Disclaimer: this post is biased towards the Roman Catholic religion and Christianity. However, I promise you: no marketing.
At the time of this post writing, I have spent 13 years in Bandung. 13 years is also about the time I have officially become a Roman Catholic, despite being follower of Jesus from even before. Just recently I reached an importance milestone in my faith journey, hence this post.
2012: Baptism
When I moved to Bandung in 2012, I spared no time for preparing to marry my current wife, Yunnie. Under that circumstance, one prerequisite for me was being baptized. For an adult to be baptized in Catholic, one must undergo weekly classes for one year, with almost no absences. The problem was, that one year course would have just half-completed on January 2013, my wedding day. Pak Stefanus, my teacher, gave me an exception: I was allowed to be baptized mid-journey (to fulfill the requirement for the marriage), but I had to promise to complete the course like everyone else in the same class. I kept my promise.
A few years later, my mom-in-law got baptized, followed by my wife Yunnie (you read it right, her mom graduated first).
2014: The Kowalskis
When I first came to Bandung, I had a dream like many other fresh graduates: becoming rich from a technological startup. I created KIRI (now at https://projectkiri.id) to help people navigating Bandung using angkot (public minibus). It didn’t really took off financially, despite being still alive today and some number of users using it (and reporting to me when it’s down). However, the most interesting thing was from there I got to know another important persons in my life: The Kowalskis (https://gokowalskis.com/).
The husband, Waldemar Kowalski, used my KIRI app and submitted a feedback through our feedback form. At first I looked down on it because at that time some alay Indonesians tend to use bule (westerner) name as an alias to look cool. It turned out that Waldemar was an actual westerner, a pastor, as well as an experienced engineer. We agreed to meet at Miss Bee Providore café in Bandung, along with our wives. Waldemar and his wife Rosemarie asked us what we want to be prayed upon, and we answered: a child. At that time we had difficulties in getting a child. We then prayed together to God.
Not a year later, Yunnie became pregnant and long story short we had D, as pictured below. I still do weekly zoom with Waldemar and some other friends for bible study.
2018: Confirmation, and First Encounter with Bishop
In 2018, I and Yunnie received the confirmation sacrament. I was tasked to create a video about the class journey, and here it is below. The music for this was titled “Hidup Ini Adalah Kesempatan” which translates to “This Life is a Chance (To Serve God)”, and turned out to give strong impact for me in the upcoming years.
From there, I knew Fenmeos, another faithful Catholic who was also an engineer. It was also the first time I stood close to the bishop, Mgr. (Monsignor) Anton.
Pictured below is Yunnie (and little P in her belly) being confirmed by the bishop. I could not find the picture of me with during this ceremony, but I swear that I was there too, also confirmed.
2022: Heading The IT Bureau
In 2019-2020, COVID-19 pandemic started and everyone worked from home. Late 2021, Pak Wisnu, the current Head of IT Bureau in Diocese of Bandung of that time contacted me. He was looking for his successor. Out of several persons he offered, only me who was courageous enough to take the role, so he passed the baton to me. It was an unpaid position (despite later I was paid with something else great), but life was good at that time. I have double job and working in IT and higher education sector was one of the most flexible jobs to do from home. I gathered the team members, and some of us risked against COVID-19 to attend the inauguration. One of the team was Fenmeos, whom I knew during the confirmation process earlier. Mgr. Anton himself did the inauguration. In his speech, he thanked us for our willingness to serve, but also reminded us to not leave our family behind.
I enjoyed my first few months of serving the Diocese. Having about 1-2 year working from home, going back and forth to the Diocese office and meeting people was fun. I also enjoyed solving problems one step at a time.
One of my priorities at that time was upgrading the SIMU (Sistem Informasi Manajemen Umat), the database system for parishioners of the Bandung Diocese. The SIMU system was built a few years ago, but infrastructure-wise it was not so well-maintained. The most visible symptom was the label “Not Secure” when the app was opened in modern web browsers, due to the lack of HTTPS certificate. Easy to solve for engineers, but it turned out to be more than a technical issue. We needed a professional and a contract to work on that. We also had to collaborate between the Diocese, owner of the server, and web developer. For that, we also needed an active MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) and an MoA (Memorandum of Agreement), which turned out to be expired at that time. I talked with several people, lobbied several people, learned the Roman Catholic organization structure, reminded people, and then finally made it work.
