2025-26 Research Fellows
Fall 2025
Helen C. Romero
Doctoral candidate
St. Vincent School of Theology, Adamson University
(Manila, Philippines)
Helen Romero began her career as a researcher for an NGO in the Asia Pacific region. She holds a BA in mass communication from St. Paul College Iloilo (now St. Paul University Iloilo) in the Philippines and an MA in public communication from Fordham University (Bronx, NY). Her background in communication allowed her to make policy research studies more accessible to the public. She also has MA degrees in ministry (MAMC) and theological studies (MTS) from the Franciscan School of Theology (FST), then affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.
While at FST, she got involved in the “Justice for Immigrants” ministry with the Diocese of Oakland as well as Pace e Bene, which fosters nonviolence through education, community-building, and other peace initiatives. Her previous professional experience includes administrative positions at St. Paul University Iloilo and the University of San Agustin, both in Iloilo City, Philippines, where she also taught communication and theology courses. During the COVID pandemic, she taught a "Marriage and Family Life" theology course online at the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines). She has published articles in Hapág, Asian Horizons, MST Review, REst, and the Journal on Global Education.
Research while at CWCIT ~ Ms. Romero's dissertation delves with the lived experiences of couples in complex relationships. It seeks to uncover the various ways that the participants negotiate and interpret their experiences and bring them into dialogue with the papal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. What emerges from their lived experiences could collide with what the Church teaches on marriage and family life. Could the Church host God’s mercy and love that holds and bears all?