The meeting of the Uni Harmony Group, of which the Cultural Center of Islamic Republic of Iran in Manila is also a member, took place on Thursday, Mordad 26, 1402, corresponding to August 17, 2023, in the building where Cardinal Sin (former leader of the Catholic Church of the Philippines) resides. Uni Harmony is a group of people who have made many efforts for the rapprochement of interfaith dialogue among the Abrahamic religions and have held many meetings in this direction since the past. The topic of Thursday's meeting was to review the cooperation and activities of this group after the COVID-19 pandemic. The program starts at 10:00 am with a prayer to the Mighty Lord and with the presence of twenty-five members of the group, consisting of followers of Islam, Christianity (various branches), Buddhism and Hinduism, and Father "Carlos Reyes", one of the founders of this group, provided a detailed report on the activities of the group after the pandemic for the audience.

 

He added that the building where we are currently gathered was the residence and important meetings of Cardinal Sin, the former bishop of Manila, for more than five years, and there is a library on the second floor of this building that contains valuable and important books. The speaker continued, "I used to hold the Lord's Supper ceremonies in this place."

 

Father Reyes added that there are still many tasks, including commemorating World Peace Day, in progress that need to be carried out in coordination with the United Nations' program. In this regard, Mr. Bong Baybado, a professor at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, will collaborate and assist us and hereby I requests assistance from all members in this regard, as they plan to visit universities and places of worship for followers of various religions, including churches, mosques, temples, and thinkers, to listen to their views on peace. Father Reyes continued, the title of our current activities is related to the promotion of peace and practical action to achieve it, and we are looking to hear the definition of peace from the mouths of followers of different religions and beliefs. We also have plans for video recording of the respondents to the peace question, which can be the basis of our future plans. Mr. "Bong Bai Bado", professor of Theology Faculty of the University of Santa Tomas Manila "UST" also gave explanations in this field and added that the close relationship of the members of "Uni Harmony" guarantees the success of these projects.

 

Then the subject was left for open discussion, and Mr. Samadi, on behalf of Cultural Center, presented two proposals regarding the need for a poll on peace, which were gained attention by the audience, especially the officials of the Catholic Church. First, it is a fact that the real enforcers of peace in the society are different classes of people, and although the role of the leaders and thinkers of the society in guiding them is undeniable, such important issues should not be discussed only in closed halls and among the elites, there should be a dialogue, but should also involve different segments of society in surveys. The results of these surveys should be evaluated and serve as a guide for making various decisions. The second point of view was also raised by the Cultural Center that "why do we always accuse the protesters of the peace process?" and we do not consider the category of justice, which is the main cause of breaking the peace, and how the world today can remain silent in front of the injustices that occur in all parts of the world and ask the oppressed to remain silent and support peace.

 

Cultural Center’s representative added, for example, the western media nowadays call the oppressed people of Palestine and other protesters of the Islamic world terrorists and accuse them of disrupting peace, while these protesters are shouting for the establishment of justice, which is their right and the same is the case with the existing differences between Catholics and Protestants, which was once mentioned by the Father Carlos Reyes, who is here himself, so it is suggested that in the margins of numerous meetings for peace, the necessary effort to discuss It should also be done around the establishment of justice because peace without  justice is meaningless.

 

Mr. Abolghasemi, the Cultural Counselor, who was at the same time as holding this meeting in the company of the ambassador of the Islamic Republic, who was in the presidential palace to present his letter of recommendation to the President of the Philippines, after finishing the program, with great effort, he went to the Uni Harmony meeting which was still going on. He was praised by the organizers of the program because of his dedication to joining. Due to the arrival of the Cultural Counselor, which was at the same time as the open discussion, he also put forward his views which were welcomed. At the beginning, Mr. Abolghasemi apologized to the audience for arriving late to the meeting and stated that the reason for this was his attendance at the official meeting with the President of the Philippines in the presence of the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While emphasizing the necessity of condemned of insult by everyone because it can include the holy books of other heavenly religions, which was confirmed by the religious officials present at the meeting. In another part of his content, Cultural Counselor called for confronting extremism from everyone, including the members of Uni Harmony, and admitted that the scope of these inappropriate actions has also extended to places of worship and holy places, including, unfortunately, the terrorist attack in Shahcheragh Shiraz in Iran, which led to the martyrdom and injury of some audience members and worshipers. Mr. Bai Bado, professor of the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Manila, who himself was one of the moderators of the "Uni Harmony" meeting, immediately asked for a minute's silence in honor of the victims of the Shahcheragh incident, which was achieved. The Cultural Counselor of the Islamic Republic also seized the opportunity and discussed and exchanged preliminary opinions on the sidelines of the Uni Harmony meeting with the Father Reyes and Mr. Bai Badu regarding the 8th round of interfaith dialogues to be held in Tehran and added, taking into account the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the delay of many plans and decisions, the Islamic Culture and Communication Organization would like to hold the eighth round of interfaith dialogues in Tehran. In this regard, the Cultural Counselor informed the Filipino side of the two proposed dates and initiated several preliminary talks with Mr. Bai Badu who was present at the meeting and emphasized that Tehran wants these talks to be held at the highest possible level and as soon as possible should be done. Because there should be enough time to exchange articles on religion in the digital age. He added that we hope that His Excellency Cardinal "Edonkola", the head of the Catholic Church of the Philippines, and his accompanying delegation will participate in it, and considering that Mr. Bai Bado has agreed to the desire of Cardinal "Khe to two" high-ranking officials of the Catholic Church of the Philippines to travel to Tehran, including the mentioned Cardinal and the name of Bishop David, who is the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (the founding assembly of the Catholic Church) and one of the famous and very active personalities, has been mentioned "Khe Be Do" and Bishop David will travel to Tehran.

 

In response, Mr. Bai Bado stated that as far as I know, due to the lack of time, it is only possible to hold the meeting in Tehran next February, which is also among your suggestions. However, I must emphasize that the leader of the Catholic Church in the Philippines before and after February, he will be in the Vatican for important meetings, and if his activities in the Vatican are over and he returns to the Philippines, he will face a lot of busy work, and the possibility of his trip to Tehran will be weak.

 

In response, the Cultural Counselor said that if necessary, we can send them an official invitation letter from the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communication. In response, the Father Reyes emphasized, the process is such that the leader of the Philippine Church, upon receiving such invitations, refers it to the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and Cardinal “Ke Be Do” for further investigation, and if he is not able to go on this trip due to reasons such as busy work, naturally, the next subsequent individuals will be determined, so if the invitation is addressed to Cardinal Edunkola, it may cause the next subsequent individuals to be confused as to why they were not directly invited. Hence, this process requires a very sensitive and precise mechanism.

 

The cultural representative of Iran asked if it is possible to respectfully ask the leader of the Philippine Church in the invitation letter that Cardinal "Khe Be Do" and Bishop David also go to Tehran with him. In response, Father Reyes said that this action is a form of interference in the work process of the head of the Catholic Church, who has full freedom in choosing the accompanying delegation, therefore it is not advisable to include such a request in the invitation letter.

 

In the end, it was decided that the Filipino parties will negotiate with the personalities who have the possibility to travel to Tehran, and also, while consulting with the office of the Catholic Church leader, Cardinal Edunkola, they will verbally announce the status to the Cultural Center next week, so that the Cultural can proceed according to the Time calendar.