Dear Friends,
This month, I wanted to focus on the updating you on my Ambassador project. Things are coming smoothly, and I thank God for the wonderful progress that has been made so far. This is a very exciting prospect.
As you already know, my project is an Internet-based chatroom and forum designed to bring young individuals of faith into a realm of Abrahamic ecumenism and dialogue. This group, known as the Abrahamic Youth Alliance (AYA), will bring young Jews, Christians and Muslims together in recognition of our similarities. In my research of current Abrahamic-interfaith initiatives, I came across Abrahamic Alliance International (AAi), a group dedicated to uniting Jews, Christians and Muslims for active peace building and the relief of extreme poverty. Rod Cardoza, the Founder and Executive Director of AAi, is a leader in the realm of Abrahamic bridge building and peace building. After learning more about the vision and ambitions of the AYA, AAi has offered to partner with AYA.
This was, indeed, a great blessing. AAi’s access to resources, experts, knowledge, networks, and above all, experience in the field is a great asset and vital lifeline to the development and success of the AYA. AYA’s website, which will include the forum and chatroom service, the centerpieces of our project, will be hosted by AAi, and AAi has offered to aid in the development of the site. We are indeed grateful for this partnership with AAi, and look forward to mutually collaborating to advance the goals of Abrahamic peace building.
The prospective leadership model for AYA has changed. Originally, we had a vision that there would be three “moderators” or “founders” that would lead, develop, create and manage AYA – a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim. However, as AYA is committed to building an “alliance” and, as an acting unified body of diverse individuals, will need a firm voice of its own. Also, since many of the Abrahamic faith traditions have diverse populations (i.e. Orthodox, Reform, Catholic, Protestant, Shiite, and Sunni), we have decided that developing a founding “Board of Directors” of about six individuals will not only contribute a wide variety of vision, but will also strengthen our “voice” and broaden the scope of our goals. We will be seeking out prospective candidates for this Board in the coming weeks.
AAi has also offered AYA a vital lifeline for project promotion, and I believe that it would be beneficial to share with the entire URI community, as all of URI’s participants are indeed interfaith leaders. Cardoza and AAi have introduced me to Bridge-Builders, a social network that links young interfaith leaders. Sponsored by the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), this network is indeed helping AYA to broaden its reach and attract other young interfaith leaders. I believe that many of you would also benefit from joining Bridge-Builders. It is a wonderful network, and you can join by clicking the following URL - http://bridge-builders.ning.com/.
I look forward to continuing my work with AAi and I will keep you all informed of the wonderful progress we are making.
In Peace,
Peter Dziedzic (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
