WORLD INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK 2013: LAUNCHING A GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR SYRIAN YOUTH - WIHWI 4 SY 1. Background Between 1946 and 1948 over the darkest period of the European history, thousands of Austrian children were sent to Portugal and lived with host families around the country. These children escaping from the war were offered a normal time, enjoying a family life and being welcomed as siblings. This unique initiative was a kind of humanitarian action avant la lettre led by what today we would call the civil society of both countries who really built bridges across divides and engaged in intercultural learning. 2. WIHW 4 SY Inspired by this successful example, the initiative now launched aims at reaching out to SYRIAN YOUTHS whose lives are being destroyed by the war and their studies disrupted. It aims at establishing an International Youth Exchange Program open to SYRIAN students ages 17-21 that offers them a fully-funded academic year abroad. The program may include a vocational element. This Program is called WIHWI 4 SY – World Interfaith Harmony Week Initiative for Syrian Youth. It gets inspiration from the World Interfaith Harmony Week celebration and is to be launched on the occasion of its 2013 edition. The World Interfaith Week Harmony between all religions, faiths and beliefs aims at uniting all interfaith groups and faith communities - those consisting of hundreds of members as well as those of very few - but also at binding together all the world’s citizens of good will, bringing together efforts between East and West, North and South. In a sense this initiative, according to its founders, aims at celebrating the love of God and Love of the Neighbor or Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbor, each according to the various religious traditions or convictions. Against this backdrop, the WIHWI 4 SY is an initiative that aims at contributing in a very concrete way to alleviate the burden of the war in Syria on youth, particularly as there appears to be no end in sight to the fighting which, on the contrary, is escalating in different parts of Syria, as well as a humanitarian situation that keeps deteriorating. WIHWY 4 SY aims at helping to respond to the needs of students in an efficient and sustainable way and therefore contribute in the long run to rebuilding trust and hope for a better future. The WIHWI calls upon Government donor agencies, NGOs of different cultural backgrounds and faith-based organizations from all around the world to join forces and pool their knowledge and resources in bringing humanitarian aid to Young Syrians in need. If successful the WIHWI will show that the usual divides in the field of humanitarianism can be bridged in face of dramatic needs in a situation of conflict. Furthermore, it will show how much such cooperation can impact in a positive way on the gap between cultures, religions and civilizations. Therefore, the WIHWI is looking to set up a platform of interested countries of the UNAOC Group of Friends, organizations rooted in different value systems, both at local and global levels as well as individuals willing to support the implementation. 3. Goals ? Implement the Exchange Program for the academic year 2013-2014 ? Create a network of up to 1000 Host Families for 1000 Syrian Youth ? Create a platform of up to 500 partners: governments, Government donor agencies, international and regional organizations, cities, universities, NGOs of different cultural backgrounds and faith based organizations, corporations. ? Use the network of Dialogue Cafés to enhance ties and bridges between the participants in the Exchange Program. 4. Ways That You Can Join There are lots of ways that you can join - directly and indirectly. One obvious way is to make a donation, which will go straight to help cover the financial needs of this Program. It's an easy process and you can give whatever amount you want - it all helps. For those who want to play a more direct role, there are several ways in which you can get involved: ? Become a Host Family; ? Become a member of the national or regional committee for WIHWI 4 SY and provide field support which includes: coordinating activities for participants in the WIHWI 4 SY; facilitating contacts between inbound students and host families; managing a number of activities such as establish international contacts and communicating with them for student placement; serving as liaison between students, parents, host families and the WIHWI team, etc. ? Become a volunteer for the WIHWI 4 SY team in charge of coordinating the Program, reporting and monitoring. ? Become a partner by endorsing WIHWI 4 SY or offer your support through in kind assistance. 5. What to do next? ? YOU ARE DEFINITELY ON BOARD Express our interest in being part of this initiative by sending a e-mail to Helena Barroco, Special Adviser to President Jorge Sampaio [email protected] ? YOU FEEL ATRACTED But you want more information before making a final decision – please get in touch with Helena Barroco, Special Adviser to President Jorge Sampaio ([email protected]) 6. Partners This initiative has been developed by the Dialogue Café association and has the personal support of President Jorge Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. It is in the process of seeking support from a wide range of partners, namely some UN agencies and organizations.

