On 23 October, Edward had the great privilege to facilitate the first Gen Z Summit outside of Europe, at the National Seminary of Our Lady of Lanka in the beautiful mountain city of Kandy, Sri Lanka. You can read more about the event at the seminary website (linked below).
Sri Lanka is a majority Buddhist country, but with a small minority of Roman Catholics (approximately 7% of the population). Hosted at the country’s national seminary, the Summit drew a crowd of approximately 200 Catholic young adults, as well as a handful of participants from Buddhist and other religious/spiritual backgrounds. No matter their spiritual background, every participant became a co-researcher, co-interpreting the study’s story-completion submissions, situating the stories within the authors’ demographic data, and presenting their findings to each other. Participants learnt new qualitative research skills, engaged in inter- and intra-religious dialogue, and deepened their understanding of Gen Z imaginations of religion and spirituality in a digital age.
Huge thanks to the seminary organising committee and to Fr Kasun Fernando, Fr Rasika Perera, Fr Shashika Rodrigo, and Fr Rector Quintus Fernando, as well as to all the attendees who traveled from far and wide to be there. None of this would have been possible without you!
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