Since 1987, Silsilah has been faithful to run a program every year called, “Silsilah Summer Course on Muslim –Christian Dialogue”. This “new normal” in the Philippines and other parts of the world challenge us to offer weekly program on Muslim and Christian’s Living Faith using the online media. Rev. Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, PIME, founder of the Silsilah Dialogue Movement and the Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will help us in this new initiative, inviting Muslim and Christian friends for this program. The sharing and testimonies will be posted weekly (every Friday) from June 26 to November 6, 2020. The first ten weeks will focus on the “Living Faith” of the Muslims and the remaining ten weeks will focus on the “Living Faith” of the Christians.
The sharing will be something educational for all. For the first part of this online formation program, the ten Fridays every week will be focusing more on the faith experience of the invited Muslim guest/s. The sharing and testimonies on this part will be in relation to the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah. This is an occasion for the guest/s to choose one or more Beautiful Names and share his/her experience or an experience of other Muslim leader/s. It could be also about a particular Muslim group/community that project the living faith of the Muslims. To help the listener in understanding better the meaning of the chosen Name/s, the book of Al-Ghazālī, The Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God will be used as reference and also other books of respected Muslim authors. However, on the second part of the program, Fr. D’Ambra will be inviting Christian guest/s to deepen more the Beatitudes of Jesus. Some Christian references will help us more to deepen the sharing of each episode on the “Living Faith” of the Christians. From time to time, those who follow the program are encouraged and invited to go online and read some useful articles/reading materials to have personal deepening. To help this effort, we will present the link online to facilitate the research.
The choice of this years’ special program on “Living Faith”is a challenge for Muslims and Christians to reflect not only on the teachings of the two religions that in many aspects are different. It is a new challenge and occasion to understand that in our journey of dialogue, Muslims and Christians are closer on the spiritual journey of life that brings us to goodness and rediscover the “Human Fraternity”.
Those who wish to enroll to this course are invited to fill the application form that you can find in the Silsilah website (www.silsilahdialogue.com). The participants can have the chance to follow every Saturday at two o’clock in the afternoon (Philippine Time) for the discussion after each lesson to have an interaction and for some clarification, questions, sharing, deepening or more information. Those who will participate in this course and interested to receive a certificate online, Silsilah will be open to provide it. For more information, please contact us via email at silsilahdialogue@gmail.com .
In line with the preparation for the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, this year is dedicated for the Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue and Indigenous Peoples guided by the theme, “Dialogue towards Harmony”. This invitation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is one of the inspiration of Silsilah to continue to help and encourage people in working together towards harmony, solidarity and peace guided by the first part of the Prayer for the Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue and Indigenous Peoplesof CBCP:
Almighty, Ever-living God, the most Merciful and Compassionate, we thank You for Creation and the life You have given us. Together, we people of diverse religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions who invoke You by different names, humbly pray that You give us the opportunity to encounter each other through Dialogue, to reach mutual respect and reciprocal acceptance of each other, and to break down the walls of division that stand at the center of most misunderstandings and conflicts.
We hope that this new effort will help many to understand the importance of dialogue and peace around the world.