Every 2nd Thursday of the month, the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) Interfaith Pastoral Council (PIPC) shall be conducting meetings every 2nd Thursday @ the PPSC Head Office Conference Room, 5f Commerce and Industry Building, Campus Avenue, Mckinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. The PIPC is a collegial body composed of coordinators from the different religions such as Catholics, Islam, Adventist, Christian Ministries and Iglesia ni Cristo. For more details, please contact, Mr. Dosmedo G. Tabrilla, MPSA - PIPC Overall Coordinator @ [email protected]/632-09069562050 or 632-8817362.

On Sunday there will also be an Interfaith Harmony walk, followed by a cultural activity at the Promenade Gardens.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, performing the duties of president today joined representatives of various religious bodies to launch World Interfaith Harmony week at the National Cultural Centre (NCC). Present at the event also were Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, and members of the Diplomatic Corps.

Jo Berry daughter of Sir Anthony Berry MP who was killed in the IRA Brighton Bombing during the 1984 Tory Party Conference and Belfast?born Pat Magee, former IRA activist, who was given multiple life sentences for the Brighton Bombing will dialogue and share their experiences and thoughts on the choice we often face ? empathy or enmity Hosted and Chaired by Lord John Alderdice FRCPsynch 5th February 2013 6.30 pm to 8.30pm Committee Room no. 4A House of Lords London Attendance is by invitation only to this event Because the space is limited at the venue, we are informing you in advance and await your confirmation that you will be able to attend. Thereafter, we will send you a personal invitation with full details.

