The Gorospe Awards 2024: A celebration of Fr George’s passion for research

Getting To Know Fr George

Fr Vitaliano Gorospe SJ, was a professor and former chairperson of the Department of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University.  In a 29 January 2002 memo, then Ateneo President, Fr Ben Nebres SJ, announced Fr George’s demise after 76 years of life, 46 years as a priest, and 39 years of service in the Ateneo de Manila University. His academic interests were moral philosophy and theology, as well as the areas of religious education, spirituality, and popular religiosity. 

According to a theology brief on him dated 16 January 2000, Fr George wrote the Catechism on the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church in 1954, while he was still a scholastic.  As chairperson of the Department of Theology, he introduced the Theology of Liberation course which inspired the creation of an immersion program for Seniors as well as the Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines (JVP).  Together with Fr Nebres (then College Dean), Fr Eduardo Hontiveros SJ, and Fr William Kreutz SJ, Fr George spent a month of immersion with low-income farmers in Laguna, leading to the foundations of the Office of Social Concern and Involvement.  But aside from his love for social justice and the poor, Fr George wrote much which, as of the year 2000, had reached 113 publications.   In June 1993, a Gorospe Professorial Chair in Theology was created in his honor. For many years, Fr George was committed to raising funds for the formation and development of the Ateneo Theology faculty. At his death on 28 January 2002, the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dr Christina Astorga wrote that Fr George “had lived a life as full as his laughter was rich, and as his love was deep.”

Celebrating the Awards That Bear His Name

Several years after Fr George passed away, Fr Adolfo Dacanay SJ, of the Department of Theology, initiated the informal organizing of awards for Theology faculty who had published their research or finished their academic studies.  Subsequently, friends of the Theology Department generously support the Fr Gorospe Awards because they believe in the formative work of the Theology program having gone through it themselves. Fr Dacanay who heads the Committee overseeing the Fr George Gorospe SJ Awards says, these awards are “in his memory, and to continue the work about which he had always been passionate.”  Hence, the annual Gorospe Awards recognizes research work published and academic degrees completed by members of the ADMU Department of Theology.  A technical committee reviews books, textbooks, and articles (published or accepted for publication) as well as academic degrees completed within that year (since the last year’s awarding).  They determine the awardees for the year.

A dinner is held for the department and the traditional reading of honors and gaudiosa take place at a Friday evening closest to the death anniversary of Fr George. 

Gorospe Awards 2024

This year’s Gorospe Awards took place last 2 February 2024 at Faber Hall 101.  Welcome remarks were given by Dr Ruben Mendoza, the Department of Theology chairperson. Mr Raoul Roncal said the opening prayer and blessing of the meal.  After dinner, Dr. Michael Liberatore introduced the awardees on behalf of Fr Dacanay.   

This year’s harvest included 27 published works by 11 faculty members.  In addition, two faculty members were recognized for graduating with degrees. 

Here is a list of this year’s awardees:

Publications: 

1.  Maria Elisa A Borja, PhD

• "Letter to Families.” In Modern Catholic Family Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations. Edited by Jacob M. Kohlhaas and Mary M. Doyle Roche. Georgetown University: Washington, DC, 2024.

2. Jonathan James O Cañete

• “A Phenomenological Reflection On Ubos-Biyaya And Petsa De Peligro: Capitalism's Impact on Filipino Attitude of Spending and Church's Proposition for an Inclusive Economy.” PUP Mabini Review Journal. Forthcoming,
• “A Community Geared Towards Mission: Luzon BEC Narrative Summary.” In Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines: Histories and Stories of a Pilgrim Church. Edited by Fides Antonio-del Castillo and Raymund B. Habaradas. 2023.
• “The Church of Discipleship: A Summary of BEC Narratives at the National Level.” In Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Philippines: Histories and Stories of a Pilgrim Church. Edited by Fides Antonio-del Castillo and Raymund B. Habaradas. 2023.

3. Kenjie I Cortez

• “A Church in Communion: PCP II and The Early Church.” Loyola Papers 4.1 (2023): 121-154.
• “Thirty Years After the Council: The Catholic Church in the Philippines' Reception of PCP II and Remembrance of Martial Law.” Asia Pacific Mission Studies 5.2 (2023): 42-61.

4. Wilson Angelo G Espiritu, PhD

• “Rethinking the Panata to the Nazareno of Quiapo.” Journal of Global Catholicism 7.2 (June 2023): 8-29.
• “A Call for Compassion for the Suffering Others: Devotion to the Suffering Christ and Schillebeeckx’s Future-Oriented Hermeneutic.” In Contextualizing Normativity of the Future: Explorations Beyond the Biblical Text. Edited by Emmanuel Nathan, Reimund Bieringer. Peeters, 2024.
• A Mystical-Political Pledge: The Nexus of the Nazareno Devotion and Politics. Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs. Peeters, 2024.

