Bishop Capalla to join conference at MILF camp

MANILA, Philippines - To foster respect among religions, Davao archbishop Fernando Capalla will join the inter-religious conference to be held at the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camp in Cotabato this Sunday. Capalla expressed optimism that the conference will push forward efforts on peace and reconciliation in the country and the world, according to a statement on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website Thursday. "Joining Capalla are his fellow co-conveners in the Bishops Ulama Conference (BUC), Bishop Hilario Gomez Jr. from the Protestant Church and Dr. Hammid Barra from Islam," CBCP statement said. Barra replaced the late Dr. Mahid Mutilan who died in a vehicular accident in December 2007 in Iligan City. The World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP)-Asian Chapter sponsors the gathering. The Catholic Church in Mindanao followed with great interest the work for peace and reconciliation led by peace organizations especially the BUC and the Imam Priests Pastors Forum (IPPF), the statement said. The late Pope John Paul II had expressed support to the WCRP, believing that the conference could help in the promotion of dialog thereby creating bonds of friendship among peoples. WCRP-Cotabato is expected to create new ties of friendship among followers of the various religious traditions. In recent years, the conference has been involved in reconciling communities divided by conflicts and wars. "Your efforts to heal those affected by hatred and violence express a truth which I too have sought to affirm on many occasions, that religion is not and must not become a pretext for hostility, in particular when religious, cultural and ethnic identities coincide," John Paul II once said. WCRP was first convened in Kyoto in 1970. It hopes that world religionists join the conference to share their goals and contribute to world peace. The conference’s membership includes religious leaders from the Baha'i; Mahayana and Therevada Buddhism; Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Christianity; Confucianism; Hinduism; indigenous faiths; Islam; Jainism; Reform Judaism; New Religions; Shintoism; Sikhism; and Zoroastrianism. In 1994, the WCRP established six commissions in the areas of conflict transformation and reconciliation; human rights and responsibilities; the child and the family; development and ecology; disarmament and security; and peace education. - GMANews.TV