Digital Interfaith Storytelling

Free ‘Mankind, Kind man’ MP3/PDF download

ww.kurzweilstories.com/UNMankind.pdf www.kurzweilstories.com/UNMankindtaster.mp3

Streams of Spirituality for Interfaith Thinking Fr. Tom Kunnunkal, S.J. Saint Francis Xavier Movement (Italy), Henry Martyn Institute (Hyderabad) and Interfaith Coalition for Peace (New Delhi) organized an international conference on the theme: Streams of Spirituality for Interfaith Thinking at Henry Martyn Institute, Hyderabad on 3-4 January, 2013. A number of scholars and students of Religious Studies presented papers on the theme from different religious perspectives. The two day conference went well beyond being just an occasion to present well-written papers on various aspects dialogue, however useful and necessary this is. In fact, it provided a forum that opened our mental horizon to see the deeper dimensions of dialogue and see it as an essential constituent of our life and of every life. The focus shifted from religion to spirituality. Everyone has a spirituality to live one’s life, which is a paradigm or a map, which gives one guidance, direction and power and the norms for decision-making. Spirituality is one’s specific way of seeing the total reality, (God, self, others and the contexts and conditions of life) interpreting it, accepting it for oneself and then living it in one’s day-to-day life situations. On the other hand, religion, with its focus largely on the external, the ritual, the prescribed practices etc, can and indeed often does prove a distraction and has resulted in several confrontations and conflicts among persons, both within the same faith tradition and among inter-faith members. Owning and then living a spirituality is a lifelong process of internalization and then making it a paradigm for one’s life and living in the real. We all have borders and identities and will continue to have; but narrow borders, when over-stressed, make us less and less human. This has been fully demonstrated in our religious histories. Hence the way forward is through adopting the spirituality of dialogue, which is the spirituality of communion or a spirituality of love and forgiveness. In joyful discovery, we realized that there are so many items that are common between various faiths, which we saw as the point for stress and appreciation. Like many other nations, India too has had such a long history of evolution. None of us would claim that the present status and accomplishments of India have come from any single religion or ethnic group or region. In fact, we would readily accept that it is the result of the numerous and significant contributions of a very large number of culture groups. It is the strength of India, as also of other large countries, that we are multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. India is the home of several world religions. Every religion, culture or region wants to preserve its identity. This is indeed its right. But in the current contexts, wide open spaces are emerging in the modern world of today, spaces created by reason and by scientific research no less than by the inner search and spiritual quest that many seriously engage in. As a result, we see that religion and science, at odds earlier, are beginning to engage in serious dialogue. Today, Science and Spirituality, Physics and Metaphysics, Religion and Reason are seen as bipolar realities of a dialectic that seeks a new synthesis. We need borders and identities, surely. But when we push borders and identities too hard and are not willing to cross some of these borders, we become less and less human. It was heartening to learn of the several movements initiated by different religious leaders who are currently searching for new answers for our times so that religion continues to hold meaning for today’s life and living, especially for today’s educated young, many of whom have professional training and updated competences and want to base their faith with some support from reason as well. Therefore, in our modern world of today, to be religious is to be also inter-religious, to be cultural is to be also inter-cultural and to be human is to be inter-human. “In the name of God” so many horrendous atrocities have been committed in the past and still continue to be done in today’s world as well. That is why, modern man’s behavior continues to mirror the behavior patterns of the Animal Planet, with this difference that we use very sophisticated weapons that we have developed to destroy others. It is in that context that every religion needs to engage in a critical and scientific evaluation of its own practices and prescriptions and actions to see if these humanize or dehumanize persons and communities and take appropriate steps to bring about needed reform, where we find we are becoming less and less human or more and more exclusive. Similarly, each religious community needs to engage in the study of other religions, in order to understand its basic ethos and perspectives and appreciate these, as a necessary step to be a good citizen of today’s world. Such study will help remove several of the myths, prejudices and stereotypes we often nurture about persons of other faiths and traditions. In the present day work places, whether in business or industry or in many service institutions, like a school, college or hospital, we will often encounter work-mates, class-mates and staff-mates from different cultures and religions. Developing the ability to engage in warm and friendly interaction between the members of these groups and the ability to function well in that mixed group are important life skills for personal growth and for one’s own promotion as well as for the proper functioning of the institution or business. Therefore, the obvious agenda for the human family and in fact, the only agenda, is to engage in Cross Border Community Building (CBCB), namely to build human communities across those borders that presently divide us and which make us less and less human. To become more human and humane we must find a place in our hearts for the “other”, for those who are from other religious or cultural traditions and so become truly sons and daughters of the one God and Lord, who holds all whom He has brought into life as persons precious to Him. Dialogue was seen as a call, as a vocation and essentially as relational, inviting respectful listening and collaborative and cooperative actions. God has been manifesting Himself to humans throughout our human history in diverse ways, not only establishing His own relationship with humans, but also inviting us humans to engage in stable relationships across the faith-based borders. God is seen as a power source to nurture such relationships, among all humans, inviting them to see all as members of His one global family. The mystery and reality that every human person is unique and that God makes no duplicates means that, accepting this mystery, we seek unity in diversity. We appreciated the many faith-motivated acts of service as demonstrated by the different faith traditions and we heard beautiful examples of such deeds of light in terms of setting up large service institutions such as hospitals, schools, universities, homes for widows and orphans etc. Through these inputs, we renewed our commitment to become active contributors to build a new world, across the present many borders that divide us and which make us so unlike God who has no borders and has no outsiders.

The event was celebrated in “Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hall, G- 8/1, Islamabad. More than 70 members from different faiths, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs attended the event and stress to work on communal love and understanding. They all encouraged to respect others faith to live in comfort zone, which is need of the day. Dr. Rushdi al Ani, Iraqi Ambassador was the chief guest in the event. Eminent speakers like Ashok Chand, Prof. Saqib Akber, Jennifer Javin and Romana Bashir addressed in the program and stressed on interfaith dialogue and need to promote social justice. They said that all religions teach to respect the basic rights of the human. Different faiths do not bind in limits but allow caring others cultural and mutual respect, so that every citizen of every country can live peaceful life. Romana Bashir, consultant for Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in Pakistan said that the harmony we are pushing for is democratic, and built on effective communication and mutual respect. Gatherings and activities for World Interfaith Harmony Week have been held in various countries across the world with diverse backgrounds, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Italy, and Jordan, she added. Ashok Chand proposed the idea with the aim of achieving a “faith-driven world harmony by extending its call beyond the Muslim and Christian community to include people of all beliefs and those with no set religious beliefs as well”. after the event, all members enjoyed the hi-tea session and shared their joys.

