Scholars dealing with contemporary migration studies have produced different ideas and perspectives on how to see the trend of migrations. The interface of migration and religion is also being considered as an important venue to understand the whole process of migration, i.e. religion, religious values and practices. One notable example of this study would be the case of the Indonesians as the country of origin. With a total population of 200 million (5% Protestant and Evangelical, 4% Catholic), Indonesian Christians form the largest Christian minority of any Muslim country.

The focus of fieldwork to Sydney is to grasp a better understanding of the migration process through gathering the oral history that influence religious life and identity in Indonesian Catholic community members abroad through cultural negotiation as immigrant. I will explore the answers the four main questions: (1) why did they initially choose to come to Sydney? (2) how do they respond the “religious obligation” as before they migrate to Sydney? (3) what is the personal meaning “church” for the community members? (4) what do the intramural and external factors affected the forming and survival of the community?

I have visited six Catholic Indonesian communities in Sydney, which were located in Newton, Kensington, City, Pennant Hills, Wollonggong, and Randwick. Every community had its own characteristic of membership. The distance between communities took one until two hours distance by bus from the central of the city. There were three main daily transportations in Sydney: bus, train, and ferry. Bus was the very common one. At the first time, I used to get lost easily because the unusual route. The community in Newton and Kensington could celebrate mass every week; meanwhile the community in City twice a month; and Pennant Hills, Wollonggong, Randwick only once a month.

The frequency of the mass was limited because of the distance, time, accommodation, and transportation to reach the places by the priest. About 200-300 members for every community from the total of around 2500 who come to the church weekly (around 1000 of the members have been administered in the local churches, meanwhile the rough number of the Indonesian Catholic numbers approximately 4000-5000 including members who were not interested to participate actively).
According to the interview with one of the elder-members of the community, around 1970s the first Indonesian Catholic community’s embryo was started in one of the chapel in the university of the New South Wales (NSW) where there was an Indonesian priest sent to study in the NSW University. While studying, the priest had also served the mass for Indonesian students in the university. Along with the increasing of the Indonesian Catholics migration, the participants were also increased until 30-40 members joining the monthly mass. From this moment, the numbers were getting increased until they had to find a place outside the university in one of the chapel in Kensington. Cooperation with the priest’s affiliation/congregation and local church had been supporting the community to survive until November 8, 1992, the community was promulgated as the first Catholic Indonesian Community (CIC) chaplain in Sydney by the Bishop David Cremin who had been specifically assigned to work with the migrant community in Australia (http://onlinecatholics.acu.edu.au/issue59/news2.html). He has been working as the Chairman of the Catholic Immigration Committee, which oversees the work of the Catholic Immigration Office of the Archdiocese of Sydney, and Vicar for Immigration for years (http://www.immi.gov.au/about/reports/annual/1996-97/html/prog7001.htm). Since the inauguration, the mass was still held in the Daceyville until before moving to the new place in Newtown. Considering the distance and the increasing numbers, the rest of members who used to go Daceyville also move to Kensington until it was the second Indonesian Catholic community that was established on March 13, 1996.
Now, the community already had its own secretariat building since it was established on Oct 16, 2005. The community centre was set up under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Sydney. In the second floor of the building there was a chapel that could be used for the community activities, for example: baptism, group prayer meeting, and sacraments. The community also had a chapel in Penrouse Park considering as a pilgrimage chapel in Wolloggong for the members. There was one priest who has been working for the entire community since 2003 after he replaced the previous one until the end of April 2010, and then he will replace by the other priest. The decision of priest’s assignment always discussed and decided by the Archdiocese of Sydney.
During the fieldwork, I joined several church activities, such as: mass, praying group, Holy Cross station, spiritual training, and recreation. I also conduct interviews with the priest, the parish council, and the some members of the communities.

Examination
From this fieldwork, I totally learnt different characteristic migration process of Indonesians abroad, especially religious life and identity of Indonesian Catholics. From the fieldwork research question, I describe a tentative conclusion of the answers of the four main questions:
(1) most of Indonesians come to Sydney because they to find a better opportunity, such as: education, economy, and  security, and having relatives, (2) in such liberal city like Sydney, the respond of “religious obligation” as Indonesians after they migrated to Sydney has not become an obligation any longer, therefore the willingness to participate in religious activity is an voluntary action., (3) “church” for the most of the community members is a place to find spiritual strength to accomplish daily task; to have a social space; to exchange information and opportunity, (4)the intramural and

external factors affected the forming and survival of the community are: (a) has an increasing members every baptism period, and show a sign that will continue to grow in quantity, (b) the nearby living place of the members in one community has made the relation tied and easily getting in touch each other, (c) around 1000 members registered in the local parishes are they who already have been a permanent resident, or even Australian citizen, as a consequence the material and spiritual supports for the community can be expected, (d) the support of archdiocese of the country is vital to the growing of the migrant church, (e) the personality and style of the assigned priest whether or not he could give moral and spiritual courage to his members.

Futher Research
This fieldwork to Australia has helped to gather the information on how the Indonesians abroad especially Catholics’ identity process in Sydney have been built. I will use it as a part of chapters in my dissertation which theme is about Indonesian Catholics’ community identity process in Tokyo, Taipei, and Taiwan. Further research I will conduct in Taiwan this summer from August to September. I hope finally I could draw the pattern of Indonesian Catholics abroad, especially in these three countries.