice of the faith. By common agreement the group took the name KKI — Keluarga Katolik Indonesia.

On 25 October 1986, several members attended the Multi-Ethnic Liturgical Celebration at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jackson Heights, New York, where Bishop Joseph O’Keele, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York, formally recognised KKI. From then on it came under Most Rev. Rene A. Valero, DD, Vicar for immigrants and refugees in Brooklyn & Queens. That same year the committee published the first KKI newsletter in English, and the following year, 1987, Bapak Sugiarto Gunadi began writing it in Bahasa Indonesia.

In 1994, Bishop Thomas Vose Daily of Brooklyn confirmed KKI as an Indonesian Apostolate, an official body under the Catholic Migration Office of the Diocese of Brooklyn & Queens. From that point the initials KKI changed from Keluarga Katolik Indonesia to Kerasulan Katolik Indonesia, the Indonesian Catholic Apostolate, because what had begun as a gathering of Catholic families had grown into a formal apostolate. We come together not only for Mass and for one another’s company, but to glorify God and widen His Kingdom by helping our neighbours, carrying His love, and reaching the Indonesian Catholics who live far from home.

With that recognition came the encouragement to find a permanent place of worship. Bapak Indra Tjahjadi, then vice-chair, together with Romo Alex Wijoyo, SJ and Ibu Yvonne Ellong, approached Msgr. Joseph P. Bynon, pastor of Resurrection Ascension Church. KKI NY was given the use of the chapel for Mass every second Sunday, and of the church and auditorium for larger celebrations whenever it did not clash with the parish’s own schedule. In thanks, KKI NY has given a monthly donation to Resurrection Ascension ever since.

On 6 October 1995, during his apostolic visit to the United States, Pope John Paul II led the Eucharist at Aqueduct Racecourse in New York. Romo Alex Wijoyo, SJ and Ibu Yvonne Ellong represented KKI NY there, with other members alongside them.

KKI NY also took an active part in the coordination meetings led by Msgr. Ronald T. Marino, then director of the Catholic Migration Office, including its 25th Jubilee celebration at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn. That participation strengthened KKI NY’s standing as the Indonesian Catholic community officially recognised by the Catholic Migration Office of the Diocese of Brooklyn & Queens.

By 2011, more than 225 families and young people were registered with KKI NY, some 391 members in all, not counting the families in New Jersey and New Hampshire.

KKI is not a church but a place for Indonesian Catholics to gather, and it has kept growing, reaching into New Jersey and New Hampshire. We are always encouraged to take part in the local parishes where we live. That is KKI’s real mission: to reach out and to belong. However far apart our homes, His love and our sense of one another gather us once a month at the Holy Mass.