SVST’s Papellero Romero is Romero awardee
Date Posted: December 15, 2021 at 02:06 PM
Ms. Karen Papellero continues to make strides for the country after bagging an international research award for her Master’s thesis.
Ms. Papellero, who graduated from the University of Leuven (Summa Cum Laude) and Saint Vincent School of Theology (Meritissimus) last 2020, received the Archbishop Romero Prize for her research titled “Hope in the Post-Traumatic?”
“To be honest, I feel a little bit humbled by the idea of my work as being ‘in continuity’ with that of Oscar Romero . However, I would think that it is more in line of being inspired by his life and witness to the Gospel and his loving service of the poor and the marginalized,” she said, expressing her awe in receiving the award.
“It is a privilege to be able to encounter his story and be part of the important project of furthering his memory, a small contribution to ‘resurrecting’ him in our times.”
According to the awarding jury, the research was ‘a masterpiece of liberation theology,’ describing it as “innovative, promising and sophisticated, renewing liberation theology in its approach, especially with the inclusion of the Filipino context.”
Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, her criticism of precedent trauma theories and her resolution to the issues addressing trauma of colonialism was also lauded, with the judges describing her study as “creative, innovative, critical and hopeful thesis, then, was well-deserving of the prize.”
Ms. Papellero’s study features a transdisciplinary approach that develops ‘hermeneutics of hope’ amid trauma, which focuses on the struggles with the reality of hope within the phenomenon of the ‘war on drugs’ and the current socio-political context of the Philippines, namely violence and traumatic suffering.
“What kept me going was the memory of my engagement with the mothers, widows and orphans in Payatas B, Quezon City, Philippines. Whenever personal struggles strike, the faithful perseverance and hope of the people in this poor community hold me together like an invisible thread, providing a sense of connection and rootedness, in my diasporic (and sometimes exilic) life,” she said, explaining her inspiration for the study – the survival stories of widows and mothers of drug war victims.
“Writing my thesis is a small way of witnessing to their suffering and hope and giving justice to their experiences. I have always held on to the conviction that ‘doing theology’ is a way to learn from the ‘poor ones’ – for whom the Gospel is announced and God’s grace is mysteriously revealed.”
Ms. Papellero also revealed she will further develop her study, this time focusing on healing and salvation for her PhD dissertation.
“I am also developing further the framing of traumatic suffering according to postcolonial (trauma) theories which would unearth layers of collective cultural memory and historical injustice, attend to silenced voices of the victims and their everyday strategies of survival, and discover creative ways of building solidarity and hope for the future,” she said.
With reports from Theology Research News (TRN) [https://theo.kuleuven.be/]
