Profil Ignatius Ismartono SJ

 

I was born in Yogyakarta, Central Java, in 1945. After graduating from Saint Joseph Pangudi Luhur High School in Solo, I entered the Minor Seminary at Mertoyudan before joining the S.J. Novitiate in 1968. I studied philosophy at STF Driyarkara in Jakarta and theology at the Theological Institute in Yogyakarta. I was ordained a priest on December 8, 1976, and assigned to work as pastor at Sukorejo Parish in Central Java. Between 1981 and 1994, I served as chaplain to university students while lecturing on Catholic religion at the University of Indonesia. Afterwards, I worked at the KWI (Indonesian Bishops' Conference) for 15 years in interfaith dialogue and crisis management, including during the 2004 Aceh tsunami. From 2002 to 2007, I was also a member of the advisory board of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Currently, I help as a motivator for "Sahabat Insan" (Friend in Humanity), an organization that cares for outcasts mentioned in Evangelii Gaudium (no. 53):

Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw-away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.

 I also provide spiritual accompaniment to the Talitha Kum Movement in Jakarta. Especially during Easter and Christmas, I confer the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the students of Canisius College.