Last modified: 2025-03-08
Abstract
Collective identity is a necessary factor in every social movement. A social movement does not merely aim for change in a specific aspects, but also promotes a more radical worldview aligned with certain lived values. Particularly for individuals united on the base of a shared identity, radical movements as a return movement to identity are highly effective in gathering and strengthening the movement. The more fundamental the identity shared, the more reason individuals have to persist and speak louder within the social movement. On the other hand, the strengthening of collective identity must be balanced with some facilities. The movement needs to offer a way of life that supports its activists in living their lives, based on radical values while accommodating contemporary needs.
This pattern can be observed in the emergence of the Aksi Puasa Pembangunan (in English: Act of Fasting for Development) or APP movement. APP is a movement initiated by the Indonesian Catholic Church as their special action during Lent season. The idea of this movement is to collect funds to help those in need, rooted in the spirit of repentance among the faithful. In accordance with Church teachings, faithful community are called to fill the season of repentance with three types of actions: prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. APP serves as a social movement embodying the spirit of almsgiving, which, along with the other two actions, forms a practice of repentance tied to Catholic identity. Through this writing, the author aims to explore how the strengthening of identity has a reciprocal relationship with the almsgiving movement of APP.