Father Clement Schreurs
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During the first two years of his missionary life, Father Clement Schreurs assisted at a mission post in Baguio, in the Philippines, working for the Catholic printing press. When he received permission to begin his work in Indonesia, he set out for the Toraja people.
After about ten years of missionary work — two years as a parish priest, followed by service in the financial office and secretariat of the Archdiocese of Makassar — Father Clement moved to Jakarta in 1968. There he founded a new CICM parish and established a guesthouse for Scheut missionaries.
Father Clement became head of the financial department of the Bishops’ Conference, where, as a Scheut missionary who also held Indonesian citizenship, he managed the assets of five million Catholics. He coordinated purchases for the missions and NGO projects in agriculture, health care, and education.
He proved to be a talented manager and financier, determined to end the missions’ dependence on foreign fundraising. One of the first sources of income was PT. Raptim, which began in 1971 as a low-cost travel service for missionaries but soon grew into a full-fledged tour operator. A year later, Father Clement Schreurs launched a pension fund for local mission staff and entered the real estate market, buying houses and renting them to embassies and foreign companies. He also proved skilled in insurance and banking.
In 1981, PT Griyaton was founded. Father Clement saw opportunities in prefabricated construction through a Flemish company that supplied the technology, machinery, and a computer-controlled concrete plant. He entered into partnership with a British construction firm, contributing half of the investment himself. Everything went well until 1984, when opposition arose from traditional homebuilders. However, Japanese and Korean construction companies were eager to use the Flemish technology for their high-rise projects, and new Indonesian contractors brought in additional business.
Carrying his attaché case, Father Clement moved tirelessly from one meeting to another, overseeing the company’s finances.
Together with his Indonesian colleagues, he embraced the state philosophy of Pancasila, founded on five sacred principles: faith in God, humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy through consensus, and social justice. These principles closely mirrored the missionary charter of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM), which states: “With one heart and one mind, we bear witness to the will of the Father: that all people are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a sign of the solidarity of the local churches in their universal mission.”
Supported by Dutch and British partners, a crematorium was set up, and a graceful complex for catholic funerals was built just outside the city.
Known in Indonesia as “the concrete priest,” Father Clement founded Fajar Baru after his retirement in 2012, together with the Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Flores (originally set up a leper and loom colony on Flores) — but now built a home for abandoned children in the distant outskirts of Jakarta.
Missionaries of Zutendaalse side by side...
On the world map...
born in Zutendaal 1931
deceased in Jakarta 2019 
first vow in Leuven 1951 
priestly ordination in Scheut 1956
