Tag: March 26, 2010

AFTER three fruitless years, the Alfredo M. Velayo-College of Accountancy finally made it to the top of the podium, toppling defending champion Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) en route to bringing home their first Pautakan trophy.

“The word ‘euphoric’ sums it all up. We didn’t expect it, but we had our high hopes,” said team captain Fermin Yabut who led the seven-man team to the championship. Accountancy always fell short of bagging the championship since joining the quiz contest in 2007. They did manage to claim the individual’s plum last year in the form of Yabut.

FINALLY, the Thomasian priests have come home.

Aiming to rekindle the camaraderie between Thomasian bishops, priests, and ex-seminarians, the Alumni Priests Association (Alpa) celebrated its 75th homecoming last January 29 and 30, at the UST Central Seminary.

With the purpose of going back to their roots, 264 registered alumni graced the two-day event, 12 of whom are bishops from various dioceses throughout the country.

“This serves as a coming-home, where the priests started and formed the gift of priesthood,” Alpa president Fr. Alfredo Guerrero said.

The event also recognized the Silver Jubilarians for 25 years of service to their parishioners, and the Golden Jubilarians who have spent half-a-century of service to the Church.

POPE JOHN Paul II once wrote that faith and reason were the wings which the soul used to fly to the light of the infinite. But these seemingly different faculties need not contradict each other but rather work harmoniously, as proven by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Graduate School Regent Fr. Jose Antonio Aureada, O.P. argued that contrary to wrong impressions, St. Thomas was “not through and through Aristotelian.” His works were attached to Aristotle’s concept of man as a rational animal, but he was able to reconcile faith and reason in his works. In fact, Aureada described St. Thomas as someone who used Philosophy to help him understand the Christian faith.

A TITLE revered by the Dominicans and held by St. Dominic de Guzman himself has been bestowed on UST’s renowned historian, Rev. Fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P., last December 2009.

Villarroel was dubbed Master of Sacred Theology, a second-level professional degree granted by seminaries and theological colleges. For the Dominicans, it is an honorary title given to its most distinguished scholars.

“It is a rare honor, especially nowadays,” Faculty of Sacred Theology Dean Fr. Rodel Aligan, O.P. said. “In order to be a recipient, one must have shown exemplary performance in scholarly pursuits.”

IN ORDER to address the dwindling number of priests in the world, a proposed ordination of lay persons was discussed in a memorial lecture honoring Dominican theologian Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P.

Titled Revolutionizing Priesthood the lecture delved on Schillebeeckx’s ideas on priesthood, especially his advocacies in revolutionizing the ordained ministry. It was attended by Thomasian seminarians and held last February 17 at the Martyr’s Hall, UST Central Seminary.

Schillebeeckx, one of the foremost and influential icons of 20th century Theology, died last Dec. 23, 2009 at Nijmegen, Netherlands due to natural illness. He was 95.

NOW ON its fourth year, the Varsitarian’s Cinevita film fest reaffirmed its advocacy of using film as a tool for meaningful expressions of life through the screening of internationally acclaimed independent films Lola and Kinatay.

Both directed by UST advertising arts alumnus Brillante Mendoza, winner of the Best Director award in the 62nd Cannes Film Festival last May, Kinatay and Lola were shown at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex Auditorium last March 4. The event was a collaboration between the Varsitarian and Thomasian Cable TV.

FASHION will not cease to exist even in a post-apocalyptic world.

Year Zero: Apocalypse Recoutured showed the rebirth of style through 105 clothing trends made by junior advertising students of the College of Fine Arts and Design. The show was held last February 24 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.

Advertising junior Patrick Franz Martin, chairman of the fashion show, said that Year Zero presents “innovative fashion trends in a post-apocalyptic environment,” where everything, including fashion, are being revitalized.

The new world that Year Zero portrays is a place with only a handful of survivors still adjusting to a very different environment, thus recreating the fashion trends of the past “to suit the style of the modern taste.”

LOVE for music and country went hand-in-hand in this year’s annual Himig Tomasino, where Thomasian chorale groups battled it out to reach the highest note in the competition.

Organized by the Student Organizations Coordinating Council, this year’s chorale contest held last February 12 at the Medicine Auditorium commemorated the People Power revolution with the nationalistic theme, Ang mga Saliw ni Juan.

ANG PAGSUSULAT ay kukuha ka ng kapiraso sa karanasan mo, kapiraso sa nakita mo, kapirasong gawa-gawa mo…at kung saan-saan.”

Ito ang tinuran ni Genoveva Edroza-Matute (1915-2009), ang kinikilalang “Ina ng Makabagong Maikling Kuwentong Filipino.” Ito rin marahil ang pormula kung bakit nananatili ang pagtimo ng kaniyang mga akda sa puso’t isipan ng kaniyang mga mambabasa isang taon mula ng kaniyang pagpanaw.

PINARANGALAN ng National Commission on Culture and the Arts ang UST Singers, ang Tomasinong direktor na si Brillante Mendoza, at ang manunulat ng UST Publishing House na si Abdon Balde, Jr ng “Ani ng Dangal” bilang pagkilala sa kanilang pagkapanalo sa mga pangdaigdigang patimpalak.

Kinilala ang UST Singers matapos nilang iuwi ang mga unang gantimpala para sa mga kategoryang Required Pieces at Folk Competition sa 2009 California International Choral Festival Competition na ginanap mula Hunyo 26-28, 2009 sa San Luis Obispo, California.