All hail the All hail the mission in the Independent Delegation of Indonesia-Timor Leste. On March 7, 2025, the Superior General, Fr. Mathew Vattamattam and his Council granted the request of the Major Superior, Fr. Valens Agino, for the Delegation to become a new Province named Ave Maria Province. The request came after a long period of preparation, consultation and discernment. Over the years, the Delegation has seen significant growth in terms of its ever-growing personnel, the audacious evangelization platforms in the peripheries and the steady support from all its stakeholders.
The Claretian mission in Indonesia-Timor Leste happened during the term of Fr. Domingo Moraleda, then Provincial Superior of the Philippine Province with the support of Fr. Aquilino Bocos, former Superior General of the Congregation. The idea of opening this new mission originated from the Philippine Province which had opened a new mission in Darwin, Australia in 1983 which included the pastoral care for refugees from Timor Leste. Based on the experience of serving East Timorese refugees in Darwin, the Philippine Provincial Council sought more information in view of a mission outreach in Indonesia, particularly in the province of Timor Leste. At that time, Timor Leste was still under Indonesia. The unfavorable socio-political situation hampered the speedy realization of this missionary intention. The plan to open this new mission was further discerned at the ASCLA conference. In the chronicle written by Fr. Domingo Moraleda, he described the mission in Indonesia-Timor Leste as A New Missionary Frontier for the Claretians of ASCLA.
In 1987, Fr. Domingo Moraleda contacted the Salesian Missionaries who were in Timor Leste at that time. Aided by Divine Providence, he was able to reach the Salesian Superior for Timor Leste , Fr. José Carbonell, SDB. The latter was a good friend of the Claretian Missionaries of the Philippines when he served as Salesian Provincial Superior in the Philippines in the seventies. It was he who facilitated further communication about our missionary desire to work in Timor Leste. Through him, Fr. Domingo Moraleda sent a letter to the Apostolic Administrator of Timor, Mgr. Felipe Ximenes Belo, SDB in September of 1987. Through Fr. Carbonell, the Apostolic Administrator of Timor, sent a letter of invitation to Fr. Moraleda to work in the Local Church of Timor Leste in January 1988. This invitation was wholeheartedly accepted by the Philippine Provincial Council and ASCLA was ready to send Claretians for the mission.
The Province assigned Frs. Manuel Suñaz and Orly Cantillon from the Philippines and Fr. James Nadakal from India as pioneer missionaries. On May 5, 1990, these three missionaries with Fr. Moraleda left for Jakarta and arrived in Dili on May 10, 1990. They were welcomed by Bishop Belo who brought them to Suai Parish, Kovalima. The name of this Suai parish is Ave Maria Parish. From the center of the Ave Maria parish, Suai, they were permitted to expand and start a new parish in Fohorem. Due to the rapid development of the mission and vocation, this new mission became a dependent delegation under the Province of the Philippines. And on April 25, 2005, it became an Independent Delegation of Indonesia – Timor Leste. Currently, it has 177 members spread across ten dioceses in Indonesia and two dioceses in Timor Leste…
