Graduation ceremony of the catechist training programme in the Diocese of Masbate.
ACN supports the Silsilah Centre on the island of Mindanao
Father Sebastiano D’Ambra founded the Silsilah Centre in Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao in 1984. In 2024, the centre celebrated its 40th anniversary. In this terror-stricken region, it plays an important
role in Christian-Muslim dialogue. The centre has been supported by ACN for more than 20 years. Several thousand people have already been trained here for interreligious dialogue.
Typical landscape in the Archdiocese of Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao.
grounds for numerous sects to expand on.
ACN primarily supports the Filipino Church in the pastoral care of young people and families and in the training of seminarians, novices and catechists. We also assist the priests in the country’s poorer dioceses with Mass stipends and religious sisters with subsistence aid.
Another ongoing problem is the hotspot on the Mindanao archipelago, where many Muslims live. Various Islamist terrorist groups are active in the region, seeking to establish an Islamic state. Increasing radicalisation can also be observed. The Church here relies on interfaith dialogue with “moderate” Muslim groups.
For this reason, the Church must intensify catechesis and pastoral care to ensure that the faithful are deeply rooted in the faith. There is an enormous amount of pastoral and social work to be done here.
ACN Activity Report 2024 | 87 Asia/Oceania – Philippines |
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