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‘Father of Asian
MASS INTENTIONS Get your Advent and
Christmas Devotionals

Theology,’ Father
Catalino Arevalo, dies
at 97

By Jose Torres Jr. SUBSCRIBE TO

LiCAS.news FAITHWATCH
January 18, 2023

Ano ang katoto

Prominent Filipino Jesuit priest Catalino Arevalo, dubbed the “Father of Asian
Theology,” died early morning of Wednesday, January 18, three months before
his 98th birthday.
00:00 28:08
“Our dear mentor and friend, Fr Catalino Arevalo, SJ, whom we fondly called ‘Fr
Revs,’ has passed on,” read a note posted on social media by Bishop Pablo
Virgilio David of Kalookan.

“May this great teacher to whom we owe our love for theological learning and
the spiritual discipline of discernment rest in the peace of God’s embrace,” said
the prelate.

In 1998, Father Arevalo was named the “Father of Asian Theology” by the
Ateneo de Manila University at a convocation commemorating the feast of
Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

The university cited the priest’s more than 9,000 pages of theological writings
“with an Asian emphasis” in the name of bishops’ conferences and other Church
leaders.

The Jesuit was the first Asian on the Holy See’s International Theological
Commission and the first convenor and founding member of the Theological
Advisory Commission of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).
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.

Philippine Jesuit Infirmary

last Tuesday

The Society of Jesus Philippines announces with great sadness the death of
†Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo SJ. He died peacefully at 1.45 am on January 18,
2023, at the Jesuit Health and Wellness Center. He was 97 years old.
REST IN PEACE
†Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo SJ
Born: April 20, 1925... See more

119 267 531

He drafted the first FABC statement, the landmark “Evangelization in Modern

Day Asia,” which remains “the most influential articulation … of the local
Churches of Asia.”

The late Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila named Father Arevalo “Dean of all
Filipino Theologians.”

In 1997, the Jesuit priest received the Vatican’s “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (For
Church and Pope)” for distinguished service to the Church.

“He had waited for this transitioning to the great beyond impatiently,” said
Bishop David in his post on Facebook about the death of Father Arevalo.

“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 ten years ago, to say ‘This
might be our last encounter, so I have to say my ultimate goodbye,'” said the
prelate.

“I reminded him each time I saw him again that he had already said what he
thought was his ultimate goodbye the previous year, but he would just chuckle
and say, ‘Then I should say it again, because this might really be our last
encounter,'” he added.

Bishop David said the Jesuit’s “farewell” became “an almost yearly ritual.”

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