THE sun had started rising. From the terrace of his cozy house, Pater Yan Perason Bataona was looking at the towering tree in the heart of the Lamalera village, on the island of Lembata, East Nusa Tenggara. The 71-year-old man fixed his gaze on the shady tree which is hundreds of years old.

The local people call it pohon budi (literally, meritorious tree). The tree grew long before the Catholic Church was built in the village circa 1886. From form