In 2 December 2022, a day after my birthday, we had this MoA signing ceremony between Father Samong (Curia Secretary) and Dr. Nugraheni (Dean of Faculty of Science & Technology, Unpar). It was during one of the worst time of the pandemic. In the picture below, A was joining through Zoom because he was infected with COVID-19 and in isolation.
2023-2024: Keeping The Engine Running
Then, COVID-19 gradually faded away. It was a joy for most people. Frankly speaking, not much for me. During the pandemic, I could go to the Diocese office once a week. When it faded away, The paid job required me to go to the office more often, hence I had less time for the Diocese. Also, as I networked with more people in the Diocese, they invited me to join their different (offline) activities. Part of me said that I would love to help, but the other part said that I have limited time and energy. I also wanted to spend quality time with my own family, and even alone time of myself.
I am glad that I have Aldo and his wife Magda, who kept the engine running. He helped me continuing the SIMU progress. I still attended to some offline events. I am also glad that within the Diocese office there was Pak Black, Mas Yoseph, and Mas Yogi who were avid administrators of SIMU.
Aside from the IT stuffs, 2024 were also eventful for the Catholics in Indonesia. The Pope visited Indonesia and held a mass in Gelora Bung Karno stadium Jakarta. For some people, it’s a war on the (free) ticket. I was actually entitled for a ticket thanks to my position in the Diocese. However, I regretfully did not take it as I had so many homeworks at work, aside from my responsibilities of taking care of the two kids. We did not have a maid or nanny, hence the responsibility was completely on us.
However, in 2024 I participated in a fundraising event that converted kilometers in running, walking, and cycling, to money for a cause. Our team was not the highest earner, but I managed to get a prize of Jam Tangan Paus (Pope’s watch). The Casio watch worn by the Pope during his visit to Indonesia became viral because it was so simple and inexpensive, and people compared it to watches used by some lavish religious leaders.
Late 2024, there were preparation for new period of comittee. I decided to formally stop serving for the Diocese, and handed over to a younger generation. Aldo, who helped me since 2022, agreed to be the next Head of IT. Aldo built his team, and I submitted the names to the Diocese. I collected the old team and the new team in an informal breakfast at Jalan Braga.
January 2025: A Month of Blessings
Somehow in early 2025, I and my family had many encounters with Mgr. Anton.
My son D, filled with confidence, volunteered himself to serve in the World Child Mission Day mass in the Bandung Cathedral, led by Mgr. Anton himself. Long story short, below is him giving the offering to Mgr. Anton, screen captured from Bandung Diocese Youtube channel.
After the mass ended, Mgr. Anton walked around and Y asked him to take a picture with our daughter P. I was reluctant to be in the picture at first, but Yunnie insisted. So here it is: Mgr. Anton, P, and me.
The culmination happened on 24 January, during the inauguration event of the new committee. The new members were inaugurated and it was said that some of the former members would be given a certificate of appreciation from Mgr. Anton. I registered for the event and attended. Again in his speech, Mgr. Anton reminded the new members to be fair in time and focus between serving God and the family.
To my surprise, 4 people as representatives were called to go forward and personally receive the certificate from Mgr. Anton himself, and my name was there! I walked upfront, still shaking, but very grateful. Especially because Mgr. Anton himself looked me in the eye and said “Terima kasih, Pak Pascal!” (thank you, Pascal). This was much nicer than that time when I shook hand with one of Indonesia vice president, but what he did was look at his staff and asked “who are these guys, again?”.
Epilog
What happens after this for me? I still owe some unfinished projects with the Diocese, and will continue working on that with the new team. However, I will focus more on my family, especially that my son D will be taking the first communion classes for the next 6 months.
Also coincidentally in today’s bible study with Waldemar and friends, we studied 1 Corinthians 12. We talked about how different people receives different gifts from God, and the importance of making use of those gift for the greater good.
About the new team, it is even stronger than before. Let us pray for them to serve well. For the greater glory of God, or in latin: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
