The Muslim head of a West Java district has laid the first cornerstone of a Catholic mission station that he had previously rejected due to pressure from Muslim hardliners. Dedi Mulyadi also signed the inscription of the Saint Mary Mission Station, part of Holy Cross Parish in Purwakarta, together with Father Paulus Wirasmohadi Soerjo, vicar general of Bandung diocese. “A worship house is built not to convert other believers to our own religion but to grow the devoutness of congregations so as to bring them closer to God who created them,” Mulyadi said in his speech to some 200 Catholics. In July 2010, a court in West Java ruled in favor of the Catholics in a dispute with local residents and authorities over building the mission. Construction stalled after the district head revoked building permits under pressure from Muslim hardliners. Related reports Court ruling favors Church appealIndonesian hardliners attack worship houses IJ12921.1637