Muslim volunteers Dexter Trinida and Rania Taguranaw on the sidelines of National Youth Day 2017 in Zamboanga City JOHANN MANGUSSAD / CBCPNews
ZAMBOANGA City – In a time of religious intolerance in various parts of the globe, the National Youth Day 2017 hosted by the Archdiocese of Zamboanga City set an example of unity amid religious and cultural diversity.
“Even though we have different religion[s], we can work together and have unity,” said Rania Josheen Taguranaw, a Muslim volunteer in the NYD registration team.
The NYD, which required multi-sectoral cooperation and coordination to organize, encouraged non-Catholics to volunteer for the event.
Everyone is welcome
“It doesn’t mean that if it’s a Catholic event, only Catholics can come. Like in this NYD, everyone was welcome,” she added.
Dexter Trinida, another Muslim volunteer, this time with the NYD health and emergency team, expressed his hopes on putting an end to religious intolerance and discrimination.
“…If we really want to correct the wrongful notions of society toward inter-religious peace, we ourselves should be the one to take the step,” he said.
‘NYD Effect’
Aside from welcoming non-Catholic volunteers, NYD 2017 encouraged having foster families and speakers from various faiths.
“Not only [did we have] foster parents who were non Catholics, there were also some Muslim facilitators,” observed Bryan Tolentino, a delegate from the Diocese of Cubao.
“In this we see that even though we have different beliefs, we can attain unity in diversity… And that communion with them is very powerful, once we make a stand and work together,” added the pilgrim.
Both Trinida and Taguranaw, further expressed their belief in the “harmony [among] religions.”
“In what I saw, even though you are from a different religion, it’s okay to interact with each other,” said Taguranaw.
For Trinidad, the youth event showed that “chaos cannot overpower the unity of the people.” CBCPNews
