Alphonsus Augustus Sowada (June 23, 1933 – January 11, 2014) was an American

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

bishop,

cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portman ...

, and first Bishop of Agats in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. A longtime collector and preserver of Asmat cultural artifacts, he helped found both the

Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress The Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress ( id, Museum Kebudayaan dan Kemajuan Asmat) is located in the city of Agats, in the Papua province of Indonesia. It was conceived by the Catholic Crosier missionary Frank Trenkenschuh in 1969 as a way to p ...

in Agats, and the

American Museum of Asmat Art The American Museum of Asmat Art is a gallery exhibiting the art and culture of the Asmat people of southwestern Papua, Indonesia, housed at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Featuring more than 2,200 objects, it is one of the l ...

in his home state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Early life

Born in

Avon, Minnesota Avon is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,396 at the 2010 census. It is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Avon was laid out in 1873. The community is named after the River Avon ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Sowada was raised on a farm near St. Cloud, and was the eldest of eight children. He was ordained to the priesthood for the

Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross The Crosiers, formally known as the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross ( la, Canonici Regulares Ordinis Sanctae Crucis), abbreviated OSC, is a Catholic religious order of canons regular of Pontifical Right for men.Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. In 1961, he earned a master's degree in cultural anthropology from

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

Career

The following year, he became a missionary serving the

Asmat people The Asmat are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. The Asmat inhabit a region on the island's southwestern coast bordering the Arafura Sea, with lands totaling approximately 18,000 km2 (7,336&n ...

of the

Agats Agats is a town in Asmat Regency, South Papua, Indonesia. An elevated settlement on a tidal plain, a Dutch outpost was set up in Agats in 1938 and the town became notable for the cultural practices of the Asmat people. Following the formation of A ...

region of southwestern

Papua, Indonesia Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the ...

on the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, where he taught himself the Asmat language, and worked to eliminate the practice of headhunting and to preserve Asmat culture and art. He founded a church in the town of Sawa Erma on the

Unir River The Lorentz River (also Unir or Undir in Indonesian, or Noordrivier in Dutch) is located in the Indonesian province of South Papua in Western New Guinea, about 3,500 km northeast of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. On May 29, 1969, he was appointed bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Agats The Roman Catholic Diocese of Agats ( la, Agatsen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Agats in the Ecclesiastical province of Merauke in Indonesia. History * May 29, 1969: Established as the Diocese of Agats from the Metropolitan Archdio ...

and was ordained on November 29, 1969. He opposed the exploitation and cultural suppression of the Asmat by foreign logging companies and the military. Sowada wrote books on Asmat art and culture and collected hundreds of artifacts. Common interest in the Asmat culture led to friendships with other collectors and archivists of Asmat art including

Michael Rockefeller Michael Clark Rockefeller (May 18, 1938 – presumed to have died November 19, 1961) was the fifth child of New York Governor and former U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. He was the grandson of American financier John D. Rockefeller J ...

and the artist

Tobias Schneebaum Tobias Schneebaum (March 25, 1922 – September 20, 2005) was an American artist, anthropologist, and AIDS activist. He is best known for his experiences living and traveling among the Harakmbut people of Peru, and the Asmat people of Papua, ...

, who described Sowada as having a "round, cherubic face" and said that "I liked him immediately." Sowada was instrumental in founding the

in Agats in 1973, described by the artist

as "a museum designed for the local people, not the nonexistent tourist." After Sowada's retirement and return to the United States, his collection of Asmat artifacts formed the core of the

, located since 2012 at the

University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. He also co-edited a 2002 book about the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress's collections, ''Asmat: Perception of Life in Art''.

Retirement

In 2000, the Bishop Sowada Chair in Cultural Anthropology was established in his honor at the School of Theology Fajar Timur in Abepura, Indonesia, to further the continuing study and preservation of native Papuan culture. Health problems, including a quadruple heart bypass in 1999, led to his retirement. He resigned on May 9, 2001.The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church: Alphonsus Augustus Sowada
/ref> He was succeeded as Bishop of Agats in 2002 by Aloysius Murwito.

Death

Sowada died in 2014 in

Onamia, Minnesota Onamia ( ) is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 878 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highway 27 are the main routes in the community. History Originally, the city of Onamia was or ...

References

External links

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowada, Alphonsus Augustus 1933 births 2014 deaths Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross People from Stearns County, Minnesota American Roman Catholic missionaries 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Indonesia Catholics from Minnesota 20th-century American clergy