Short Bio
CURRICULUM VITAE: FAUSTO GOMEZ BERLANA
FAUSTO GOMEZ BERLANA, OP, is a Spanish Dominican (born in El Oso, Avila, Spain: December 4, 1937). He was ordained priest on June 14, 1962 at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, D. C. He holds a Licentiate in Theology (1963) from the Dominicans’ Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Washington, D. C., and an M. A. in Philosophy (1975) and a Doctorate in Theology (1971) from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. He has also taken postgraduate courses in bioethics at Loyola University in St. Louis, Missouri. (Summer, 1990 and 1991).
Fr. Gomez has worked at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila for forty four years (since 1965) as a Professor and an Administrator. As professor, he has taught in the University of Santo Tomas and in other theological institutions of Manila Fundamental Moral Theology, Grace, Virtues, Justice, Social Doctrine of the Church, and Bioethics.
Among the positions he has held in the University of Santo Tomas are the following: Secretary General (1966-1977), Dean of the Faculty of Theology (1979-1985, 1998-2004), Director of the Social Research Center (1979-1991), Regent of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (1988-1998), Founder and Chairman of the Department of Bioethics (1991-2001) and Regent of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences (1989-1994; 2004-2009). He was the editor of UNITAS, the UST Faculty Journal (1970-1977), and the editor of Bioethics Notes and News (2000-2009)
He has authored a number of books, including the following collections of essays: The Praxis of Justice and Solidarity (1988), Social Ethics: Doctrine and Life (1991), Promoting of Justice, Love, Life (1998), A Pilgrim’s Notes: Ethics, Social Ethics and Bioethics (2005), The Journey Continues: Notes on Ethics and Bioethics (2009), and Vatican II at Fifty Moral and Social Teachings (2013).
At present, Fr. Gomez is professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Saint Joseph in Macao, China, and professor at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines. He is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, and the Editorial Board of the (USA) National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly.
Publications
ACADEMIC YEAR 2014-2015
- St. Dominic 800 Years Later," O Clarim, 7 August 2015: 6-7.
- “The Church and the Elderly: Introducing Ascending Life,” O Clarim, 26 June 2015: 6.
- “My Fatima Experience,” O Clarim, 15 May 2015: 7.
- “The Catholic Church and the Death penalty Today,” O Clarim, 17 April 2015: 5
- “To Be Joyful and Passionate Lovers of Jesus and of All,” O Clarim, 5 December 2014: 4.
- “A Pilgrim’s Notes: The Great Significance of the Moment,” Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, Vol. XCI, No. 910 (March-April, 2015): 153-162
- “The Issue on Abortion,” Life Today (Sa Juan, Metro Manila), September 2014: 14-21.
ACADEMIC YEAR 2015-2016
- "The Gratitude of St. Francis," O Clarim, September 2015: 7.
- "Prayer in the Life of a Christian," Life Today, September 2015: 12-21
Modules
Year 2 Bachelor
This course will attempt a careful reflection on the complex realities of human existence in society and in the international order, in the light of faith and the Church's history of social teaching.
WAS LSW217
Participants will explore the foundation of Christian ethics, with a concentration on these and similar questions: On what basis do people decide how to make moral choices? Why do we take the moral stands we do on issues facing the churches and society? Do Christians have different ways of making decisions than people from other religious or secular traditions? The course examines philosophical, sociological and theological perspectives to these questions.
Meditation is a mind-body process that uses concentration or reflection to relax the body and calm the mind in order to create a sense of well being. This definition, which reflects a more western psychological tradition, only touches the surface of a full understanding of what meditation and reflection can do for the development of one’s spirituality. This course is an overview of meditation and reflection as perceived and practiced in both western and eastern traditions. Students will gain practical knowledge of such traditions and will explore a fuller understanding of the value and power of meditation and reflection in developing a deeper spirituality, as well as in dealing with severe medical situations involving long term suffering.
LRS210 Meditation and Reflection (2cr) / LRS224 Meditation and Reflection (3cr)
Year 3 Bachelor
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of bioethics and to philosophical ethics. The course will examine the different approaches to bioethical thought (e.g. theories, principles, cases, virtues). The philosophical issues will be discussed by examining the different areas of moral controversy in medicine and health care (e.g., research ethics, euthanasia, termination of treatment, abortion, cloning and the economics/ethical issues of care resources). Films and classroom discussions will be central to this course.
This course intends to be a continuation of the previous semester and the study of Chinese traditional thought to students of in different backgrounds. This course will be opened where it finished in the last semester, i.e. the Legalists’ school. It will then continue with the ascendancy of Confucianism and the revival of Taoism. The course will conclude with the introduction of European philosophy in China as well as the influence of Chinese philosophy on the European thought up to our Modern time. Seen through a comparative point of view, the latter part of this course aims at showing how those schools of thoughts differ or are similar to each other.
Year 4 Bachelor
The central issue for this course is the relationship between ethics and Christian faith. Among the issues we will study are the following: how Christian beliefs shape one’s ethical views; how different Christian theologies give rise to different understandings of the moral life; the tie between spirituality and ethics; and how the universal call to holiness gives rise to certain moral ways of being.
Drawing on the contributions of contemporary natural and social sciences, the course will provide a critical investigation of the historical and ideological understandings of human sexuality. Building upon the notion of human sexuality and love as dimensions of human holiness, attention will be given to considering Christian marriage as a sacramental event in contemporary theological reflection as well as in historical expression.
