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 last 500 years up to now and contribute with our reflection on the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, especially in Mindanao where there is still so much misunderstanding and conflicts among Muslims, Christians and Indigenous Peoples.
COVID19 is a great challenge for humanity in many ways. It is a time when love has to emerge over hate and self-interest. Some alarming signs of hate caused by fear and wrong perceptions of relations with people of other religions and cultures are often created by centers of power.
The increased violence in the world is alarming, including violent extremism and terrorism that are often justified by religions. This reality invites us to give special attention to conflicts of Christians and Muslims on the international, national and local levels on the occasion of the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines and reflect more on some recent dramatic events and the presence of violent extremism and terrorism in Mindanao and on the national level.
Some basic information’s are:
The online course will start on May 22 to July 24, 2021 at 2:00-4:30PM for ten weeks every Saturday via ZOOM. We invite different presenters from the Philippines and other countries to deepen topics on ZOOM, after the presentation of some documentaries or part of films related to each topic that we present at the beginning of every lesson. The basic language used will be English. Participants from the Philippines and other countries are welcome.
Please express you intention to attend, if you wish to receive the link and be part of this online program offered for FREE. At the end of each presentation follows an open forum via ZOOM. You may register online by filling the application form posted in our website (https://form.jotform.com/210888092712459). For more details, you may visit, www.silsilahdialogue.com .
This program is also highly recommended by the CBCP-Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, the Emmaus College of Theology Foundation Inc. and many Muslim and Christian leaders.
FR. SEBASTIANO D’AMBRA, PIME
Founder, Silsilah Dialogue Movement and Executive Secretary, CBCP-ECID