5. Ma Maricel S Ibita, PhD

• “#Choosetochallenge: Covid-19, Community Research, and the Canaanite Woman.” Acta Theologica 2023 Sup35 (2023): 180–99.
• “Critical Times, the Bible and Sustainability: The Challenge and Implications of Contemporary Biblical Ecological Hermeneutics.” In Service for a Servant Church: Outlines and Challenges for Catholic Theology Today, 61–74. Edited by Gunter Pruller-Jagenteufel, Ruben C. Mendoza, and Gertraud Ladner. Paderborn, Germany: Brill Schöningh, 2023.
• “Los Márgenes Como Fronteras: Teologización Poscolonial Sobre La Recuperación Feminista Sostenible Después Del Covid-19. In Miradas a Todo Color: Teologías Feministas Poscoloniales En Un Mundo En Conflicto. Edited by Silvia Martínez Cano and Mireia Vidal Quintero Aletheia. Navarra, Espana: Editorial Verbo Divino, 2023.

6. John Lemuel L Lenon

• “Faithful Citizenship in the Person of Jesus.” Loyola Papers 4.1 (2023): 27-52.

7. Ruben C Mendoza, PhD

• “Resisting the Domestication of the Christian Faith: Becoming Church 500 Years Hence” In Service for a Servant Church. Outlines and Challenges for Catholic Theology Today. Edited by G. Preuller-Jagenteufel, R. C. Mendoza, and G. Ladner. Brill, 2023.
• “The Performance of the Christian Faith under a Populist President: The Case of the Philippine Church under Duterte.” In Theos and Polis: Political Theology as Discernment. Edited by Stephan van Erp and Jacques Haers. Peeters, 2023.
• “’Not to Be Served but to Serve’ (Mt 20,28): Rethinking Leadership and Ministry in the Church beyond 500 Years of Catholicism in the Philippines. Hapag: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Theological Research, 20.1-2 (2023).

8. Edwin B Odulio, PhD

• “Enriching the Moral Life: Developing the Way Christian Morality Is Taught in Philippine Catholic Religious Education.” Asian Horizons. Forthcoming.
• Pakikilakbay at Pakikipagkapwa: Conversations on Faith and Compassionate Approaches to Drugs (A toolkit for facilitating group discussions on social issues.) John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues and The Fund for the Global Human Rights, 2023.
• Signs of the Times Grades 1-10, Echoes of God’s Love Grades 7,8,10, Paano Magpakabuti Grades, Values Unfolding Grades 1 and 4. Rex Publishing, 2024. Note: Developmental and Christian Living Editor and Reviewer.

9. Stephanie Ann Y Puen, PhD

• “Women’s Needs vs. Economic Survival During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating This Tension Using Care and Justice.” Acta Theologica Suppl. 35 (2023).
• “Design Thinking in the Catholic Church’s Organizational Structures: Responding to the Wicked Problem of the Sex Abuse Crisis.” Doing Theology and Theological Ethics in the Face of the Abuse Crisis. Edited by Daniel Fleming, James Keenan, and Hans Zollner. Pickwick Publications, 2023.
• “Economics and Catholic Social Teaching: A Pedagogy of Navigating Rationality, Self-Interest, Altruism, and Reciprocity.” Social Transformations: Journal of the Global South, 10:1 (2022).

10. Teofilo Giovan S Pugeda, III

• “Difficult texts: Pronouns for God in Genesis 1.26, Exodus 20.2 and Isaiah 41.4–21” Theology 126.6 (2023): 434-7.

11. Rachel Joyce Marie O Sanchez

• “Women’s Needs vs. Economic Survival During the COVID-19 Pandemic:
  Navigating This Tension Using Care and Justice.” Acta Theologica Suppl. 35 (2023).
• “Catalino Arevalo, SJ: 1925-2023” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 71.2 (2023).
• “Aggiornamento and Ressourcement Could Mean More for Women: Reflections on Vatican II from the Perspective of Women in the Philippine Conte” In Signs of the Times, Our World Through the Lens of Vatican II. Edited by Lourdes Didith Mendoza-Rivera and Eleanor R. Dionisio. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University, 2021.
• “Not a Package Deal: Gender Theory and Ideological Colonization in Philippine Theologizing” Toward a Bai Theology: Catholic Feminism in the Philippines. Edited by Agnes M. Brazal and Virginia Fabella. Quezon City: Claretian, 2023

Degrees Completed:

1. Mark Christian Ray G Garcia

• MA in Theological Studies with a concentration in Systematic Theology, Ateneo de Manila University; Thesis: Thy Kingdom Come: A Regnocentric Approach in Designing the Theology 11 Syllabus of the Loyola Schools (2023)

2. John Paul A Bolano

• PhD in Theology with a concentration in Biblical Theology, Ateneo de Manila University; Dissertation: The Sabbath as an Interpretative Lens for Ecological Biblical Hermeneutics (2023)

Awardees Mr Jonathan Cañete, Dr Wilson Espiritu, and Dr Maricel Ibita were not available to receive their awards.

Photos courtesy of the Ateneo Theology Department.