Biji yang jatuh ke tanah subur dua puluh tahun lalu, kini telah berbuah sepuluh kali lipat.
Pada tanggal 16 Oktober 1999, KKIH berdiri atas prakarsa Romo Paul Kahan SVD dan Harry Kumala karena motivasi kerinduan dari 17 orang (plus 4 anak-anak) untuk bisa misa berbahasa Indonesia. Kala itu misa masih sebulan sekali, berpindah dari rumah ke rumah anggota.
Setahun sesudahnya, atas kebaikan Paroki St. Cyril of Alexanfria, kita diizinkan misa setiap Sabtu pagi. Dalam upaya mencari tempat tumbuh yang lebih mapan, Pengurus diantar oleh Diana Selamihardja bertemu dengan Romo Mike Carmody, pastor paroki St. Catherine of Siena. Pengurus juga menjumpai Uskup Vincent Rizzotto untuk memperkenalkan KKIH.
Puji Tuhan sejak tahun 2001 KKIH bisa mengadakan misa rutin di SCS. Keberadaan kita di SCS dikukuhkan oleh surat Uskup Agung Joseph Fiorenza kepada Romo Mike.
Pada tahun 2003, kita resmi diterima sebagai komunitas ke enam yang tergabung dalam komunitas Asia di AGH. Sejak itu, kita aktif terlibat dalam penyelenggaraan Misa Asia setiap tahun.
Sepuluh tahun pertama adalah masa pertumbuhan awal bagi kita. Kita sering merasakan ketidak-nyaman dalam bertumbuh karena belum adanya Romo pembimbing tetap, berkurangnya anggota karena pindah tugas, adanya perbedaan pandangan tentang bagaimana dan ke mana arah pertumbuhan organisasi.
Dalam periode ini, kita mendapatkan dukungan dari beberapa imam SVD Indonesia yang kebetulan bertugas misionaris di Houston, di antaranya Romo Benignus Wego dan Romo Pius Lawe. Sekalipun demikian, kita sering mendatangkan imam dari luar state untuk memimpin misa.
Pada awal dekade kedua, Tuhan mengabulkan doa kita. Setelah pembimbing oleh Romo Paul yang dipindah tugaskan ke Dallas, Romo John Taosan diterima sebagai Romo chaplain diosesan di AGH yang sekaligus merangkap tugas menjadi pembimbing tetap kami.
Rosario bulanan yang seringnya dihadiri para ibu, dibimbing teratur bergantian antara Romo John dan Romo Siprianus Ola Rotok SVD. Suster Jude beberapa kali membantu bina iman anak-anak yang semakin banyak jumlahnya pada Minggu KKIH.
Penyelenggaraan Bina Iman terpadu (anak-anak-remaja-dewasa) bulanan sudah semakin sulit diakomodir dalam perumahan karena jumlahnya. Syukurlah pada tahun 2015, atas kebaikan Romo Tom Lam, KKIH diizinkan menggunakan fasilitas Epiphany untuk bina iman setiap bulan.
Selanjutnya, komunitas ini memasuki awal kehidupan baru pada bulan Desember 2014. Persisnya kala Pengurus, Romo John, yang difasilitasi Patricia dan Neville Henry menyampaikan gagasan masa depan KKIH yang semakin bertumbuh kepada AGH. Ibarat biji yang telah bersemi dan siap untuk ditanam di tanah yang subur.
Atas restu dari Uskup George Sheltz, akhirnya organisasi kita terdaftar resmi sebagai organisasi nirlaba oleh Pemerintah Texas, dengan nama Indonesian Catholic Community of Houston. Semuanya ini dimaksudkan agar kita dapat secara lebih efektif merespon dan menyalurkan bantuan kepada gereja tertinggal di luar Houston.
Pertumbuhan KKIH akhirnya menyentuh kelompok mahasiswa dan karyawan muda karena populasi kelompok ini memekar dan memerlukan perhatian khusus (2018). Program “Homecoming” diselenggarakan untuk memberikan ruang dan peluang bagi para mahasiswa untuk saling berbagi pengalaman akan tantangan mereka dalam mempertahankan iman katolik di tengah kesibukan kuliah. Kelompok karyawan muda didorong untuk mengikuti program AGH melalui Café Catholica. Romo John seringkali menyempatkan duduk semeja dengan mereka dalam acara Ramah Tamah seusai misa.
Eksistensi KKIH semakin terlihat menonjol dalam lingkup AGH, tidak hanya dalam penyelenggaraan acara tahunan Misa Asia. KKIH ikut memeriahkan Fall Festival St. John the Baptist (sejak 2015), perayaan Epiphany Day di Paroki Epiphany of the Lord (sejak 2016), dan Heritage Festival di Paroki Angela Merici (2019). Beberapa anggota kami aktif dalam kegiatan paroki masing-masing sebagai anggota koor, katekis, EM, misdinar, sakristan, Knight of Columbus, penasihat keuangan dan karya pelayanan lain.
Di samping itu KKIH hadir aktif dalam komunitas Indonesia di KJRI. Banyak anggota KKIH yang menjadi motor penggerak kegiatan sosial – BKKIH, Diaspora dan Indonesian American Chamber of Commerce.
