By Jacobus E Lato
If everything goes as planned, at the upcoming Easter Vigil Mass in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, Hendrix Salvatore Chandrawan will step forward with his two teenage sons to be baptized into the Catholic Church, a moment that will crown a 15-year journey marked by love, loss, and hard-won conviction.
For Hendrix, 42, a former Protestant church activist, the decision is the culmination of years of wrestling with faith and marital commitments. For his wife, Fina Vironica Liesabeth, a lifelong Catholic, it is a moment of grace she never demanded but patiently awaited.
Before their 2010 marriage, Hendrix was deeply involved in Surabaya’s fast-growing Central Protestant Church, where his late older sister and her husband were prominent pastors.
With that background, “marrying a Catholic woman wasn’t easy,” Hendrix recalled. “I was an activist in the church. My sister and her husband were pastors, leading congregations while still very young.”
His brother and sister-in-law refused to attend the wedding, and fellow activists urged him not to marry a Catholic. Although his parents respected his decision, the rejection left deep wounds.
Hendrix ruled out holding a Protestant ceremony for the marriage. “It would have required her to be baptized again and go through catechumenate. That was not possible for us,” he said.
Marriage did not immediately resolve their differences, recalls Hendrix, an automotive technician and passionate car racer.
Over time, confrontation gave way to conversation and eventually to mutual respect. “We talked about our differences a lot in the beginning,” Hendrix said. “But our promise to stay together mattered more than winning arguments.”
“The view of Catholic marriage as a sacred mystery changed me,” he said.
The shift was gradual but decisive. Hendrix enrolled as a catechumen last year, and was soon joined by their sons, Stefan Salvatore Chandrawan and Lorenzo Salvatore Chandrawan. All three will be baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass this year.
Fina insists there was no pressure. “I never forced him or the boys,” she said. “Their faith grew naturally.”
“But I chose not to baptize our children in the Protestant church, despite encouragement from a priest in my family,” she added.
Hendrix said he chose to become a Catholic after his studies confirmed the primacy of the Catholic Church and the sacramental nature of marriage.
He points to the Catholic Church’s apostolic roots, its global unity under a clear hierarchy, and its uncompromising teaching on marital fidelity.
“In Catholicism, marriage is one, permanent and faithful,” he said. “Divorce and remarriage are not taken lightly. That consistency mattered to me.”
By contrast, he said, he was troubled by what he saw in some Protestant communities. “When pastors themselves remarry after divorce, it raises questions about how marriage is understood,” he said.
His catechumenate instructor, Agustinus Longa: a philosophy and theology graduate educated in Germany, praised his seriousness.
“Hendrix showed a strong grasp of Catholic teaching,” Longa said. “Our discussions were deep and sincere. He and his sons never missed a class.”
Since moving into the neighborhood in St Joseph Parish, Surabaya, East Java in 2018, Hendrix became increasingly active as pandemic restrictions eased, according to parishioners.
“From 2023 onward, he was fully involved,” said Andry Budiman, head of the local Catholic community. He helped organize prayers and short pilgrimages, including visits to the local Marian shrine.
In hindsight, he sees Catholicism woven quietly into his past.
He attended St Joseph Junior High School in Surabaya, run by the Sisters of St Carrolus Boromeus, and later studied at St Louis Vocational School under the Vincentian priests, where students attended First Friday Masses.
“After graduation, I went fully into Protestant activism,” he said. “But those early Catholic seeds were already there.”
Fina, who comes from Banyuwangi in East Java, believes those foundations mattered. “His education and his strong belief in monogamy gave him confidence in the Catholic faith,” she said. “For that, I’m grateful.”
Looking ahead, Hendrix keeps his hopes simple.
“I want our family to grow deeper in faith, live as a Catholic family, and serve others through our work.”
Hendrix no longer channels his passion into racing cars, but into steady service, repairing vehicles by day, nurturing family and parish by night.
As Fina watches her sons prepare for baptism, she sees more than a religious milestone. She sees love refined by patience. – UCA News
