Invitation to Interfaith Women's Circle on Women's Day

cordially invite you to celebrate the International Women's Month

with an Open Evening of


Interfaith Women's
Dialogue Circle

on

" The role of women in my faith"

featuring sharings from:
Brahma Kumaris, Baha'i', Sikh, Shumei, Christian & Muslim faiths

5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday,
Women's Day - March 8, 2011

at The Peacemakers' Circle
(Unit 105, PhilDHRRA Partnership Center, #59 Salvador St., Varsity Hill Subd., Loyola Heights, Quezon City)


PLEASE CONFIRM ATTENDANCE
Contact the Peacemakers' Circle office via Tel. 920-7622 / Mobile: 0918-7822805 (smart)/ 0926-7296322 (globe)
or email: peacemakerscircle_uri@yahoo.com

www.peacemakerscircle.blogspot.com


THANK YOU!

World Interfaith Harmony Week first celebration

For the first celebration of the World Interfaith Harmony Week (February 1-7), The Peacemakers' Circle, in cooperation with United Religions Initiative in Southeast Asia-Pacific (URI-SEAP) conducted a series of activities throughout the week.

Welcoming the Lunar New Year, The Peacemakers' Circle co-organized with cultural workshop group, Sanghabi, a "Temple Hippity-Hopping!" (ushering the Year of the White Metal Rabbit) held on Feb.2, 2011 (Thursday).

A Buddhist, a Muslim, a Catholic, and Indigenous/Folk Spirituality practitioners visited 5 Tibetan Buddhist and Chinese Buddhist temples around Sta. Mesa and Chinatown in Manila, namely: Philippine Karma Kagyu Buddhist Society (Tibetan); Philippine Nyingma Palyul Tibetan Buddhist Temple; Seng Guan temple (Chinese Buddhist); Simbahan ng Santo Sing Kong (Chinese ecumenical church); and the Manila Buddhist (Chinese) temple. (see more photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079506&id=1376771160&l=96eccd6126)

On February 5, 2011 (Saturday) The Peacemakers' Circle joined forces with the United Muslim-Christian Peacemakers Association (UMCPA) of Tala to gather their youth group, the Muslim-Christian Youths for Peace and Development (MCYPD) in an Interfaith Harana (Friendship Serenade/visit to Faith Centers).

As early as 6:00am in the morning, around 20 youth and elder members of UMCPA & MCYPD started to board the hired jeepney and were about to leave their grassroots community of Tala in Caloocan City. Some of the youths were very excited about the trip that they got up as early as 1:00am to prepare-- a few never even got to sleep due to the excitement. It was not just because we were asking them to perform their dance for an audience but more because they knew they were going to visit two different communities of different religions which they were so unfamiliar with-- the Baha'i Faith and Sikhism.

At the Bahaí Center in Malate, Manila, the group were warmly welcomed by the Baha'i' community, in particular their youths. The short program started with interfaith prayers led by UMCPA elders, Pres. Eric Tomarompong (Muslim) and Nay Loreta Borlongan (Christian), while a youth sang a Bahaí prayer. After a brief orientation on the Bahai Faith and an explanation about the World Interfaith Harmony Week celebration, introductions were made around the circle.

This was followed by the highlight of the program: the Muslim and Christian youths then offered their gift of friendship-- a Muslim Maranao traditional dance called Singkil. The performance was warmly and heartily received by everyone. The deep feeling of gratitude and oneness spontaneously broke into a community song: We Are One Family.

Come noontime the group bid farewell to their new friends in the Bahai community as they made their way to the Luneta park for a picnic lunch. As one spends the day together with the group one cannot help but feel that they are truly more than just a Muslim-Christian organization-- they are one big happy Muslim-Christian FAMILY.

In the afternoon yet another exciting new experience awaited the young group as they visited and entered for the first time a Sikh Gurudwara (temple).

The Sikhs are famous for their open kitchen as part of their spiritual practice so the group was able to experience sitting on the floor and being served with the deliciously spicy Indian food. After the physical bodies were fed, food for the spirit was then served as they were toured inside the worship hall of the temple and were oriented to the basic teachings of the Sikh faith. At this point they were joined by Peacemakers' Circle members who are seminarians from the Xaverian missionary (Catholic) and who were also participating in the visitation.

Capping off the visit and offering their gratitude and gift of friendship to the Sikh community, the youths presented an action song of love, peace and freedom (in Tagalog) which said something like:

"Love flowing like the stream is my spirit. Peace waving like the sea is my spirit. Freedom soaring like the bird is my spirit."

Young spirits did soar, wave and flow as seen in the eyes, heard in the laughter and felt in the company of this remarkable group that day and in the remaining days of the World Interfaith Harmony Week.

