Zamboanga (Doyle)

Zamboanga is a really big city in the Philippines- the third largest, with nearly a million people, at the tip of the western peninsula of the island of Mindanao, the second biggest island in the Republic of the Philippines. What a great name, Zamboanga- a name with music and joy in it.

But Zamboanga and Mindanao have a long history of Christian- Muslim tension and conflict. Muslims first came to Mindanao in the late 14th century, says a Muslim Web site on the internet. They resisted the Spanish conquistadors who followed, then America’s occupation, and some conflict has continued into Philippine independence, right up to the present.

I am pleased to report, however, that Zamboanga City today is a place where Christians and Muslims are learning to get along and live peacefully together. And these days, with Christian- Muslim tension and that is certainly something to take notice of and to rejoice in, don’t you agree?

I’ve just been reading about Zamboanga and this new Christian-Muslim dialogue in an article in “St. Anthony Messenger” magazine, the Franciscan monthly, sent to us by one good friend and written by another: Father Jack Wintz, O.F.M., a fine writer, great priest and all-around special person.

Zamboanga, Father Jack wrote, “is sometimes known as the City of Flowers or the City of Romance. But I will always remember it as the ‘Land of Hope for Christian-Muslim Dialogue.’” And that’s the title of his article.

Father Jack once taught in a Franciscan seminary in Manila, the capital, he said, and was eager to get back to the Philippines, so he went last year to get back to the Philippines, so he went last year with a study group sponsored by the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a lay Catholic organization working with people of all faith traditions to bring about a global community of compassion and service.

“ In 1984,” he wrote, “ a popular dialogue movement was launched in Mindanao to overcome conflicts among Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths. The movement calls itself the Silsilah Dialogue Movement and sees itself as promoting understanding among these groups. Silsilah is an Arabic word meaning ‘chain’ or ‘link’, and suggests the image of people drawing together ( like links in a chain) as one universal family united by a shared vision of dialogue and peace.”

Founded in Zamboanga City by an Italian priest, Father Sebastian D’Ambra, P.I.M.E., with a group of Muslim and Christian friends, Silsilah “ holds seminars and a wide variety of training programs, promotes friendship and interfaith dialogue and provides opportunities for prayer.”

Along the way Father Jack met a number of wonderful Muslim people and their Christian counterparts who are learning to get along. One highlight, he reported, was a big outdoor concert featuring music from various religious and cultural traditions, helping respect and love many wonderful Jewish, Protestant and Buddhist friends, as well as other nice people I couldn’t describe in any religious terms, except that we like them.

I’m sorry to say we haven’t met any Muslims personally yet, although we see more and more of them around, as I expect you do also. One day soon, I expect we’ll get to meet some Muslim people, and we’ll get to like them. It’ll be a pleasure.



Copyright 2009 by James A. Doyle
New York Times