Philippine Interfaith Teams join Pilgrimage of Global Interfaith Leaders & Youth in Mayapur, IndiaNovember 27 – December 05, 2008
The Philippines was represented in a global gathering of interfaith leaders and peacebuilders held in Mayapur, India last November 27th – December 5th, 2008. This was the second global assembly of the United Religions Initiative (URI), an interfaith organization of grassroots Cooperation Circles around the world composed of members representing diverse religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions who are striving to promote enduring daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence, and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.
While participants in URI's projects have included leaders such as the Dalai Lama, URI's primary constituents are common citizens working on a grassroots level in their own communities. These individual community and spiritual leaders connect to the URI network through one or more of URI's 400 local groups based in 70 countries worldwide, called Cooperation Circles. Developed to directly assist and further the work of these interfaith Cooperation Circles, the 2008 Global Assembly in Mayapur brought together 300 global interfaith leaders, from 44 countries, as well as the first interfaith youth delegation in an unprecedented grassroots global gathering. It aimed to address questions and share experiences of respected and recognized leaders in grassroots organizing, in order to further the work of world wide interfaith peacebuilding.
The Assembly's theme was 'Pilgrims of Peace: Many Paths, One Purpose.' Members of Cooperation Circles from around the world, all of whom are working on interfaith projects, spoke face to face, learned from one another's successes, built further alliances within the URI network and further worldwide interfaith cooperation. For more info, visit: http://www.uri.org/
The Mayapur Assembly was attended by representatives from the Philippines belonging to the Cooperation Circles of The Peacemakers' Circle Foundation, Inc. (Metro Manila), Kalinaw-CC (Cebu), Pakigdait, Inc. (Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte), Bohol Goodwill Volunteers, Inc. (Tagbilaran, Bohol) .
