Benlutu, Indonesia. The Claret Novitiate of Benlutu celebrated the Silver Jubilee of its canonical erection on 13 June 2026 with a solemn Eucharistic celebration and a joyful gathering of the Claretian Family. Canonically erected on 3 May 2001, the novitiate has served for 25 years as a house of vocational discernment, novitiate formation and missionary preparation.
The Eucharist was presided over by Archbishop Hironimus Pakaenoni of Kupang. During the celebration, three Claretian missionaries were ordained to the priesthood and three others to the diaconate, offering a visible sign of thanksgiving and hope during the jubilee year.
The celebration brought together the Provincial Government of the Province of Ave Maria, Claretian missionaries from various communities, diocesan priests, religious men and women, civil authorities, benefactors, relatives, friends and members of the Claretian Family. More than 1,000 faithful participated in the gathering.
The jubilee was celebrated on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and on the anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Anthony Mary Claret, who was ordained on 13 June 1835. Reflecting on the place of Mary in the life of the Church and in Claretian spirituality, Archbishop Pakaenoni presented her Heart as a model of attentive listening, availability, discipleship and missionary commitment.
He recalled that St. Anthony Mary Claret found in the Heart of Mary a source of apostolic zeal and entrusted his missionary vocation to her maternal care. He also encouraged those present to become “missionaries with a heart,” marked by compassion, closeness to the people and a passion for proclaiming the Gospel.
Over the past 25 years, the Claret Novitiate of Benlutu has accompanied numerous young men in their vocational discernment and formation, preparing missionaries to serve in the Province of Ave Maria and in other Organisms of the Claretian Congregation.
The celebration concluded in an atmosphere of gratitude, fraternity and missionary joy, entrusting the future of the novitiate and the Congregation’s formative mission to the maternal protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
