Festival of faiths to foster friendship among youths

CEBU, Philippines — A gathering of different churches and faith communities will take place at the Plaza Sugbo on Saturday for the Festival of Faiths.

The activity is part of the quincentennial celebration of the arrival of the image of Santo Niño de Cebu in 1521.

The Catholic Church is observing 2019 as the Year of Youth as part of the nine-year preparation of the Philippine Catholic Church for the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in the country in 2021.

Father Alvin Raypan, director of the commission on ecumenism of the Archdiocese of Cebu said that: “There is this desire from different faiths to gather young people and give an awareness that we can be one amidst our differences.”

During the event, there will be presentations from the different denominations. The interfaith activity is aimed at reaching out to the youth.

 “Involve here are from the youth of Roman Catholic, Muslim brothers and sisters, among our Buddhist friends, Latter Day Saints, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), United Methodists, Iglesia Filipina are some of those who have signified since the start,” said Raypan.

Raypan also shared that there have been joint activities done by the Interfaith community for years now such as the recent Walk for Peace last September 21.

“We would like to give witness to a Cebu that is one,” said Raypan.

The event is expected to be attended by one thousand youth from the different faiths. As of yesterday, there were already 650 who registered to attend the activity.

Raypan is inviting the public to attend this free event of gathering from the different faith communities in Plaza Sugbo at 4 p.m. on November 23.  FPL (FREEMAN)