To align with the country’s celebration of Family Month, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cebu City and their friends from the Cebu City Interfaith Movement and Uniharmony Partners Cebu marched together in solidarity.
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Hundreds gathered in the early morning of 21 September at the Fuente Osmeña Circle for the march and concluded at Plaza Independencia. Despite the distance, friends from the different religious groups, the city government, and the Philippine National Police joined in the fun walk. Even little kids endured the long walk to show that regardless of religious beliefs and practices, Filipinos have one thing in common and that is the love for the family.
In Plaza Independencia, Sister Sandra Clemente of the Religious of the Sacred Heart gave a message to open the short program. Each organization, including the Church of Jesus Christ, offered prayers for peace, unity, and love.
According to Sister Clemente, she was grateful for the opportunity to meet people of different faiths. Interfacing with the interfaith community allowed her to gain respect for each other’s beliefs.
“For the past how many years that I have been in this movement, I learned a lot about the different religions,” she said. “It had taught me a lot that the people in those religions share one humanity regardless of their practices or traditions. For me, the basis is how we relate to one another as human beings created by one God. Because we have already agreed that we only have one God, but we only call this God different names.”
Cebu City Stake (Diocese) President Edmarc Dumas of the Church of Jesus Christ also spoke during the gathering and shared one essential factor that can promote peace in the country.
"If we truly want to achieve peace in our society, we must first establish a good foundation at home," he said. "Rearing good and God-fearing children can contribute to a better society."
President Dumas also shared that one can achieve inner despite the challenging conditions in the world and the personal challenges that one encounters in his or her life.
"I know peace comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ and through our obedience and righteousness. Even when there is so much trouble all around us, we can receive the blessing of inner peace. We can have peace when we keep the commandments, when we give service to our fellow men, when we care for the less fortunate, when we love our family and our neighbors. We can attain harmony within ourselves when we are willing to emulate and follow Jesus Christ and His teachings."
Following the short program, religious leaders from the interfaith group converged inside the historic Fort San Pedro.