Photo by Michael Kalunde The Seed 2013
What would you say is the way forward for the Church in Asia? The Church in Asia is a very tiny minority and Christian numbers are the smallest. A dialogue of life is needed. In some parts of Asia you cannot proclaim verbally your faith because of restrictions, but Christian faith can be proclaimed through actions. Non Christians get curious when Christians live an exemplary life. Proclamation of Faith begins by living an example. How are you practicing the Year of Faith in the Philippines? We have an element of the Apostolic Creed for every month that is the object of our catechesis. Later, we will have a conference in October which will be on new evangelization to close the year of faith. We will end it with Mission Sunday. You are very passionate about immigrants, why so? The issue is two faced; take for example in Philippines, the children have been messed up by excess money sent to them by their parents working abroad in buying fashionable clothing and attending good schools. Many educators have observed that the children are often derailed by emotional learning disabilities. However the new evangelization had brought life in some parts of the world like Lebanon where a fellow cardinal told me that the Philippinos had made the Catholic Church there stand firm. Do you think the future of the church is Africa? The today of the church is in the third world. It is in this continent that new energies are being experienced and new expressions of faith are being manifested. Let us not talk of the future, but talk of NOW. I see it now!
Bio of Cardinal Tagle
Luis Antonio Tagle was born in June 21, 1957. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pre-Divinity from Ateneo in 1977 and later, a Master of Arts in Theology at Loyola School of Theology. Tagle then gained his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America from 1987 to 1991, Summa cum Laude. Tagle was ordained in the Diocese of Imus on February 27, 1982. After ordination, he held the following positions: parochial vicar of San Agustín Parish ? Méndez-Núñez, Cavite (1982?1983), spiritual director (1982?1983) and later rector (1983?1985) of the diocesan seminary of Imus. After having gone to Rome to study (1985?1992), he was appointed Episcopal Vicar for Religious (1993?1995), then Parish Priest and Rector (1998?2001) of Nuestra Señora del Pilar CathedralParish in Imus. He also taught theology at San Carlos Seminary (1982-1985) and Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay, Cavite.
THE SEED - VOL 25, No. 8, AUGUST 2013
In 2001, Tagle was appointed Bishop of Imus on October 22 and consecrated on December 12. He was installed as Archbishop on December 12, 2011, to coincide with the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the tenth anniversary of his Episcopal consecration. Tagle was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in a papal consistory on November 24, 2012 at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. He is the Archbishop of Manila, and de facto Primate of the Philippines. Tagle is a Professor of Dogmatic Synthesis at the Graduate School of Theology of San Carlos Seminary, the archdiocesan major seminary of Manila, and an Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Loyola School of Theology of the Ateneo de Manila University.
21