In this file photo, parishioners wear red outfits during a Mass to celebrate the Lunar New Year on Feb. 8, 2016 at St. Joseph Parish in Matraman, East Jakarta. Chinese New Year usually falls on a different date each year. (Photo by Katharina R. Lestari/ucanews.com)
To fast or to feast? This is the dilemma many Chinese Catholics face over Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 16 this year, a day known in Indonesia as Imlek, as families gather to celebrate across Asia with banquets and parties.
But the most festive day this year on the Chinese calendar is also the first Friday of Lent. Some dioceses in Indonesia have shown signs of a greater cultural understanding this year.
While Ash Wednesday, which this year fell on Feb. 14, is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics from age 18 until age 59, the norms concerning abstinence from meat on Fridays during Lent are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards. Hence, some dioceses have issued flexible policies allowing Catholic Indonesians of Chinese decent to celebrate Imlek before, after or on Feb. 16.
Archbishop Agustinus Agus of Pontianak, who is based in West Kalimantan, where many Chinese Indonesians live, granted dispensation from the Lenten discipline of abstinence. He urged them to abstain from eating meat but described this as their choice and said they could abstain on another day.
"If someone wants to eat pork, go ahead," he said.
"The most important thing in my mind is that local Catholic Chinese Indonesians have penitent hearts. Penitence is not something that is only shown during the Lenten season."
He said his archdiocese has incorporated Imlek into many church activities.
"The people of God can hold Masses to celebrate Imlek on [Feb. 16], with joy and tolerance and to share good fortune with the poor, suffering, marginalized and disabled," Archbishop Agus told ucanews.com on Feb. 13.
"Prayers of the Way of the Cross can be held individually or in a group or in a parish on another day."
Imlek, or Spring Festival, should be celebrated as a moment to thank God and promote brotherhood among society, he added.
"So it's a festive occasion and social elements must be paid attention to," he said.
However, others said it was important that Chinese-Indonesian Catholics not forget the meaning of Lent.
"We remind them that the first Friday of Lent is a day when Catholics are required to abstain from meat, and that the Prayer of the Way of the Cross is held that day," said Father Vincentius Adi Prasojo, secretary of Jakarta Archdiocese.
As the Imlek celebrations traditionally last for 15 days they should not have too much trouble finding another day on which to enjoy a festive feast, he said.
In the Diocese of Bogor in West Java, Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur said the rites associated with Lent should take precedence over Imlek on this special day, even for local Chinese-Indonesians.
"Catholics are still obliged to abstain from meat on the first Friday of Lent in accordance with the Lenten season rule," he said.
"Imlek can be celebrated the previous evening [Feb. 15 ] or the morning after," he said.
He said this was in response to a flood of inquiries from Chinese Indonesians.
"They understand that the main point is that they act like Catholics," he said.
Valeri Akiang, a Chinese Indonesian from Stella Maris Parish in Pontianak's Siantan, agreed that both days should be respected.
"I will still celebrate Imlek because this has been a tradition in my family for a long time," the 53-year-old laywoman said. Her parents are Confucians.
"But I will also follow the Catholic rule, which is to abstain from meat and fast on that Friday, even though it coincides with the feast," she said.