CORY’S ADVISER | Fr. Catalino Arevalo (left) celebrates Mass on the 81st birth anniversary of the late Corazon Aquino at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City, in this photo taken on Jan. 25, 2013. (Photo by ARNOLD ALMACEN)
MANILA, Philippines — Eminent Jesuit priest and theologian Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo died early Wednesday, three months before his 98th birthday.
Arevalo is regarded as the “Father of Asian Theology” for his immense contribution to the enrichment of the Catholic faith beyond the Philippines.
He was mentor to generations of priests, religious and lay people, including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who is currently viewed as one of the top candidates for the next pope, and the late President Corazon Aquino.
Fondly called “Father Revs” by his students from over 40 years of teaching, the 97-year-old Arevalo died peacefully at 1:45 a.m. on Jan. 18 at the Jesuit Health and Wellness Center, according to the Society of Jesus Philippines.
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, hailed Arevalo as a “great teacher to whom we owe our love for theological learning and the spiritual discipline of discernment.”
“I imagine him smiling. He had waited for this transitioning to the great beyond impatiently,” David wrote in his social media account.
“All his friends know how he had made it his habit to say, after each visit from other good friends and former students since about 10 years ago: ‘This might be our last encounter so I have to say my ultimate goodbye,” the bishop added.
‘Ultimate goodbye’
At some point, David recalled, it became a ritual for Arevalo to say his “ultimate goodbye” during the San Jose Seminary Alumni Homecoming or at gatherings at the Jesuit Wellness Center of the Loyola House of Studies in Quezon City.
“The last time I saw him was at San Jose (Seminary). He was gamely posing for photos with his former students and even giving a wacky pose. But this time he did not say his usual goodbye. It sort of gave me the premonition that it might indeed be our last encounter,” he said, adding:
“I know what was his heart’s most ardent prayer for one of his most beloved students. May the Lord complete his joy by granting his heart’s desire.”
The wake is at the Oratory of St. Ignatius at the Loyola House of Studies in Loyola Heights, with the daily wake Masses at 8 p.m.
The funeral Mass is on Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. at Ateneo de Manila University’s Church of the Gesu, to be followed by the interment at the Province Cemetery at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, Quezon City.
Loyola, liberation theology
Born on April 20, 1925, Arevalo entered the seminary on May 30, 1941, at age 16.
He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1954.
In 1959, he became the first Filipino to teach at the Jesuit theologate of Woodstock College in Maryland.
From 1965 to 1966, he was dean of theology of the Loyola House of Studies and the first president of Loyola School of Theology from 1968 to 1971.
He served in the Loyola School of Theology until 2010, teaching courses on the Eucharist and Holy Orders, Christology and Redemption, Ecclesiology, Mariology and Theology of the Spiritual Exercises, according to the school.
Arevalo was the first Asian prelate on the Vatican’s International Theological Commission and the first convener and founding member of the Theological Advisory Commission of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), journalist Jose Torres Jr. wrote in LiCAS.news, a Catholic news service in Asia.
“After a 1970 trip to Latin America, Father Arevalo gave the first lectures on liberation theology in the Philippines. That same year he served as a ‘peritus’ (expert) at an Asian bishops’ meeting that would evolve in 1974 into the FABC,” said Torres.
Landmark document
Arevalo “drafted the first FABC statement, the landmark ‘Evangelization in Modern Day Asia’ which remains up to this day ‘the most influential articulation of the local churches of Asia,’” Torres noted.
In 2009, during the 9th FABC plenary assembly, Arevalo was recognized for being instrumental in the foundation and development of the regional bishops’ organization since its beginnings in 1970 in Manila.
Arevalo served as main theological adviser to the federation and chaired the body’s Theological Advisory Commission from its establishment in 1985 up to 1995.
The FABC acknowledged Arevalo as the “Father of Asian Theology,” citing his work as main author of the final document of the first FABC plenary assembly in 1974 in Taipei which helped set the theological orientation of the federation.
According to Torres, Arevalo received such acclaim in 1998 from Ateneo, which cited his more than 9,000 pages of theological writings “with an Asian emphasis.”
That year, Arevalo received a doctorate honoris causa in humanities from the university.
The late Manila archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin called Arevalo “Dean of all Filipino Theologians and Godfather of hundreds of priests” in 1997 when the Jesuit priest received the Vatican’s Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (For Church and Pope) award for distinguished service to the Church.