Ebook: Catholics in Indonesia, 1903-1942: A Documented History: The Spectacular Growth Of A Self-Confident Minority, 1903-1942

In the period 1903-1942 the number of indigenous Indonesian Catholics increased from 27,000 to nearly 550,000. Starting from a scattered presence in Minahasa, the Kai Islands, and Flores, four decades later Catholic centers had been established in most regions of the archipelago. Steenbrink describes in detail this formative period in the growth of Catholicism in Indonesia.

Catholics never constituted more than three per cent of the population, one-third of the total number of Christians. The author looks closely at the rivalry with Protestant missionary activities, as well as the race with Islam in imany regions of the outer islands that came under Dutch rule in the early twentieth century. Several appendices give extensive information about the various European missionary orders and the missionaries who were active during this period. Forty annotated historical documents illustrate local variations in proselytizing efforts in the vast archipelago.