News on DAKATEO AND INSeCT
(International Network for Societies in Catholic Theology)
The International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT) organized a conference marking the thirtieth anniversary of the organization. The conference was held at the Pécsi Püspöki Hittudományi Főiskola in Pécs, Hungary, from August 26-30, 2026, with the theme "Future of Theology: Disrupting the Past and Generating a New Vision".
The conference gathered representatives from various member societies from all over the world to discuss this theme in light of the thirty years of work INSecT has done in both the peripheries and the center of the Church, as well as the future of its work in building the Church in partnership with other Catholic communities and organizations outside of academia. 17 member societies and 4 affiliated societies attended the conference.
.As per its website post, INSeCT was founded on August 4, 1996, and the statutes were drafted and agreed upon by Peter Hünermann, Mário Fabri dos Anjos (Sociedade de Teologia e Ciências de Religio, SOTER, Sao Paul, Brazil), Paul G. Crowley, S.J. (Catholic Theological Society of America, CTSA), Carlos Maria Galli (Sociedad Argentina de Teologia, SAT), Meinrad Hegba (Association Oecumenique des Theologiens Africaines, AOTA), Christian Johansson (Sociedad Chilena de Teologia), Anne E. Patrick SNJM (Catholic Theological Society of America, CTSA), Nico Schreurs (Europäische Gesellschaft für katholische Theologie, ET), Ignacio Mader Vargas, SDS (Associacion de teologos koinonia, Bogata, Columbia).
This assembly de facto constituted the first Network Council, with representatives from member societies. Since its establishment, INSeCT has grown into a global network of theological societies committed to fostering academic research, dialogue, and collaboration among its member and affiliated societies worldwide.
DaKaTeo is a member of INSeCT, and for the conference it was represented by Stephanie Ann Puen. For more information on INSeCT and the conference, please see the INSeCT webpage and a write up of the conference from Virginia Saldanha, who also attended as the representative for the Indian Women Theological Forum (IWTF).
Rest in God’s Loving Embrace
Amelia Vasquez, rscj August 22, 1943-April 15, 2026
Sr. Amelia Vasquez was director and dean of the Sister Formation Institute now Institute of Formation and Religious Studies during the early years of martial law. Together with a team of like-minded women, she formulated a curriculum that was contextual, gender-sensitive and involved exposure to people living in depressed areas, especially the urban poor. She also became the Executive Secretary of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP now called Conference of Major Superiors of the Philippines). Those werethe days when it was not acceptable for religious men and women to be out in the streets to protest, and the Vatican censured the leadership of the AMRSP. She was also the first woman academic dean of a school for ordained ministry, the Maryhill School of Theology, and taught seminarians, religious and lay people the course “Women in Theology”. She served as Spiritual Director at the East Asian Pastoral Institute and coordinator of the Spirituality Department of the Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia. She obtained her MA in Phenomenology of Religion, and History of Christianity from Manhattanville College, Harvard University and Weston School of Theology respectively.
