‘Father Thomas rises at six each morning and sounds the bronze bell of his church. He celebrates mass in the Bahasa Indonesia language in the Paroki Santa Perawan Maria Yang Diangkat Ke Surga, that is, the Parish Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary. Beside the traditional psalms, the church resounds with a song lauding Saint Stephen, sung ardently by a choir of one hundred to one hundred and fifty children. In Flores, where 90 per cent of inhabitants profess the Catholic faith, the long-term viability of Christianity is signalled by the fact that more than two hundred Verbite novices studying at the Saint Paul Major Seminary at Ledalero have chosen to serve God as their lifelong calling.’