Fr Catalino G Arevalo SJ, 1925-2023 (Memo U2223-048)

With deep sadness, we inform the University community of the passing away of Fr Catalino G Arevalo SJ in the early morning of 18 January 2023. He was 97 years old. He entered the Society of Jesus on 30 May 1941 and was ordained a priest on 19 June 1954.

In 1941, Catalino Arevalo graduated as class valedictorian of the Ateneo de Manila High School. In 1963, when he was thirty-eight years old, and nine years a Jesuit priest, a special issue of Asia magazine named him, along with Ninoy Aquino, Gerry Roxas, O D Corpuz, Leandro Locsin, Arturo Luz, and Fidel V Ramos, one of the “24 most outstanding young men in the Philippines.”

In 1970, he was the theological adviser of what would become the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC). Four years later, at the first FABC plenary assembly, he authored the watershed Evangelization in Modern Day Asia, outlining the breadth and depth of building and nurturing a genuinely local church in Asia. Jaime Cardinal Sin called Fr Revs the “Dean of All Filipino Theologians and the Godfather of Hundreds of Priests.”

Revered as the Father of Asian Theology, Fr Revs was an inspiration to many.  In 1997, Pope John Paul II, bestowed on Fr Revs the prestigious Papal Award, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.  Also, during 1997, in grateful recognition of the outstanding fruitfulness of his life of service to the Church, especially in the Philippines and Asia, in deep admiration at the generosity and self-effacing humility with which he rendered this service, Ateneo de Manila conferred on one of its own, Fr C G Arevalo, the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa.

Despite his stature, Fr Revs paid attention to what was most important: teaching and understanding the Word of Life. For more than six decades, he taught courses in Ecclesiology, Missiology, Christology, and Holy Orders, delivered talks and lectures, facilitated retreats and recollections, and drafted numerous church documents and pastoral letters, speeches, homilies, statements of bishops and religious leaders - mentoring, guiding, and inspiring ordained clergy, consecrated religious, and lay people.

We request the Ateneo community to keep Fr Catalino G Arevalo SJ, his family, and his Jesuit brothers in your prayers.

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Eternal rest grant unto Fr Revs, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.