"The Forgotten Holocaust" is an interfaith call for supporting letters. In the coming week of interfaith Harmony and Tolerance let us acknowledge and support the great achievement of Bulgaria during the Second World War – over 50,000 Jews and 150,000 Roma people were saved from being deported to a “Nazi death camp”. Bulgaria was the only country with a naturally increasing population of Jews after the Second World War, though it was an ally of Germany during the war. BRIDGES CC calls for your support of the nomination of Bulgaria, and its people, before the European Council for the Nobel Peace Prize Award with a letter of support. We trust that the WIHW founders would lobby before the European Council and all EU leaders who signed the EPP “Declaration on Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue” to support our nomination and spread it worldwide. You could contact us via: [email protected] – Angelina Vladikova (Chair); [email protected] - Petar Gramatikoff (Vice President) or use our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/bridges.forum The Forgotten Holocaust (70th anniversary of the saving of Bulgarian Roma people during the Second World War) As a commemoration of the great humanitarian act of saving over 50,000 Jews and 150,000 Roma people from being deported to a “Nazi death camp”, BRIDGES CC – “Eastern European Forum for Dialogue” calls for the support of all the CC’s in the global network of the United Religions Initiatives (URI Europe) for nominating Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian people, before the European Council for the Nobel Peace Prize Award. The persecutions of Roma people in Europe started in the beginning of 16th century, however, its peak was during the World War II (1939-1945); in fact, in 1938 Himmler created a special office for Roma extermination in Germany. Although it is not clear how many Roma people were killed during the Holocaust, this number varies between 220,000 and 500,000 - After the end of the war, the public’s attention was on the 6 million killed Jews, until in 1982 the West Germany chancellor Helmut Schmidt spoke about the crimes over Roma people in the years of WWII. When the German government started its policies against the Roma people and Jews, Nazi officials came to Bulgaria and asked King Boris III to deport the Bulgarian Jews and Roma people to the Labor camps. However, the king refused and thus saved more than 200,000 people. This unknown to the world fact – an act of courage from the whole Bulgarian population –deserves to be honored as an example of tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Probably the reason why such a historical fact was forgotten is the isolation of Bulgaria in the Eastern bloc during the Soviet era. Communist could never acknowledge such an act of bravery from the Orthodox Church, the monarchy and the Pro-Fascist, simple because of the nature of the communist ideology. Such a world recognition will further support the efforts of integrating Roma people in the big European family. We trust that you would endorse our initiative! BRIDGES CC

The Interfaith Chef Cookoff is a unique interfaith event that brings together people of varied faiths and heritage for the age-old tradition of breaking bread as a ritual of friendship, peace and bonding.  The Interfaith Chef promotes inter-cultural sharing and dialogue over a community meal that features a set of presentations and performances, and the main event: a friendly cooking competition between Drew University student groups.  The Interfaith Chef has multiple benefits: -bringing together large, inclusive groups, while expanding the reach and diversity of interfaith activities in the community -helping to cultivate future leaders among the present college students as they learn to engage the community by organizing a large-scale interfaith gathering -creating a fun, open, and dynamic learning environment that welcomes all people from the campus, the local community, and across the state. The 2012 Cookoff drew over 60 Drew students and faculty to the Seminary Hall Atrium.  Drew University’s Center on Religion Culture and Conflict (CRCC) Fellows organized the event, which was co-sponsored by twelve student clubs at Drew, including the Middle Eastern Students Association, Hillel, Russian club, Polish club, Asia Treehouse (Asian student club), and Ariel (Latin student club) among others.  The event allowed the CRCC Fellows to raise nearly $400, which went toward aiding the people of Somalia people affected by drought.  Cookoff judges have included the likes of Halal-foodie and restaurant reviewer, Sameer Sarmast of Sameer’s Eats and Elan Online Magazine founder, Moniza Kokhar. Interfaith Chef 2013 will be held in Drew's brand new student center. The students, staff and faculty at Drew will be joined by multiple religious and interfaith groups from around the New York-New Jersey area, including the Boonton Mosque, Chavurat Lamdeinu, Sadhana, Peace Islands Institute. The Cookoff event is preceded by a workshop on Interfaith Outreach held at Drew University's Seminary Hall. Leaders from the Monmouth Center for Religion and Ethical Thought will share their experiences working to promote inter-religious understanding. For more information visit http://www.drew.edu/crcc/interfaith-chef-2