Tribal Mass ‘preserves Church’s cultural wealth’

By Konradus Epa, Bekasi

Women in traditional costume perform a traditional tortor dance during the Mass

The Church needs to preserve cultural practices especially when these are in line with Gospel values, said an Indonesian prelate during a special Mass for Batak people.

Batak culture emphasizes fellowship and mutual help. “This is in line with Catholic teaching,” said retired Archbishop Alfred Gonti Pius Datubara of Medan, North Sumatra during the June 13 Mass in Bekasi, West Java.

More than 1,000 Catholics, mostly tribal Batak, attended the inculturated Mass which included traditional tortor dance and gondang music performed by some 20 people in traditional costume.

Batak songs livened up the three-hour celebration.

“The tortor dance is a dance that welcomes all people without discrimination,” said Archbishop Datubara. Such cultural practices are also the “glue” that helps bind the community together.

“We must make this cultural richness a contribution to the Church in order to worship God,” he said.

The Church also “needs to preserve this cultural wealth so that it will not be gradually eradicated by modern culture,” the prelate added.

Batak people believe that gondang music is a gift from God while the tortor dance invokes blessings from God.

Holding fast to one’s culture is especially important nowadays in a rapidly changing society, says Cosmas Batubara, a politician.

As more people embrace materialism, an inculturated Mass could help remind people of what is positive in their own culture, said the Catholic layman.

Batak culture values bonds of kinship and mutual help, he said.

“People living in big cities need to be reminded of cultural values which are in line with biblical values so that they can make these a foundation for their daily lives,” said Divine Word Father Yoseph Jaga Dawan from St. Michael Church in Kranji.

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