LAUNCHING OF THE DIALOGUE WITH CREATION PARTNERS WEEK IN ZAMBOANGA CITY

The Dialogue with Creation Partners Week ( DCPW)   was launched in Zamboanga City  by the Silsilah Dialogue Movement with the partners  on October  7  with the participation of  five hundred  guests, most of them young people of different schools in Zamboanga City.   The theme of this first celebration was: ” Celebrating and Preserving our  Common Home.”  It was also the time to launch  the logo of this celebration designed by the famous Muslim artist Rameer Tawasil ( see it in  this Oasis News).

The  concept  and planning of the DCPW was finalized  during the second  national gathering of the  partners of the World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW)  last April in Zamboanga City and launched in   Astoria Plaza, the same place where we have contacted the first  celebration of this special week on October 7.

 The partners of the DCPW are  those  groups and institutions who celebrate the WIHW and  others who wish to join. Basically it is a new   initiative where all are invited, especially the ” interfaith family”.

 We are happy that this initiative launched in Zamboanga is now becoming a national  one  with the specific  goal to invite those who  are interested  to take care  of ” Mother Earth.”

For Silsilah the commitment will not end  with a one week celebration. Dialogue with Creation, it is one of the pillars of  the spirituality of life-in-dialogue, with the dialogue with God, the Self and Others. Because of this commitment  of DIALOGUE WITH CREATION  Silsilah  along the years had done a lot to protect the environment, especially in Zamboanga City fighting against   mining companies and  protecting the watersheds of the city.

 In the Past Silsilah has  organized  groups  willing to join in the same advocacy. Initially  Silsilah organized the “FRIENDS OF AYALA WATERSHED,”  after  Silsilah extended this advocacy to all the watersheds of Zamboanga  forming the “Friends of Zamboanga Watersheds” and now  Silsilah renamed the group  calling it  “DIALOGUE WITH CREATION PARTNERS MOVEMENT (DCPM).” This new Movement has a core group of experts and committed leaders  who volunteered to be part of the  core group to continue to sustain its interest and the advocacy.  

With this spirit  the core group of the DCPM has sent to the government of Zamboanga the  request to  give a special attention  to the ten watersheds of Zamboanga  and  proposed to extend the area of  forest of Zamboanga considering  the increasing population and the  scarcity of water. In this connection the core group has also suggested to the government  some appropriate ways to control  the water  and to be distributed properly according to the needs of the city.  Indeed,   we are moving with determination in this critical time and we hope to sustain  all these efforts with proper education and advocacy at all levels.

  During the  celebration of the DCPW in October 7,  it was emphasized by the different guest speakers  the importance to be together, Christians and Muslims, for the common good  to protect the “Mother earth”.  Some of the speakers have  shared  concrete   quotations from the Christian and Islamic teachings. It was also mentioned that  Dialogue with Creation is important  as part of our spirituality as Christians and as Muslims.  

While we are celebrating mother earth  in the spirit  of friendship between Christians  and Muslims, we are disturbed by the news of the  war in Gaza and Israel. Indeed this  war and  the many other disturbing news  of  wars around the world, calamities and  conflicts remind us that we have to continue  one mission of dialogue an peace with determination. Silsilah  is  moving toward the  40th anniversary  and we feel  that  our mission  has to continue with courage and determination together with those who believe in the same mission.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Silsilah continues to tell all that   we  have to promote dialogue and peace starting from ourselves.  May our good story of  the new initiative of the Dialogue with Creation Partners Week will  inspire many to believe that if we work together for a common good we  can  serve the full humanity and together we  will experience  the joy to move together  as part of the same  family of God, discovering the joy to be part of the same ” Human Fraternity.” 

                                                                                                                       Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, PIME

Founder, Silsilah Dialogue Movement

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