Malang has provided the members of the General Chapter with some wonderful experiences of the Indonesian culture. The opening ceremony, a traditional Javanese welcoming ceremony for important guests, was just the beginning of inculturation. Many of the Indonesian Carmelites, dressed in traditional garb, handed out kain batik, a dyed fabric with Javanese pattern, to each participant. This cloth was then carried into the Chapel over the shoulders of the members.
The chapel, used for daily mass as well as Morning and Evening Prayer, provides a blending of the traditional Church and Indonesian culture. Perhaps most prominent of many examples is the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Child Jesus.
Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, a former prior general, who has visited Indonesia on many occasions posted this on his Facebook page: The vitality of a charism is manifested in its ability to incarnate itself in different cultures, to manifest itself in different languages, and to express itself in the artistic styles of different peoples.
He was speaking directly about Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the chapel of the chapter.