Brokenshire Peace Forum

Our dialogue and peacemaking partner, the pastors and members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Davao City group, also celebrated the 2021 Mindanao Week of Peace by holding a Peace Forum on December 6 at their local church where about 50 persons, interfaith priests and pastors (including indigenous or “lumad”) gathered. There were partners from two Catholic parishes, La Verna and Assumption, and two from the Focolare Movement. There were Fr. Pete Lamata and Fr. Hermie Garcia, sss, from Assumption with their parishioners.

UCCO Pastors H.H Taganas had previously requested me to act as the “facilitator” of the Forum, a first experience for me and an occasion for new learnings.

I started by informing them that, since Pope Francis had already declared in his Fratelli Tutti encyclical that there is now a new culture which he calls, the “culture of encounter”, I will now facilitate an encounter of people here
right now.

I began by asking if they know why Chapter 5, verse 9 of the Holy Bible says, Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God? There was no response from the group. (To be continued)