Around 200 university students, academic staff of the UST-Institute of Religion, and invited experts gathered at this year鈥檚 Advocacy Conference on April 19.
The chosen theme 鈥淎ccompanying the Youth Toward Building Peace and Becoming Global Citizens鈥� led students to appreciate their identities and capacities to build peace through dialogue and communion.
A roundtable discussion in the morning led by UST Communications Bureau Director Philippe Jose S. Hernandez provided the framework for understanding 鈥淕lobal Diversity.鈥�
Jamila-Aisha P. Sanguila, a Salzburg Global Fellow, followed with a talk on 鈥淭he Call Toward Global Peace Through Dialogue and Communion.鈥�
The founder of 鈥淲omen Empowered to Act for Dialogue and Peace鈥� highlighted the role of dialogue in peacebuilding. Sanguila cited the efforts of 鈥淪ilsilah Movement鈥� in promoting a 鈥渃ulture of dialogue鈥� in Mindanao, southern Philippines.
Italian missionary and PIME Father Sebastiano D鈥橝mbra founded the movement when he came to the Philippines in 1977.
Since 1850, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions or PIME helped develop 鈥済enuine Catholic communities through interreligious dialogue and social justice.鈥�
The day-long Advocacy Conference also featured personal sharing on the challenges of being global Christians. Invited sharers were Edwin T. Valles, Advisory Board Member of Courage Philippines, and Maria Lea P. Dasigan, Campus Minister of Saint Pedro Poveda College.
In the afternoon, UST Philosophy Professor Jove Jim S. Aguas gave an exposition titled 鈥淥n Being a Global Christian.鈥�
Aguas said today, Christians are still being called to 鈥渇ollow the teachings of Christ and live a Christ-centered life.鈥� They must be 鈥渕orally responsible鈥� and 鈥渃ommitted to peace, solidarity, and the common good,鈥� he added.
CICM Father Earl Antoine Alan C. Cura followed with a talk on 鈥淕lobal Citizens in Dialogue and Communion.鈥� CICM or the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in Belgium in 1862.
Fr. Cura cautioned young people on the current global economic model rooted in consumerism. He affirmed Pope Francis鈥� call for 鈥渁ctive participation in renewing鈥� and ushering 鈥渁 new beginning鈥� to a globalized world steeped in fear and indifference.
The Advocacy Conference is the university鈥檚 response to Pope Francis鈥� call to 鈥渃hange through an educational process aimed at universal solidarity,鈥� said event chair and IR faculty member, Maria Cecilia Balajadia. The conference also echoes the ideals of SDG 16 of building peaceful, just, and strong institutions.
She added that the conference 鈥渃hallenges global citizens to build a world where peace reigns not as mere ideal but as a lived experience.鈥�
The IR-led event was co-organized by the UST-Simbahayan Community Development Office.
