During our vacation with elementary school friends, I decided to go to the church on Sunday morning. My friend suggested to go to Ganjuran Church with its unique decoration that's worthy to visit. Only 3 of us joined with 4 of our female teachers on that Sunday. The mass would begin at 07:00, so we had to leave the guest house at 06:00. I felt so sleepy, wanna to sleep longer as I slept late on the day before, around 02:00 o'clock.
Our teacher was ready earlier than the time, lucky we were on time, so they didn't need to wait for us. It took around half an hour to reach The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located at Bantul, 20 km to the South from Yogyakarta which was established in 1924 by Schmutzer (Dutch) family. It's the first time I visited this Roman Catholic church, I heard that there were some miracles happened to some visitors including my mom. Our car had to park on the left side of the church's area, on the way to the church, there were many stalls sold holy things such as rosary, bible, medal, statues, candles, etc. It's attempted to stop for shopping, but we focused to go to the church first.
The gate was like temple decoration, and the church formed as 'joglo' (Javanese home) decorated with Javanese carving. It's beautiful especially the ceiling with its yellow light illumination. Only half of the capacity occupied at that time, maybe it's still too early. I brought our teacher to the middle of the church at the front seat, but they preferred to sit at the middle of the left wing behind the choir. They said that they were not fluent with the language. The mass would be held using Javanese Language. The mass would last for around 2 hours.
During the mass, I had difficulty to follow it well, I could not reply or follow the choir as there was no book to guide us as we use to have Indonesian mass. They should provide Javanese book for guests as there were many visitors come, and they would like to join the mass actively. Lucky that the Catholic mass ceremony is the same everywhere, although we could not reply, but we understood the meaning and the ordered.
The church complex was quite huge, behind the church were St. Elizabeth hospital, abbey and orphanage. A replica of Hindu's temple (Prambanan) for adoration was at the right side of the church beside the chapel. People could lit the candle and put some fruits in front of the temple. They also could wash their face or drink the holy water from the taps next to the temple. One of our teacher washed her face with the holy water then she prayed fervently in front of the temple. Two rows of pine trees were lined beautifully flanking the temple. At the back and right side wall were full decorated with 15 Stations of the Cross reliefs.
After the mass, we took some pictures in front off the altar, with its beautiful golden carving. The angels were displayed worship with its Javanese hat such as in puppet show. Maria was displayed as Javanese queen carrying Jesus while Joseph as the Javanese King were also wearing Javanese clothes. I like the dramatic manifestation decoration to accommodate Javanese Culture. It made people in that area easier to symbolize their beliefs.
We had drinks tea and eating snacks such as traditional steam bread and the yummy crispy peanut brittle at a small hut outside the church, we returned to the church's area at "pendopo" (open hall) to wait for our friends. There was a wide area with benches in front of the church. Some of us went to the toilets next to the bathroom behind the "pendopo". Not waiting too long our friends arrived bringing some snack boxes to fill our stomach before having lunch.
I got a chance to take picture at the adoration cave for Maria at the corner of the church. The status was in black color with Javanese costume. Many candles lit in front of the statue, people could kneel or sit on the bench to pray. Here was not as crowded as the temple for adoration. My friends who just arrived took some pictures in the church before we continue our trip to the other place. A pilgrimage place with Javanese nuance is worth visiting especially for the Catholics. Schmutzer family were success to uplift economic condition of the society around the church. Ganjuran church plays an important role as the history of Javanese enculturation process of the Christian faith.
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