Pinoy professor wins Augustinian writing tilt

A Filipino professor from De La Salle University Manila has won the top prize in this year’s writing contest on the life and works of St. Augustine sponsored by Colegio San Agustin Makati that attracted entries from North America, Africa and elsewhere.

In announcing this year’s winners, the Christian Formation Team Office and the Publications Office of Colegio San Agustin Makati said that the contest for the school year 2002-2003 sought "the best research on the life and works of St. Augustine."

The entry of Ismael Ireneo Maningas, PhD., of De La Salle University, Philippines, titled "The Pre- and Post-Convention of St. Augustine: A Critical Analysis In The Light of Religious Education" grabbed the first prize of P15,000 in cash and a certificate. Susan Sanares Tan, of Carol Stream, Illinois, USA, won the second prize of P10,000 in cash and a certificate for her effort titled "St. Augustine: The City of God And The Evolution of The Philippine City of Man." The third prize of P5,000 in cash and a certificate were awarded to Friar Edgar Tanga Ngowi of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, for his entry titled "Grace and Free Will in A Contemporary World: An Augustinian View."

Maningas studied in the University of Louvanian, Belgium. Tan, a Filipino-American is a freelance writer. Friar Ngowi is a novice of the Vicariate of the Orient of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines. Their works will be published in the next issue of the biannual Search, a scholarly publication of Colegio San Agustin.

The board of judges, chaired by Fr. Efren Rivera, OP, professor in Sacred Scripture and Hebrew at the University of Santo Tomas, included as members Fr. Manuel Fernandez, OSA, vice rector of Colegio San Agustin Makati, and Fr. Christopher Kennedy, SDB, former editor of the Salesian Bulletin and head of the editorial department of the Salesian Publications and currently professor in Spiritual Theology at the Salesian Seminary in Parañaque.

Two entries from Africa and one from the Philippines were disqualified for breaking a rule of the contest that prohibited competitors from sending entry by e-mail.

The contest, now on its sixth year, encourages popular interest in the life of St. Augustine (AD 354-430) whose works throughout the centuries have profoundly influenced not only the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church but of Western thought as well. He is described as "the wisest of the holy and the holiest of the wise" for turning his back on a life of sin and devoting himself to defending the Christian faith through his writings.