Representatives from six different religions (From L to R) T Subhash Sajane, Dr Sitakant N. Kamat Ghanekar, Devapriyo Chakma, Maulana Abdul Quddus Khan , Fr Cedric Prakash, SJ (special guest), Fr Sebastiao Mascarenhas, SFX (Superior General of the Society
OLD GOA
Around 63 college students from 10 different colleges across the State came together to dialogue and build solidarity with one another during the Yuva Sadbhav, a two-day Inter Faith programme for young people from different faiths and beliefs at the Pilar Pilgrim Centre, Pilar, on March 26-27.
Yuva Sadbhav is an activity of Sadbhav, an initiative of the Society of Pilar to foster interfaith relations and communal harmony.
Fr Lawrence Fernandes, the Director of Pilar Pilgrim Centre, welcomed the youth, while Pravin Sabnis, a corporate trainer, was one of the resource persons for Yuva Sadbhav.
Through his session titled ‘rainbow diversity’, Sabnis said “without justice and dignity, equality is not possible. We have to work towards humanism and communal harmony through interaction between different communities to celebrate diversity.”
Tallulah D’silva, Prof. Joan Rebello, Fr Elvis Fernandes, Ambrin Beig and Asim Shaikh also facilitated the other sessions.
“It has been an out of life experience. Honestly speaking, I was reluctant to come for the Yuva Sadbhav programme, since I did not know what it had to offer. However, in a span of two days, I can say that I have become a totally different person,” remarked Sanket Yadav, one of the participants from Padre Conceicao College, Verna.
The Yuva Sadbhav came to a close with the Sadbhav Prarthana, an interfaith prayer meet for connecting spiritually with members from different faith communities.The prayer meet was led by representatives from six different religions, who presented their reflections based on the theme ‘Mercy and Forgiveness’.
The representatives from six different religions were a civil engineer Subhash Sajane (Jain), oncologist Dr Sitakant N Kamat Ghanekar (Hindu), Devapriyo Chakma of Arunachal Pradesh (Buddhist), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind member Maulana Abdul Quddus Khan (Islam), INS Mandovi Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher Inderjeet Kaur (Sikh) and Jesuit priest Fr Menino Gonsalves (Christian). All of them spoke of experiencing God’s mercy and forgiveness and in turn becoming channels of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Fr Cedric Prakash, well-known human rights, reconciliation and peace activist, who was the special guest during Sadbhav Prarthana, inspired the gathering through his sharing of ideas and critical thoughts on interfaith issues in our times.
Fr Sebastiao Mascarenhas, Superior General of the Society of Pilar, lauded the college students for participating in Yuva Sadbhav and celebrating their diversity. He said this is not just a one-time event but a movement to build communal harmony and peace. Convenor of Sadbhav Fr Elvis Fernandes later thanked the youth and the guests for their participation in the Yuva Sadbhav.
