page_title: St. Joseph's Church, Semarang
section_title: After the colonial period
hierarchical_section_title: St. Joseph's Church, Semarang / History / After the colonial period
caption_attribution_description: English: The presbytery at Gedangan, Semarang
context_page_description: St. Joseph's Church, also known as Gedangan Church, is a Catholic church in Semarang, Indonesia, the first such church in the city. Administratively, it is part of the St. Joseph's Parish in the Archdiocese of Semarang.
  Constructed between 1870 and 1875 to meet the needs of Semarang's growing Catholic population, the red-brick church building was designed by the Dutch architect W. I. van Bakel and built at a cost of 110,000 gulden. The church grew extensively over the following fifty years, at first dominated by ethnic Europeans and persons of mixed descent but later having a majority indigenous congregation. As the Catholic population grew, the size of the parish diminished as new ones were established.
  The church complex consists of, among other things, the church building, a presbytery, and a convent. St. Joseph's itself is highly decorated, including nineteen stained glass windows, carvings showing the fourteen Stations of the Cross, and an altar imported from Germany. The single tower is home to two bells produced by Petit & Fritsen.
context_section_description: In March 1942 the Indies were occupied by the Empire of Japan. The occupation government captured numerous (mostly Dutch) men and women, both clergy and laymen, and instituted policies that changed how services were held. They forbade the use of Dutch in services and in writing, and seized several church properties; several others, including the presbytery at Gedangan, were protected by the clergy. After two European head pastors, G. Schoonhoff and G. de Quay, were confined, ultimately on 27 August 1943 the ethnic Javanese Soegijapranata took on parish duties in addition to his work as vicar apostolic. Although he promoted non-compliance with Japanese demands considered damaging to the church, Soegijapranata also endorsed some collaboration. For instance, on 28 February 1944 a Latin-language Mass was delivered at Gedangan by Paul Aijiro Yamaguchi, bishop of Nagasaki.
  On 17 August 1945, shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and with Japan's defeat an increasing certainty, President Sukarno proclaimed the independence of the Indonesian state. During the ongoing revolution against returning Dutch forces, Europeans were detained (although the Dutch head pastors remained). These detentions, and post-revolution politics which decimated the European population in independent Indonesia, ensured that the congregation remained dominated by the Javanese and other indigenous peoples.
  Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Gedangan remained a center of Catholic activity in Semarang. The Jesuit provincial superior continued to be placed in the Gedangan presbytery until 1949, when he was moved to the church in Karangpanas, then again from 1954 to 1962 (when he was sent to Karangpanas again). The central offices of the Kanisius Foundation remained on the church grounds until a new office was opened in 1970. Further construction has continued as well: an office building, named Bintang Laut, was completed on 6 August 1988, and renovations to the church building took place in the early 1990s. The church continues to hold regular services, including five on Sundays.
caption: During the Japanese occupation, the clergy prevented seizure of the presbytery.
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