Xavier launches Face to Faith program

MANILA, Philippines - In June 2011, Xavier School launched the Face to Faith program with a teacher training workshop attended by over 40 teachers and school administrators from eight private and public schools all over the country. Began in 2008 by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF), the program seeks to promote understanding and appreciation of religions through dialogue between faiths.

Face to Face is specifically designed for 12- to 17-year-old students to learn not only about different religions, but also about respect and dialogue. It comes with a flexible curriculum that can be incorporated not only into Religious Education classes, but also in any of the Humanities subjects like English, Filipino, and Social Studies. The best part about the program is that students learn not so much from teachers or textbooks, but from their peers.

Through video conferences moderated by trained facilitators, students can encounter students from other countries to discuss faith issues. At present, there are 16 countries aside from the Philippines who are involved, including Australia, Canada, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, UAE, the UK, and the USA.

Xavier School was tapped to be the lead school in the rollout of the Face to Faith program in the Philippines. School president, Fr. Johnny Go, SJ is excited about the long-term benefits of bringing interfaith dialogue in the classroom. He says, “Tony Blair emphasized that many of the problems in the world are caused by religious misunderstanding and intolerance. If our young people today - our future leaders — will learn how to be open and respectful towards those whose culture or religion is different from theirs, engage in authentic dialogue with them, and best of all, if they can actually become friends with them, I think we will have done a great service towards strengthening peace in our world.”

For more information on the program, go to www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org. Interested schools may contact Marlo Agtarap at philippines1@facetofaithonline. org or Leila Walker Face to Faith program manager at leila.walker@tony blairfaith foundation.org