What was your family like as you were growing up? What were the most vital values your parents taught you? And what is the important role of families in society today?

Archbishop Tagle: Ours was a regular Filipino family. Both my parents were working and actually they met each other in a bank where they were both employees. Our parents taught us how to value work and discipline, because they practiced and lived by these values. They had to get up early in the morning to catch the bus to Manila and sometimes they had to come home late at night. We learned how to value time, and not to waste it because it is so precious and quite limited. Also, we lived within an extended family like here in our house in Imus; we were together with our paternal great-grandmother, my grandmother, the father’s sisters, and my cousins – my immediate family.

Very early on, I learned that our family was not only a nuclear family, but that we also lived with others as an extended family.

On my mother’s-side, we made sure that we visited these relatives regularly, stayed overnight with them, and got to know our aunts, uncles, and cousins. So in a way, our family was fluid. We knew who our parents were, we knew our relatives, but we also knew that our family was part of a wider family. And the values that I learned from my parents were the values of work, of not wasting time, of discipline so that we could achieve what we wanted in life. Then we were also taught to have respect for individuals for each one is unique and gifted.

My parents were just teenagers during the war. Both families went through horrible traumas. So even now, I marvel about how they were able to survive without the luxury or privilege of counselors, and spiritual directors, the way we have access to them now. Today, just for a simple problem, we tend to consult psychiatrists and/or psychologists… but our parents really witnessed the ravages of war.

My dad lost his father because of a bomb, and my grandfather’s death happened right before his very eyes. On my mother’s side, in Pangasinan, a province some 150 kms north of Manila, my grandfather was a Chinese merchant. Some of the soldiers, the invading forces, were hostile to him so his family had to flee to the mountains to hide. So I learned from my relatives how to use one’s inner resources, to face problems, and overcome them with faith, with the support of the family.

Both parents were hardworking [people]. The role of the family is to provide that haven for human relationships, for human encounters that will help the children to grow up stable, mature, and clear about their priorities and values – persons who will not be ashamed to witness to what they believe in. This is something I appreciate very much in my family.

They expected us to do well, but there was no pressure for us to do things for the sake of being recognized, or getting an award. To do something well… that was fine, but to compete with others so that we could get ahead… no, no, no…that was never the idea. The family will always be the school where we learn basic human values.

Who are your role models in life, and how they have influenced you today?

Archbishop Tagle: Role models… there are so many of them! As you progress in life, you don’t just get fixated on a few role models. Probably it is coming out clearly now – they were my own parents, my grandparents, my uncles and aunts. They were all role models for me, models of human survival, of mutual support, of damayan (solidarity,) of reaching out to people, so that we could survive through the hardships of life. From them I saw pakikisama, pakikipagkapwa tao, para mabuhay tayong lahat. (companionship, altruism, so that we live together in harmony.) I attended St. Andrew’s School (in Parañaque City) and there the CICM fathers captured my imagination through their selfless missionary commitments as most of them were foreigners who had left their homelands for another country for the sake of the Gospel. They led austere, very austere lives. I cannot imagine how they were able to survive during those years but for me they provided an evangelical witness of Christ being their All, Christ being their Joy, their Wealth; and I’ve learned a lot from them about keeping to the essentials.

During my time, in elementary and high school, they even cancelled the student JS prom so parents would not have to bear additional expenses.

Then they had us wear our daily school uniforms for graduation. They were always thinking about how our parents could give quality education to children at a minimum cost. We didn’t have to buy school books because the school had books that were lent out to the students, but, it meant of course that we had to take care of the books. From that tradition, I learned stewardship: taking care of our books, and of our seats, for example, so that the next generation of students could still use them.

Then I went to the seminary, where I spent 10 years with the Jesuits (Society of Jesus.) There we lived like the magis – give more, give more, stretch yourself – but as you stretch yourself, make sure that your motivation is correct. However, it was not to give the best of oneself in order to receive affirmations and accolades, but to do it simply for the glory of God.

During that time of Martial Law (1970s to mid 1980s), I saw the faith of our professors and seminary personnel, which really motivated them to love our country, and the poor. Of course, other people did that for purely political and ideological reasons, but among our professors and seminary personnel, I saw the power of the faith at work, making people really care for others and for our country.

In priesthood, the one who influenced me a lot was the late Fr. Redendor Corpuz. I was a member of BINHI (the parish youth group in Imus, Cavite, in those days). In a way, he brought me out of my shell and made me discover the beauty of being with other people, of being with the Church and with the community I learned to serve.

