Good News from the Frontier: Progressive Catholic Mission and Intercultural Dialogue in Uraba, Western Colombia and Manggarai, Eastern Indonesia

Ricardo Vargas Posada, Prof. Dr. Bernard Adeney Risakotta; Dr. Dicky Sofjan

2020 | Disertasi | DOKTOR INTER-RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Disertasi ini melihat peran misionaris perempuan Katolik dalam masyarakat multikultural di wilayah yang dipengaruhi ole kapitalisme neoliberal. Penelitian dilaksanakan di dua tempat yaitu di wilayah Uraba, Kolombia barat dan di wilayah Manggarai, Flores barat, Indonesia bagian timur. Penelitian ini menunjukkan berbagai cara Gereja Katolik menjalankan kembali konsep "misi" di daerah yang jauh dari pusat Gereja yang hidup dalam keragaman etnis dan agama, dan dipengaruhi oleh perbedaan kekayaan dan distribusi tanah yang tidak merata. Kedua tempat ini bisa dibandingkan karena sama-sama mengalami degradasi lingkungan. Penelitian ini mendasarkan diri pada pendekatan metodologi teori kritis untuk menilai hubungan kompleksitas misionaris Katolik dengan wacana perkembangan dan lingkungan dalam masyarakat yang diteliti, baik pada periode kolonial maupun pascakolonial untuk mengukur signifikansi peran misionaris di wilayah pinggiran ini. Penelitian ini berfokus pada peranan perempuan karena karya mereka jarang diakui dalam literatur ilmiah meski mereka memiliki peran penting di antara penduduk asli di daerah perbatasan. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan komparatif untuk melihat beragam cara Gereja Katolik menghadirkan kembali wacana teologis dan praktik pastoral dalam dua konteks yang berbeda. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui pendekatan kualitatif melalui pengamatan dan wawancara partisipan dengan anggota jemaat dan pemimpin masyarakat adat yang diteliti. Selain itu, studi pustaka memberikan masukan berharga. Disertasi ini bertujuan untuk mengisi kesenjangan yang ada dalam studi agama tentang agama dan pembangunan, agensi perempuan dan pengaruh teologi dunia ketiga terhadap masalah sosial dan lingkungan di Amerika Latin dan Asia Tenggara. Saya berpendapat bahwa kerjasama akar rumput antara misionaris dan kelompok masyarakat adat telah berhasil dalam memajukan kepentingan kolektif masyarakat adat dan etnis sambil menghasilkan pertemuan multikultural yang kreatif. Akhirnya, penelitian ini menunjukkan bagaimana wacana dan praktik misi di daerah pinggiran ini menjadi inti Magisterium Gereja di bawah kepemimpinan Paus Francis.

The present dissertation explores the impact that female Catholic missionary congregations have had in multicultural spaces at the margins of neoliberal capitalism in the Uraba region, western Colombia and the Manggarai region, western Flores, eastern Indonesia. It shows the different ways through which the Catholic Church has re-signified the concept of "mission" in frontier spaces characterized by ethnic and religious diversity, and determined by unequal dynamics of wealth and land distribution as well as environmental degradation. The project relies on critical theory for its methodological approach to assess the complex relation of Catholic missionaries with developmental and environmental discourses in the societies studied, both in colonial and postcolonial periods in order to gauge the significance of missionary congregations in these peripheral regions. It focuses on female orders because their work is seldom acknowledged in scholarly literature despite the influential role they have had among indigenous populations in frontier spaces. The research design follows a comparative approach in order to contrast the diverse ways through which the Catholic Church re-signifies its theological discourses and pastoral practices in two different contexts. Qualitative methods are the main source of information. Participant observation and interviews with congregation members and indigenous leaders of the studied societies as well as literature review provided the main input from where conclusions are drawn. The dissertation aims to fill the existing gap in religious studies on religious and development, as well as on women agency and on the influence that third world theologies have had on social and environmental issues in Latin America and Southeast Asia. I argue that grassroots cooperation between missionaries and indigenous groups has been successful in advancing collective interests of indigenous and ethnic communities while generating creative multicultural encounters. Finally, it shows how these peripheral discourses and practices are now penetrating the core of the Church Magisterium under the leadership of Pope Francis.

Kata Kunci : Catholic Mission, Lauritas, SSpS, Indigenous Peoples, New Social Movements, Contextual Theologies, Liberation Theology, Embera, Manggarai, Religious Change, Intercultural Dialogue, Animism, Good Living, Neoliberalism, Development, Environmentality, Laudat