Fr. Sabado defends his dissertation on spirituality of building community
Fr. Gilbert G. Sabado, O.Carm, successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Defining Naimeng A Pagtaengan (N.A.P.) as Spirituality in Building Community” and has earned the degree of Doctor in Organization Development Major in Transformative Spirituality.
Fr. Sabado’s defense was a culmination of the academic program of the Southeast Asian Institute for Interdisciplinary Development (SAIDI)-Institute of Spirituality in Asia (ISA) on Doctor of Philosophy in Organization Development, Major in Transformative Spirituality.
On the panel for his oral defense held Oct. 29, 2018 were Marie-Paul B. de Luna, Ph.D., MNSA, Chair, and Marissa C. Alcantara, Ph.D., Sr. Joy Carmel L. Jumawan, Carm OL., Ph.D. and Fr. Rico P. Ponce, O. Carm., Ph.D. (members).
Fr. Sabado’s dissertation adviser was Rosalina O. Fuentes, Ph.D., the president and dean of SAIDI.
Naimeng means emotional warmth and Pagtaengan means home. Together these two words mean “a welcoming home” – the seed of hope needed by the families in Isabela severely devastated by Super-typhoon Haima .
With their homes completely flattened, the families helped one another and eventually gave rise to an organization with a deeper sense of community.
Inspired by his personal life forces – political, sectoral, religious, elderly, farmers, victims of super-typhoons and years of reaching out to the poorest of the poor – Fr. Sabado worked with his respondents to identify the life forces relevant to them – namely, land, faith in God’s mercy, and family/community.
By his methodology he also elicited the preferred images of the respondents – abundant land, strong bamboo and family-community life – as well as the transforming elements in sustaining the strength of N.A.P – the images of faith in God’s mercy, long table (symbolizing communal celebrations), umbilical cord for birth and life), celebration, recreation and mirroring.
Fr. Sabado identified the life forces and the preferred images of the respondents as essentially the life sustaining, transforming and life giving elements for the spirituality in building their community.
By: Carmen Alviar, Ph.D.