JAKARTA (AsiaNews): The Church in Indonesia mourned the death of Bishop Vincentius Sutikno Wisaksono of Surabaya, one of the most authoritative figures in evangelisation and community development in the world’s most populous Muslim majority country.
Bishop Wisaksono died on August 11 at the age of 69 at the Paulo Catholic Hospital in Surabaya, East Java, where he had been hospitalised for prostate cancer for some time.
The bishop represented a model of faith and devotion in the mission, who enabled the local Church to develop rapidly, and who undertook numerous local initiatives—some dating back decades—that left their mark on bishops and seminarians alike.
He set up a centre to train young men for the priesthood, inspired by his own spirituality, called Tahun Rohani Oriented Seminaries, or simply Tor Seminaries.
Thanks to his work and that of other bishops in East Java, Tor Seminary opened in Lawang, dedicated to Pope St. John
XXIII, becoming a stage for candidates to the seminary and future priestly ordination.
It draws young people from 10 dioceses: eight on Kalimantan Island, plus the dioceses of Malang and Bali.
An ethnic Chinese, Bishop Wisaksono was born Oei Tik Haw in Surabaya in 1953, originally from Perak parish, in the city centre.
He began his studies at the Garum Minor Seminary in Blitar [East Java], followed by theological studies at the Saint Paul Major Seminary in Yogyakarta. After seven years, he was ordained a priest by then Bishop Jan Antonius Klooster, in January 1982.
On 3 April 2007 he was appointed bishop of Surabaya and his episcopal consecration was celebrated on June 27 of the same year by the then Archbishop of Jakarta, Julius Cardinal Darmaatmadja, and concelebrated with Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo and Bishop Herman Pandoyoputro,.
Bishop Wisaksono’s most significant contribution to the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference was in the field of finances, harshly criticising some of its support for “festive” events, which he deemed inappropriate or fruitless.
Although he was sometimes overruled and some of the events were approved despite his objections, he managed to pull them off successfully.
