Youth from different faiths to stage ‘Festival of faiths’ in Cebu Saturday

HUNDREDS of young people from different faiths will gather at Plaza Sugbu in Cebu City on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019, for an ecumenical activity dubbed “Panaghugpong: Enriching Friendships #Festival of Faiths.”

The event is the fruit of years of ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue among the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, United Methodist Church, Buddhists of the Fo Guang Shan Chu Un Temple, Muslims from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the Baha’i Faith, Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the Roman Catholic Church.

The festival will be the first of many events slated this year to further deepen what has been done silently and inconspicuously by elders and young people of different faiths.

Organizers held dinner meetings after work and class schedules. The meetings that often extended late at night failed to weaken the enthusiasm of the young people, and these showed them the richness of other religions and tradition.

The event aims to give witness to the reality of harmony through dialogue.

Religious and cultural diversities are facts of life that have often caused animosity and violence among people. Beneath the diversity of faith, however, is the universal disposition of man for the supernatural who desires that all would be in harmony.

The festival is in line with the Roman Catholic Church, which is set to celebrate 2020 as the Year of Ecumenism, Inter-religious Dialogue and Indigenous Peoples with the theme “Dialogue Towards Harmony.” The next year’s event will be launched at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral by Archbishop Jose Palma on Sunday, Nov. 24, with leaders of different religions and Christian churches.

The Festival of Faiths is open to the public. Registration is free and it starts at 4:30 p.m.

Interested participants are urged to bring food for supper and they are encouraged to share it to other participants.

The event organizers also urged the participants to avoid using plastic, and bring their own utensils and water containers. For more details, the organizers can be reached at 253-7714. S