| Mission Report: East Timor: August 2007 |
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Joseph Meaney, August 24-30, 2007
East Timor, or Timor-Leste, is located in Asia, but it may surprise you to learn that they have the distinction of being the most Catholic country in the world. I was told by diocesan officials that 98% of the population is baptized Catholic. I just returned from HLI's first pro-life missionary journey to this unique place.
The Portuguese first evangelized the Timorese people in the 16th century. They were gradually driven out of most of their Asian outposts by the Dutch from the 17th to the 19th centuries but maintained themselves in the eastern part of Timor Island. In November 1975, Timor-Leste declared independence from Portugal. Nine days later, surrounding Indonesia invaded with overwhelming military forces and took over the country. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who had just crafted the NSSM 200 population control policy1, told Indonesian President Suharto he accepted the Cold War logic that they were making a preemptive strike on Communism on the island. For the next 24 years a brutal occupation ensued, and the US barely protested the repression that eventually killed over 100,000 Timorese.2
During this period of extraordinary trials, the Catholic Church stood practically alone with the suffering people of East Timor, providing hope in the darkness and as much material help as possible. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, so the resistance in Timor took on a religious dimension. An anti-communist edict by the occupiers required all citizens to adopt one of the officially recognized religions-Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, or Hinduism. Given these choices, the remaining animists in East Timor became Catholic. Irony of ironies, Islamic Indonesia contributed to the completion of Timor's conversion to Catholicism! I was astonished to learn that an 88-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ, which dominates the bay across from the capital city of Dili, was erected by the Indonesians. It was a goodwill gesture during the period they were trying to annex East Timor.
HLI would almost certainly have brought our pro-life efforts to Timor-Leste before now, except for the violence that continues to plague this unfortunate nation. (For example, as I was flying there I saw on airport televisions breaking news of violent political riots, including fatalities and the burning of dozens of homes.) The current US State Department's travel advisory for Timor-Leste urges extreme caution and warns US citizens to defer travel there due to civil unrest.3 Fortunately, my wonderful hosts escorted me everywhere we had to go, and we kept away from dangerous areas. Couples for Christ (CFC), a dynamic international Catholic group founded in the Philippines, has some marvelous representatives in Timor who invited me for their first family life conference. Mon and Tita Santiago are so family oriented, they even brought one of their daughters, her husband, and grandson to be part of the CFC mission team! Pedro and Nina Turquel lovingly welcomed me into their home, showing tremendous Catholic hospitality. Nevertheless, it was a unique experience to see that the house across the street had been burned to a hulk by rioters in the not so distant past.
WARMEST WELCOME EVER TO HLI BY THE TIMOR-LESTE CATHOLIC CHURCHBishop Alberto Ricardo Da Silva of Dili not only met with us, he attended an 8-hour HLI pro-life training day (and sat in the front row the whole time), which I gave for the Catholic clergy. With that kind of leadership, it is no mystery to me why the seminary is filled with priestly vocations, and young religious sisters are everywhere to be seen. The opening Mass of the family life conference was standing-room-only with hundreds more participating by congregating outside the large church and looking in through the doors and windows. Despite the huge crowd, it was heart-rending to see that when the collection baskets went around, very few of the desperately poor people could give more than pennies. (East Timor has adopted the US currency as its national currency-so I was literally looking at US pennies.)
The Timorese culture is very lively. Our pro-life and pro-family talks at the conference entitled, "Christian Families: The Hope of the Church and Society," were interspersed with singing and short skits depicting married life, resisting the devil, and an updated parable of the Good Samaritan. The conference addressed the fact that living Christian/democratic values is a problem, especially for political parties who see violence as an alternative to getting elected fairly. It was a pleasure to speak with the president of the national university and the minister of education who attended the conference. The hall could not hold any more people than the 400 enthusiastic young Timorese and CFC delegates from all over the country. My presentation was translated into Tetum, the most widely spoken Timorese language, but I found that most of the leaders I met could also speak English. Perhaps this is because of the several thousand-principally Australian and New Zealander-peacekeeping troops stationed in East Timor and the fact that many persons go to neighboring Australia. The Timor national television news covered the pro-life conference extensively.
My hosts organized a series of pro-life training days as part of the HLI missionary trip. Going to the National Hospital for one of these training sessions directed to medical personnel was a unique experience. The hospital director graciously welcomed me and rolled out the red carpet. I learned from my audience during the course of that day facts about local health care issues that put Timor-Leste in a class of its own. About 300 Cuban doctors are currently practicing medicine in this small country of one million people. They are far more numerous than Timorese doctors and quite problematic. Later I heard reports of medical malpractice by the Cubans, including charges that they sterilized mothers without their consent and performed clandestine abortions. These doctors are only allowed to leave Cuba if they profess Fidel Castro's ideology, and the rumor is that Communist China pays their salaries. Malaria and Malnutrition are the most common health threats, but efforts against these problems are not making much progress. Dengue Fever, for which there is no protection except preventing mosquito bites, was also breaking out, making me a bit nervous as I rubbed on extra insect repellant... There is clear need for medical improvements-not Socialist medicine and immoral population control.
MARIE STOPES INTERNATIONAL POPULATION CONTROL EXPERTS IN TIMOREast Timor has the unfortunate distinction of being the latest country where Marie Stopes International (MSI) has implanted itself. They arrived in 2006 and have a "Reproductive Health" clinic in Dili, which offers the widest range of birth control with an emphasis on surgical sterilization. The Indonesians had also pushed family planning and sterilization during their occupation. They advertise daily in the newspapers at great expense and spread tendentious population control propaganda. One of their pamphlets claims that the average family in Timor-Leste has 8 children and cannot feed themselves, so MSI is there to help with family planning. Statistics in Timor are largely guesstimates, but the best numbers available show the average family as having only 3.45 children.4 Poverty is certainly a problem in Timor, but the discovery of vast offshore oil deposits in the Timor Sea could make that a thing of the past if the wealth is properly employed. In any case, Marie Stopes is motivated by a desire to propagate abortion and population control, not fighting poverty. Their abortion center in wealthy Vienna is the main establishment HLI Austria contends with to save babies. In Timor, MSI claims to do "post-abortion care." This is a clever tactic, since abortion is illegal in East Timor, but it is quite possible that they sometimes perform actual abortions under the guise of a procedure to clean the womb after "an incomplete abortion." Fortunately, they have few "clients" so far, but they are certain to be malignant advocates of legalizing surgical abortion.
Because of its political troubles, the United Nations, World Bank, and many international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have congregated in Timor-Leste. Their influence is generally bad when it comes to maintaining protection for preborn human life or moral values. I recall that a byproduct of the UN and international presence in the troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo was a dramatic increase in prostitution, including previously non-existent homosexual prostitution. We can only pray that these negative outside influences will soon be kicked out, thanks to a rapid transition to tranquility and prosperity. The Catholic Church will certainly be a big part of the solution to East Timor's problems, and HLI has pledged to support them with our training, materials, and financial help.
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