God respects me when I work but loves me when I play music - says priest about to begin a sabbatical year

Albert Nampara, a Roman Catholic priest with Indonesian roots who has worked in the canton since 2003, is about to head off for a sabbatical year to visit his family in Indonesia, where he came from, and to improve his English.

It was in the Flora islands, 500 kilometres to the east of Bali, that Nampara was born, attending a school belonging to a seminary prior to studying philosophy and religious literature for six years. Following this, he joined the Society of the Divine Word, a religious order which is involved in charitable work in some 60 countries. He also took a solemn promise to live in poverty and obedience, prior to moving to Affoltern am Albis in the canton of Zurich to administer pastoral care.

Having previously lived in the tropics, arriving in Switzerland was quite a cultural shock, nevertheless in all the areas he subsequently worked, in Menzingen, in Neuheim and in Oberägeri, he always coped with the challenges he faced, not least linguistic ones, the priest now able to speak  Swiss-German fluently. “It was not easy, but learning it enabled me to meet up with local people and relate to their culture,” he said. “I learned, for example, that Swiss people do not approach you; you have to approach them.”

In the years he has been working in the canton of Zug, he has held many a mass and conducted other services, led burials and visited the sick, helping those who have lost loved ones to come to terms their grief. Indeed, it is through his tireless work that he got to know a lot of friends.

One aspect he finds regrettable is that the job of priest here is linked to so much negativity as a result of the many scandals it has been involved in, “Nevertheless it is a nice job and a great source of joy, which I endeavour to bring to people,” he said.

In addition to his role as priest, he also enjoys music, playing the guitar and saxophone, and he even set up a Famigo band, performing with young people of the community at various services. “Some people told me I was the first priest they had met to introduce such modern music to services, the feedback being most positive, and children coming to play music in their free time,” he said. As mentioned in the headline, Tampara went on to say “God respects me when I work, but loves me when I play music.”

As also mentioned, he is shortly off to visit his family in Indonesia and is very grateful to have been given this opportunity to take a year off. “I came to Switzerland as a foreigner, but now leave it as a compatriot myself,” he said. “I have always felt very happy here.”

Not that he is leaving for good; he is coming back in12 months’ time.