On the Indonesian island of Flores, Bishop Ewaldus Martinus Sedu recently ordained 16 new priests and 46 transitional deacons for 15 religious orders. Bishop Sedu, 58, was appointed bishop of Maumere, one of four dioceses on the island of 1.8 million, in 2018.
The Camillians, founded by St. Camillus de Lellis in 1582, were blessed with a new priest, two new deacons, “ten first professions, two perpetual professions, 18 renewals of vows, and four new novices” in the diocese, Fides reported.
When the Diocese of Maumere was founded in 2005, from territory of the Archdiocese of Ende, it had 60 diocesan priests and 60 religious-order priests; in 2019, it had 60 diocesan priests and 150 religious-order priests.
The growth in vocations on Flores is not limited to the Diocese of Maumere. The number of priests in the Archdiocese of Ende rose from 164 to 222 between 2005 and 2019; in the Diocese of Larantuka, the number rose from 123 to 139 between 2003 and 2019; and in the Diocese of Ruteng, the number rose from 199 to 279 between 2004 and 2020, despite a scandal involving a former bishop.
