Past Oasis News

“Through the sharing of stories, I also learned to have true dialogue with them by opening my heart to them to begin friendship, living the spirituality of life-in-dialogue that is rooted in the love of God, and love of neighbour.” When I was younger, I had biases and prejudices toward Muslims. I grew up carrying

This  year the  month  of Ramadan  coincides in the Philippines  with the   campaign period  of the national  and local election and    alarming   war  time in  Ukraine   and other parts of the world.  Ramadan is a special time of fasting  for a journey of purification  with some obligations such as fasting from eating and drinking during  day time,

The COVID Pandemic has challenged us to focus… One of the positive effects of the COVID 19 Pandemic is it has challenged us to focus on what is more essential, urgent and empowered us to collaborate with others who believe in the same goal and importance. In this spirit, the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue

We know that today one of the big problems is to remain healthy   physically but also spiritually and maintain  the MENTAL HEALTH. Silsilah in this time of pandemic have been sharing different suggestions and even the  Silsilah Calendar  2022  present in the cover the message of WE SERVE with a slogan “Moving together with  Hope, Solidarity and Love”. (See the Silsilah

Thirty years ago, on May 20, 1992, Fr. Salvatore Carzedda, PIME, an active member of Silsilah, was killed in Zamboanga City. He was a close friend of Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, PIME, who founded the Silsilah Dialogue Movement in Zamboanga City in 1984. A movement identified as Abu Sayyaf also started to operate in Zamboanga at

Following the tradition of Silsilah to send a message to the Christians on the occasion of Advent and Christmas and to the Muslims on the month of Ramadan we focus this year the  message for the Christians   recalling the voice  in the desert of John  the Baptist crying in  the  desert   the message of prophet Isaiah: “… prepare

On the occasion of the National Peace Consciousness Month promoted by the government thru the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process (OPAPP) for this month of September with the theme: “Healing as One Nation Recovering as a Better Generation”, we invite all to join this important event in the midst of so many

The Silsilah Dialogue Movement, reflecting on the present situation of COVID19 with all the implications, started to share to some groups closer to the Movement the new initiative WE SERVE. We first started to share this initiative with Emmaus Dialogue Movement, a Catholic group part of Silsilah, the Jama’a Dialogue Movement, an emerging Movement of

Following a long tradition of Silsilah to send a message to the Christians during Advent and  Christmas time and to the Muslims on the occasion of the month of Ramadan, we address now this message to the Muslim Umma to renew the “chain” (Silsilah) of friendship , love and solidarity especially in this time when

This year, we decided to have our 35th Silsilah Summer Course on Muslim-Christian Dialogue online. It is a new challenge we did also last year due to the situation. The 35th Silsilah Summer Course on Muslim-Christian Dialogue, invites participants to reflect on the past and recent history of the Philippines giving more attention to the

I am happy to present the new book “Stories of Change” published by Silsilah Publications. As an Italian priest arriving in Mindanao in 1977, I was surprised to listen to sad stories of conflict in Mindanao normally called “encounter”. In my language “Encounter” always has a positive meaning. I learned to accept the reality that

The Voice Entering the New Year 2021, we see that this year will be full of surprises. There are those who believe that COVID19 will be controlled with the vaccines and those who already see new signs of fear with new forms of virus and especially a more alarming signs of climate change and political

In the spirit of Christmas and the New Year, we in Silsilah wish to express solidarity with all especially those who suffer most in this critical time of COVID19. Many things we can share to express solidarity, but we decided to share Solidarity with message of inspiration guided by the new book of Pope Francis,

The Silsilah Dialogue Movement will launch the new partnership program, “We Serve” on December 30, this year. It isa new dream that Silsilah presents inviting partners to join us to “Dream Together” . After some steps of reflection and sharing, we identified partners and launched this new program, “We Serve”, at the end of this

Five hundred years ago in this part of the world called now Philippines, Christianity arrived with those who explored this land and started to conquer it. Today, we recall this 500 years with joy and sorrow. Joy because the message of the Love of God through Christianity gradually was experienced by the people with the

The sad story of Joselito Envidiado, a 21 year old student, member of a fraternity group in Zamboanga City who died during the “initiation” is a new sad story that we registered last Saturday, November 14. On this occasion Silsilah recalled the time when violence among fraternities and sororities was very visible in the campus

When we started the Silsilah Summer Course in 1987 in Zamboanga City, I could not imagine to reach so for from that time every year up to this year. We started on the local level, after Mindanao and National level and along the years became also international with students of different countries. The list of

It was a surprise and joy for us when the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) requested us to attend the Silsilah Summer Course in 1997 in Zamboanga City, Philippines. We have been always blessed by the participation to our courses of bishops and other important and respected leaders of the government, as well as leaders

The recent letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) invites us in Silsilah to share the reflection of Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David, D.D entitled, “Where Pope Francis is Coming From”. He is a great model of dialogue and invites all to overcome “criticism” against the Catholic Church that are done by

“Fratelli Tutti” is the new encyclical letter of Pope Francis. This new document is divided in 287 points and eight chapters. It is a long document presenting some urgent points and reflections starting from the parable of the Good Samaritan. The “stranger” who helped the one in need (Luke 10:25-37), we read in the encyclic:

Many of us ask, when will the light appear at the end of the tunnel with this so called, “Coronavirus” with all the implications. We are in a new era of the history and many of us try to write a page in this history, not only trying to be protected by the virus, but

The news of the death of Sr. Lilian Curaming, today September 10, 2020 has reached fast to so many friends including Muslim friends who have shared their words of solidarity to Silsilah. Sr. Lilian was a great instrument for the promotion of Muslim-Christian dialogue especially in Mindanao. She was very close to Bp. Tudtud and

We are grateful to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and  the World Council of Churches for inspiring us with the new document, “SERVING A WOUNDED WORLD IN INTERRELIGIOUS SOLIDARITY”, a Christian call to reflection and action during COVID19 and beyond. See the full document here: https://www.pcinterreligious.org/christian-call-reflection-action-during-covid-19-and-beyond. This inspiring document starts saying: The parable “Good

This year, after 34 years of having an annual program of the Silsilah Summer Course on Muslim-Christian Dialogue in Zamboanga City, the Silsilah Dialogue Movement decided to continue the tradition online course with the program of deepening the “Living Faith” of the Muslims reflecting on the “99 Beautiful Names of Allah” for ten weeks (one

In 2013, before the siege in Zamboanga City that destroyed part of the city and displaced thousands of peoples with hundreds of killings, I remember that by a very strange coincidence, Silsilah offered training on “Trauma Healing” for three hundred teachers of DepEd in three different seminars. These teachers during the siege, and had been

The COVID 19 this year has paralyzed a lot of activities and programs. This is true in the life of the big and small groups, and so Silsilah Dialogue Movement is forced to slowdown and do what is possible to continue the mission of dialogue and peace and be a sign of hope. In this

The Living Faith- online formation program is a new program prepared by the SIlsilah Dialogue Movement. It substitutes the traditional Summer Course program of Silsilah. It is presented in 20 weeks, 1 episode every Friday, you can view it here: https://www.facebook.com/silsilahdialogue . In the first 10 episodes, the host of this program, Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra,

Alarming and disturbing. This could encapsulate our present situation not only in the Philippines but worldwide. Why? Definitely because of the new pandemic Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Corona Virus Disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. It is a kind of virus that

On 26th of June 2020, Friday, Silsilah will be starting the first episode of the new online formation entitled “Living Faith”. This is a two-part program with ten episodes each. The first part will be focusing on the Muslim’s sharing and insights on the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah while the second part will be