KKIH terpanggil untuk memikul tanggung jawab yang lebih besar di masa mendatang. Komunitas kita mendapatkan giliran menjadi koordinator penyelenggaraan 25 tahun Misa Asia (2020). Kita ditunjuk sebagai tuan rumah Jambore KKI USA-Canada (2021).
Komunitas kita telah, sedang dan akan terus tumbuh dan berkembang di tanah yang subur ini. Semuanya ini terjadi karena belas kasih Allah yang menggerakkan tangan-tangan AGH, para imam, donatur dan banyak awam sukarelawan.
Semoga berkat Allah terus menyemangati kita semua untuk ikut berperan aktif dalam mewartakan Kabar Gembira tidak terbatas pada Gereja lokal tetapi pada masyarakat di mana kita tinggal.
Merayakan 20 tahun ulang tahun KKIH/ICCH: 27 Oktober 2019
Dirangkum: Fadjar Budhijanto, Irwan Hidayat, Andrew Huang, Tantra Invedy, Harry Kumala, Kathleen Sendjaja, Djoni Sidarta, Frankie-Windra Sugiaman, Christian Tan, Romo John Taosan.
The seed that fell into fertile soil twenty years ago, now has grown and produced ten folds.
On October 16, 1999, the Indonesian Catholic Community of Houston was established as an initiative taken by Father Paul Kahan SVD and Harry Kumala, which resulted from the desire of 17 people (plus 4 children) to have mass in Indonesian. At the beginning, the mass was held from house to house.
One year after, Saint Cyril of Alexandria Parish generously allowed us to have Indonesian Mass every Saturday morning. In the efforts to find a better place to grow, the Officers facilitated by Diana Selamihardja met with Father Mike Carmody, the parish priest of St. Catherine of Siena (SCS). The Officers also introduced our community to Bishop Vincent Rizzotto.
Praise the Lord, we have been allowed to have bimonthly mass in SCS since 2001. Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza confirmed our presence at SCS in his letter to Father Mike.
In 2003, we were formally accepted as the sixth Asian community in the Archdiocese Galveston-Houston (AGH). Since then, we have actively involved in the annual Asian Mass celebration.
The first decade was the initial growing phase for us. We often felt the growing pain since we did not have any priest formally assigned to guide us, many of the key members transferred overseas, and there were some disagreements over how and where we should direct the organizational growth.
During this period, we received support from some Indonesian SVD priests who happened to have missionary work in Houston, such as Father Benignus Wego and Father Pius Lawe. But we often had to fly in priests from out of states to preside our mass.
At the beginning of the second decade, God answered our prayers. After Father Paul left to his new post in Dallas, Father John Taosan was accepted to work as a diocesan priest at the AGH and assigned as a chaplain and the pastor for our community.
Monthly morning rosary, that mostly ladies attend, have been interchangeably visited by Father John and Father Siprianus Ola Rotok. For sometimes Sister Jude helped to catechize the growing children population during our Sunday gathering.
Our growing monthly integrated faith formation (children, youth and adults) became more difficult to accommodate in any household. Thanks to God, Father Tom Lam generously allow us to use the Epiphany of the Lord facility for our monthly faith formation.
Furthermore, our community entered a new era of life in December 2014. Precisely when the Officers and Father John, facilitated by Patricia and Neville Henry proposed ideas over the future of our growing community to the AGH. It is like a seedling that is ready to be transferred to the fertile soil.
After the blessing from Bishop George Sheltz of the AGH, our organization was officially registered as a not-for-profit organization by the state of Texas, with the name known as the Indonesian Catholic Community of Houston. The main objective is to enable us to effectively respond to and help the marginal churches outside Houston.
The growth of ICCH finally touches our college students and young professionals, since this particular population keeps growing and needs special attention (2018). The Homecoming program is meant to provide the opportunity for college students to share how they are challenged to hold their Catholic faith in the midst of their hectic college schedules. The Young Professionals group is established and encouraged to attend the AGH program called Café Catholica. Father John often sits with them during the social gathering after the mass.
The ICCH presence became more observable within the AGH, not only during the annual Asian Mass, but also in other ways. We are also involved in the Fall Festival of Saint John the Baptist (since 2015), Feast of Epiphany Day in Epiphany of the Lord Parish (since 2016), and Heritage Festival in Angela Merici (2019). Some of our members actively participate in their local parishes as members of choir, catechists, EM, altar servers, sacristans, Knight of Columbus and financial committee and other ministries.
We are also actively present among the Indonesian community in the Indonesian Consulate General. Many of our members hold key positions in the social organization – BKKIH, Diaspora and Indonesian American Chamber of Commerce.
ICCH is called to hold a bigger responsibility in the future. Our community will chair for the upcoming 25th Asian Mass (2020). We are also preparing ourselves to host a Jamboree for the Indonesian Catholic Community of USA and Canada (2021).
Our community was, is and will be continuously growing in this fertile soil. All of this happened because of the blessing from God who has moved the hands of the Archdiocese, the priests, donators, and numerous lay volunteers.
May the blessing from our God continuously energize each one of us to actively participate in spreading the Good News, not only limited to the local churches, but also in any place where we live.
Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of KKIH/ICCH: October 27, 2019
Summarized by: Fadjar Budhijanto, Irwan Hidayat, Andrew Huang, Tantra Invedy, Harry Kumala, Kathleen Sendjaja, Djoni Sidarta, Frankie-Windra Sugiaman, Christian Tan, Romo John Taosan.