SEMARANG, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — Situated in the central part of the island of Java (Indonesia), it comprises the civil districts of Temangung, Megelang, Pati, and Japara.
Its area is 21,296 sq km, with a population of approximately 10,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 7,000,000 are Muslims, 17,048 Calvinist Protestants, 2,900,000 pagans, and 47,013 Catholics, with 1,872 catechumens. The official language is Indonesian, which is spreading increasingly throughout the archipelago as a bond of national unity. The mission is entrusted to the Society of Jesus and is governed by a Javanese Jesuit bishop—the first of the indigenous clergy—who also holds the office of Military Ordinary of the Indonesian army. It was erected as an apostolic vicariate on 25 June 1940, by detachment from the present apostolic vicariate of Djakarta. Catholicism has achieved its greatest success in this part of the island of Java. The obstacles to systematic and effective evangelization are not as serious as in the western regions of the island. During and after the last war, the mission suffered considerable damage, but the zeal of the Jesuits and of the missionaries of the Holy Family succeeded in restoring this ecclesiastical circumscription to its former state, giving the missionary movement a new impetus.
In 1950–51 the vicariate had: 15 national priests; 56 Jesuit fathers; 9 missionaries of the Holy Family; 111 brothers; 296 nuns; 12 major seminarians and 104 minor seminarians; 36 catechists; 957 teachers; 5 physicians; 34 churches and 41 chapels; 5 hospitals; 9 pharmacies; 8 orphanages; 147 elementary schools; 22 secondary schools; 5 vocational schools; 7 teacher-training schools; 1 printing press. There are 23 primary stations and 91 secondary stations.