(view more photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079508&id=1376771160&l=f6f470fc2a)

Beyond Differences: a URI interfaith, intercultural, international concert

The United Religions Initiative (URI), a global network of change makers, is celebrating a decade of building cultures of peace and healing around the world and to commemorate this milestone the leaders of Cooperation Circles in the Southeast Asia Pacific region will be gathering in Manila this November to strengthen their commitments and celebrating their successes. The culminating activity of this 4-days meeting will be an inspirational evening of music and dance “Beyond Differences” to celebrate our oneness in diversity and to raise funds for our programs to serve grassroots communities.

We take pleasure in inviting you to join us in our Celebration Concert on November 27, 2010, a first of its kind, in the Philippines featuring music and dance from different cultures and faiths. Some of the our regional talents include world renowned Dya Singh of the Dya Singh World Music Group together with Jarran Blow, an aborigine from Australia on the Didgeridoo, music as well as dances from Bali, Cambodia, Malaysia, India and the Philippines.

The concert will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 27, at the CAP I Auditorium on the 7^th floor, (behind the Makati Med.) Makati City and will last approximately two hours.

The proceeds from this event will be utilized to give seed grants to empower the women and youths in grass root communities to build bridges of understanding and transform religious tension/conflicts into a positive social change. Kindly visit our website: www uri.org to learn more about activities.

In this context we would greatly appreciate your support through a donation/purchase of pledge tickets which are suggested @ Php 250 (not a fixed amount) and is equivalent to one pledge for peace. We would greatly appreciate your support and hope you can purchase some tickets for yourself, family & friends, as all the proceeds go to Interfaith building work. You can also just pledge an amount in case you are unable to attend the event.

Thanks in advance for your kind support & generosity towards building the foundations for world peace!

Strengthening Grassroots Interfaith Dialogue & Understanding #3

Muslim-Christian Christmas Party

Yes, you read it right. It's a CHRISTMAS party celebrated by MUSLIM and CHRISTIAN adult and youth members of these unique grassroots family of organizations (there's three of them-- as indicated in the invitation).

For several years we tried to formally call it a YEAR-ENDER get-together, because being interfaith means being careful (with words and actions) not to brush over on anyone's sensitivities. But however discreetly we have chosen the title for the event, the lay person (the Muslims included) cannot help but simply refer to it for what it practically is-- a Christmas party. And the Muslim members themselves don't mind calling it that at all.

On December 11, 2010 (Saturday) it was my first time to attend the "Christmas party" of the Muslim-Christian community of Brgy. 188, Phase 12, Tala, Caloocan, ever since The Peacemakers' Circle started its work there in 2003. When they officially registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the Muslim-Christian Peacemakers Association, Inc. their membership then was only around 30. Now a second batch of around 20 members have also already registered to the SEC, and are now called the United Muslim-Christian Peacemakers Association, Inc. (Why they had to register separately? It's a requirement so that they can avail of the Self-Employment Livelihood Assistance Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.)

Seven years later their third (and probably their most precious) organization was born: the Muslim-Christian YOUTHS for Peace and Development. Now for the first time also the Muslim-Christian year-ender (or should i just say Christmas) party of Tala was hosted and enlivened by these youths!




It was indeed awe-inspiring to witness these youths in action as they emceed, presented dance numbers, and even led in feeding all members and guests in the gathering. The adult members were so relaxed and laid back as they watched their soon-to-be successors take the lead.


The youths prepared (and practiced for so many nights) several entertainment numbers for the program-- a folk dance from the Christian lowland culture, a traditional dance of the Muslim tribe, and a modern hiphop dance to complete their range of genre. Of course, the adults did not want to be left behind so they also presented an Igorot-inspired (indigenous highland) dance, as well as a Curacha dance number.

And what is a Christmas party if not with.."EXCHANGE GIFTS"?! Aside from the food, what really completed the gathering was the gift-giving.

They asked only those who are interested to join the "exchange-gifts" to bring a gift to giveaway, so that, in turn, they receive one by drawing a random number. The exchanging for the adult members were separate from that of the youths.

It was an overwhelmingly heartwarming feeling to watch this remarkable grassroots community come together in a celebration of giving-- not minding the religious label of the occasion-- but only grasping the very essence of it.

When one of the Muslim leaders handed me a present (lovingly wrapped in Christmas paper) and said it was for me, from him, it was then that it hit me...

Now this is what I call INTERFAITH!

There I was in a middle of an actual interfaith dialogue-- not of a theological discourse, but a Dialogue of Life. An Interfaith Dialogue of Life where the spirit of Joy, the spirit of Giving, the spirit of Oneness, was celebrated above and beyond religious, cultural, or socio-economic boundaries.

It was truly an affirmation that harmony and unity amidst diversity is possible and it is already being LIVED in this humble community in Tala.

Towards the end, the members-- youths and adults, Muslims and Christians-- started to dance as their joy and excitement could not be contained. They were so happy simply to be gathered together-- all three sub-organizations-- as one big happy family.

If not for viels and kupyas, they would no longer be distinguishable because of what they wore: a present in their arms, a smile on their faces, and the warmth of giving in their hearts.

I cannot wait to attend their Eid-ul Fitr' celebration...