Silsilah

The end of Summer saw all the first years heading to South West Mindanao, to Zamboanga City for the Intensive Course on Christian Muslim Dialogue of the Silsilah Dialogue Movement. The course was held in Harmony Village on the outskirts of Zamboanga City and the participants were from all over the Philippines, from Manila to Basilan, as well as from around Asia, from China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The Silsilah Dialogue movement was started by an Italian PIME priest, Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, to help in the peace process in the region. To help begin a dialogue between Christians and Muslims to help build peace between and amongst the peoples in the region. Hence the course was open to all and including catholics, religious and lay, protestants and muslims. During the course, the participants were introduced to both the christian and muslim faiths, with a catholic priest from Italy who is a close friend of the movement and the community being the resource person for the christian faith and a muslim professor who was the resource person for the muslim faith. In many ways, it was an eye opener for many of the participants who until now only had a very limited view or knowledge of the faith of their christian and muslim brothers and sisters. In addition, it was very heartening to see everyone both muslims and Christians sit togther and interact both in and out of the classroom as well as in the refectory.

In addition, everyone was also highly encouraged to pray everyday in his or her own faith for the courage and strength to be open to dialogue. At the end of the course, all the participants pledged their commitment to work for peace in dialogue with their muslim and christian brothers and sisters. Padayon!