Then the Bishop of Imus, Bishop Felix Perez, the bishop of the diocese where I grew up and where I entered the seminary, probably believed in me more than I believed in myself.

He completely trusted what he saw in me, which probably I had not seen in myself. I admired his capacity to help people, to develop their talents and to bear pain and sorrow for the sake of unity, for the sake of reconciliation.

Self-defense is not always the proper response to criticism. For the sake of higher goal, we should be willing and ready to learn not so much through lectures, but from a living example as Bishop Perez was for me.

Challenges Ahead

How did you feel when you received notice of your transfer from Imus Diocese to the big archdiocese of Manila? What will you be bringing from Imus to Manila?

Archbishop Tagle: All these events are an invitation to practice faith, obedience and to embrace a mission in love. However, in the end, it is not about me, it is about a mission and the action of the Spirit; it’s all about the action of the Church. Of course, as the Archbishop, as a bishop for any diocese, we have a role to play, a serious role: of shepherding, being the teacher, of sanctifying, and that is a heavy burden as well. But what I will bring from my experience here in Imus is the comforting thought of communion, of solidarity – working together with priests, with the religious and the laity, which could enhance this mission. When I start to be fearful of this mission, I just recall many things accomplished in Imus not because of myself, but because we were able to bring people to a common vision, to assume a spirit of responsibility and to share their gifts. This is what makes things happen and that is one of the things I will always cherish and bring with me to Manila. I don’t have to pretend that I can do everything and that I will do everything! My main role is to generate a spirit of communion, in view of a common mission or action.

What are the challenges that you see ahead and where do you get your courage and strength for the task now being laid on your shoulders? What are the particular problems and challenges you are planning to address first as the new Archbishop of Manila? Any particular directions you wish to pursue?

Archbishop Tagle: I don’t know if I am ready to answer that question because I would want to first get to know the realities of the Church in the Archdiocese of Manila. I would like to become familiar first with the situation of the people within the Archdiocese.

So I will go to them as a relative stranger. What I intend to do is to get to know the people, and then invite them to get to know me. Hopefully, by getting to know one another, and sharing stories, with of course, this great body of religious and lay leaders, who can also introduce me to the realities of life there, in that confluence, maybe we could then set directions. Some directions are already set, and they just need to be followed. We don’t need to reinvent everything. I would like to build on what has already been started by the previous Archbishops.

I’m the 32nd, so [I have] to discover the legacy of the previous 31, and to build on that foundation so we don’t have to waste the gifts already existing, and then develop what can still be developed. I believe in going in with an open mind to learn from them and appreciate them. I would rather focus on the opportunities, so that I will not be afraid of the problems! I would like to see, together with them, what these resources in Manila are: the gifts, the talents, and the opportunities. So when these problems arise, we will need much tact to face them.

Many people await your coming to Manila and wish to offer you their support. What is it you would like to ask of them? How can they support you?

Archbishop Tagle: First, they can pray not only for me, but also for the whole Christian community of the Archdiocese of Manila – to pray especially for deeper faith, and deeper communion, so that as one body, we can serve the Lord and humanity, in our mission.

Second, to develop goodwill. When people have goodwill and generosity especially with the gifts that they have received from God, if people can be generous in administering those gifts, for the good of others, then we can accomplish a lot. We don’t need to be known or to be seen, or to be members of big committees. The life of the Church happens even on street corners, and in neighborhoods where Christians contribute their faith. It could happen in a small family where parents try to raise their children well. It could happen in a sari-sari store where a compassionate store owner can try to overlook some of the debts of his customers (with laughs).

It could happen that way if only the spirit of Christ can be allowed to act everywhere. So I would just ask for goodwill and the sharing of gifts.

Is there any particular intention/s you would like us to pray with you for?

Archbishop Tagle: First we can pray for the spirit of communion and unity among the clergy, the religious, the committed lay people and the people in general in the Archdiocese of Manila because with this sense of communion and unity in diversity, rooted in the faith, we can respond more adequately to the calling of Jesus Christ.

Second, let’s pray so that we may be able to show solidarity to, and also implement effective action for the poor because it is a great scandal that poverty still exists in some sectors and parts of the country, I suppose, Manila included. Poverty is getting worse and with poverty, you get all the other evils; the youth are being polluted by drugs, immorality, prostitution, all of these things... Poverty breeds more evil. So that’s another intention as to how we can become ever more a Church of hope and solidarity with the poor, affectively and also effectively, in our actions.

Interview by Guilian Geronimo