ASIA - Youths learn about interfaith, migrant issues
Published Date: March 23, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR (UCAN) — A one-month Church-run program in Malaysia focusing on interfaith and migrant issues has been an eye-opener for 14 mostly young Asian participants.
“I realize now that they are so many refugees living in another country, and my mind is now open to this reality,” said 27-year-old Pale from Myanmar.
Pale saw for the first time, the situation that refugees from Myanmar, as well as other undocumented migrants, face in Malaysia.
Pale was one of the delegates from China, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia who attended the immersion program organized by the Institute of Formation, Fondacio Asia (IFFAsia) in Kuala Lumpur.
Fondacio is an international lay Catholic organization based in France. It established IFFAsia in Quezon City, Philippines, in 2006.
The immersion program, which ended recently, was the last phase of a 10-month program to train participants to be youth leaders in their own Church communities.
During the immersion program, the first of its kind for the organization, participants learnt about the two pressing issues the Malaysian Church is facing – interfaith dialogue and ministry to migrants and refugees.
Learning about other religions
Josephine Tey from the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocesan Office for Human Development (AOHD) facilitated a program on refugees and migrants while Father Michael Chua from the Church of Visitation in Seremban facilitated an interreligious workshop.
During the workshop, participants had a dialogue session with Patricia Martinez, a Malaysian who researches and gives talks on Islam in Southeast Asia, and also visited Sikh and Hindu temples.
Han Lina, 27, from China, said she was moved by the beauty of the different religions. She shared that the situation in China is not conducive for interreligious dialogue.
“All the while, I thought that one must be baptized for one to be saved, and that there is no salvation outside the Church,” she said. “But after the formation program and experiencing this interreligious workshop, I have a new understanding of salvation.”
According to IFFAsia director Charles Bertille, organizers chose Malaysia for the formation program as they felt it was a good place in the region “for our Asian students to experience interfaith and migrants and refugees issues.”
During the program, participants stayed with host families in three parishes, and also part in parish evangelization activities.
AS09187/1594 March 23, 2010 41 EM-lines (377 words)
