Selected students from the Ateneo universities in the Philippines had a historic synodal encounter with Pope Francis as part of the Building Bridges Across Asia Pacific event. Held on Thursday, 20 June 2024, the event brought together university students from across the Asia Pacific region to engage in a dialogue with the Holy Father.
The encounter was part of the Building Bridges Initiative organized by Loyola University Chicago, in collaboration with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See. Before the encounter, a group of students from Ateneo de Manila, Naga, Davao, Zamboanga, and Cagayan de Oro had participated in spiritual conversations around shared social issues. These students had the unique opportunity to interact with Pope Francis via Zoom, with representatives speaking directly on their behalf. The event also featured students from countries such as Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
One of the students from the Ateneo de Davao University delegation, Ms. Jaya Harvy S. Makol, shared her experiences.
By Ms. Jaya Harvy S. Makol
A couple of hours before the end of 20 June 2024, a meaningful Papal encounter happened that stamped on the memory and hearts of chosen delegates of Ateneo schools throughout the country, including me, whose collegiate journey will culminate in a few days already.
At the Outset
As a Muslim, I knew Pope Francis as an influential figure. More particularly, he has that stature who can impact the lives of many, especially those who follow the Catholic Church. However, never in my entire life did I desire nor expect to meet him at all, not until I received the news after my afternoon class that I was nominated to represent Ateneo de Davao University at the Building Bridges Initiative – Asia Pacific.
At first, I was confused about why I was nominated because, in the first place, I am a Muslim, and, secondly, I am already graduating. While contemplating my confirmation and consent to attend the said initiative, I realized that it would be a significant opportunity for me to share about Islam and my experiences as a young Muslimah in Davao City. Hence, I accepted the nomination and participated in the month-long activity.
Breaking the Ground
Before the Papal encounter, we had a series of engagements with the diverse delegates from different Ateneo schools representing their own stories and communities. As we were divided into two circles, I met some of my Muslim brothers, co-scholars, and student-leaders from Ateneo de Manila University, Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, Ateneo de Naga University, and Ateneo de Zamboanga. Together with Angelica Gualna, also known as Weweng, representing the Indigenous Peoples Student Community of AdDU, in the circle, I am happy that we were able to interact and get to know them despite the issues and struggles commonly experienced in a virtual meeting. It is also during this time that we were oriented about the important details of this initiative.
Constructing the Foundation
In the next weeks, we, student representatives, were involved in a series of dialogues in order to share and discuss our communal experiences and hopes appropriately and seamlessly during the Papal encounter. Although I have a background through the courses and platforms offered by our university, I am thankful to be part of this project because of my increased knowledge and experience about dialogue. Primarily, we were introduced and informed that we would follow the Conversation in the Spirit as our direction in the upcoming conversations.
Building the Bridge
Through guided questions, we had our purposeful conversations as we shared our own stories, listened to other narratives, and exchanged our resonances with each other. Issues such as poverty, discrimination, gender inequalities, social stigmas, and mental health emerged from our circle during the dialogue. This matter led me to think that it would be nearly impossible or too difficult for us to reach a mutual ground, considering that we have widely different backgrounds and experiences. It is noteworthy that it is not a sole interreligious, interfaith, and intercultural dialogue. More than that, it was also an interworldview one. Nevertheless, from those strings of conversations, a notion of communal experience with social injustices has unfolded.
Yet, this idea of communion did not initially come out of the blue. It was a gradual process of additional meetings and discussions as we crafted our message to Pope Francis after the series of dialogues. During our writing, it was challenging to synthesize all the sharings and interrelate them with one another to establish a harmonized theme. With the assistance of our facilitators from Ateneo de Manila Univeristy, we were able to resolve it with my colleagues, JLove and Daud, within a week before the day of the Synodal Encounter.
Crossing the Bridge
After a month of a series of dialogues, we were able to meet and deliver our message to the Pope with the hope of receiving a response from him about the positionality and pragmatic solutions of the Catholic Church regarding the social issues affecting most Filipino youth regardless of socio-cultural background. The message was also significant to me, as its introductory was my story as a young Muslimah.
On the other hand, it was also an unlocked experience for me, especially since it was the first international event that I had joined. It was refreshing but, at the same time, overwhelming because I met diverse university students across Asia-Pacific, as well as being the only Muslimah I could see in the frame I belong.
At the Endpoint
Essentially, traversing the bridge was a worthwhile experience for me. Firstly, it was purposeful for me to deliver my story, as well as to forward my advocacies across time and space. Secondly, it was remarkable, for it became an opportunity for me to listen to the narratives and experiences of other youth coming from different realities and communities. Through this, I was able to recognize other relevant yet undermined social issues in the country and across Asia-Pacific. Finally, participating in this initiative was substantial as it allowed me to acknowledge how important it is for us to maximize events that allow us to connect to influential figures in society. Notwithstanding, it is undeniably difficult for the masses to seek help and assistance from the people in the higher standings; even conversing with them entails falling on one’s knees or demanding blood, sweat, and tears. Nevertheless, an encounter between Pope Francis and university students from different parts of the world is a testament that a conversation between and among people, regardless of social hierarchical categories, is still realizable after all.
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