Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle suggested that pockets of resistance to Pope Francis’ invitation to synodality within the global Catholic Church is rooted in fear of change and insecurity about Catholic identity.
“Maybe we need to individually and as communities really confront the forces of resistance,” the Filipino prelate said in a recorded discussion with Holy Cross Fr. Stephen Newton, executive director of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
The recording was played June 14 during the association’s 12th annual assembly at the University of San Diego.
Tagle, pro-prefect for the evangelization department within the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, had planned to address the assembly in person but changed plans when the pope asked him to attend the third National Eucharistic Congress of the Catholic Church in Congo, which ran June 4-11.
The U.S. priests’ four-day assembly is focusing on the issue of synodality in the church and the role of clergy and laypeople in promoting listening and collaboration in response to the pope’s invitation.
Tagle voiced strong support for the continuing three-year synodal process, which is preparing for the first of two meetings of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 4-29. A second session is scheduled for October 2024.
Tagle said experience has taught him that fear of change can limit how the church responds to the needs of the world and works to further keep communities separated rather than unified. He expressed concern for the temptation to use faith-related matters to support ideology rather than Catholic teaching.
“Where there is that insecurity about our identity, the tendency is to define clear parameters, clear boundaries in order to distinguish who I am over and against the others,” he said.
“Imagine how an attitude of fear and insecurity would stop all links of communion, all dialogue, all listening processes. Those will be threatening activities,” he added.
The Second Vatican Council established the framework from which the current discussion of synodality in the church has emerged under Francis, Tagle explained, saying that “my vision for a synodal church is a church that rediscovers this wonderful gift of the Spirit given to the whole church in Vatican II.”
“It really, in a way, pains me and shocks me,” Tagle said of efforts to undermine the synod. “I don’t want to judge people. But sometimes I just wish people would calmly, calmly read the documents of Vatican II and get in touch with the teachings of Vatican II rather than rely on some caricatures or biased presentations for what Vatican II stands for.”
The 45-minute discussion also touched on the importance of cultural sensitivity within the church and the need for greater recognition by clergy that they alone do not possess all the talents necessary to effectively manage the church.
“We don’t have to imitate each other,” he said. “We can be who we are as gifted by God and share each other’s gifts. For me, it’s a church that celebrates the many, many gifts. There’s an exchange of gifts, not for personal gain, but for service.”
In reflecting on his role as a cleric in promoting synodality, he said it was necessary to realize that his calling is one of service, “not a rank, not like a cultural social position higher than the rest of humanity.” The goal is to walk with others in the church, not separately, he said.
“If we could start with that, that the priest becomes servant, celebratory rather than looking always harassed. You thrive in a community. You are the first to see how much the Lord loves the community, to see how gifted they [community members] are.”
As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema. (Gal. 1:9)
I do not see how your quote as true as it is, applies to this article.
Either the NCR or Cardinal Tagle is promoting change and criticizing people who “fear” change. If the change is a rejection of the apostolic faith, then it’s right to oppose such change in the church. Some Catholics want the church to ordain women and have gay marriage. Not gonna happen. Can’t happen. Both are contrary to the apostolic faith. It’s hard to tell, but Tagle seems to be promoting change for the sake of change. That’s not Catholicism.
I think the change that he thinks people are afraid of is synodality.
The insecurity would be that the Church would change teachings.
But you are wise because you know that cannot happen.
If you live in San Diego diocese, we have seen your bishop promote women’s ordination to the diaconate (which the Church possible could do and was supposed to be studying but no answer yet). His proposal to allow all to communion (even those aware of grave sin) is sheer folly.
It is interesting that this was made to that diocese.
” He expressed concern for the temptation to use faith-related matters to support ideology rather than Catholic teaching.
For a NCR article, this was really good.
National Catholic Distorter
I’m bewildered by one of Cardinal Tagle’s statements: “Where there is that insecurity about our identity, the tendency is to define clear parameters, clear boundaries in order to distinguish who I am over and against the others”. Isn’t the opposite true?
Our identities were transformed at our baptism through God’s grace. Our Catholic identity formation therefore enables the drawing of necessary boundaries and the growth in the sense of self as distinctive from others, while remaining related to them. Therefore, a highly developed sense of self is actually a “secure” identity, as opposed to what the Cardinal stated.
I think he means the identity of the Church or Catholic identity. I think you have to read it in the context of the surrounding paragraphs.
“I just wish people would calmly, calmly read the documents of Vatican II and get in touch with the teachings of Vatican II rather than rely on some caricatures or biased presentations for what Vatican II stands for.” Couldn’t agree more. Like, that part that says the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin Rite, and those bits about Gregorian Chant having pride of place and innovations in liturgy only allowable if organically developing from tradition. Does he mean those parts? No? Really?
Do not forget a most important bit, authorizing the reform and the restoration of the Mass. And this reform and restoration brought us the Novus Ordo which replaced the Old Form of the Mass.
But there should still be some Latin, and Gregorian chant is to be preferred to all other music at Mass. Fewer than .5% of parishes sing Gregorian chant at all during the liturgical year. How is that being faithful to the Council? All those parishes that sing OCP music should be singing Gregorian chant instead, yet they are making no strides toward singing chant; they buy the disposable OCP hymnals every year and waste time learning new music each year instead of learning to chant.
The Council only said that Gregorian chant is to have pride of place, not that it is obligatory at every Mass in every part of the world. There are cultures that have their own sacred musical traditions and genres, and the Council acknowledged that and gave due importance to that. The Church is not stuck in a Eurocentric mindset. The Church is global.
In our culture, Gregorian chant may not connect with many Catholics and may find it difficult as an expression of praise to God. Do not fault them for that. The Church allows the use of other musical styles as long as they are in accord with the sacredness of the liturgy.
What the the Church does not allow is abandoning the reform of the Council in favor of an old form of the Mass that has been replaced.
Oh look, a Novus Ordo thug , determined to wipe out any tradition and replace with cheap sentimentality. The Church is crumbling, and yet people try to convince themselves that V2 was a success. I assure the traditional Mass that you despise will outlive you and generations after you. Sorry your reforms are a pathetic joke.
Respectfully, “pride of place” (in Latin, “principem locum”) means “the first place.” The church also has instructed that Gregorian chant is proper to and especially suited to the Roman liturgy.
What does “pride of place” mean, if not that it is the preferred music to be sung at Mass in all cultures? The Roman liturgy is its own culture, and Gregorian chant is intimately tied with it because Gregorian chant developed along with the liturgy as the music for the Mass.
Almost every parish gives OCP music pride of place but chant no place at all. That’s not being faithful to the Council.
American Catholics celebrate Mass like they are Protestants. If Americans find chant difficult or odd (and it’s usually only the Boomers who complain about it because they think their folk music is so groovy), they can learn to sing chant and learn to appreciate why it belongs at Mass more than the OCP music they have been singing. It will result in a deeper, more authentic celebration of Mass and greater holiness among God’s people. The kids don’t like OCP music. Boomers do. OCP music is partly responsible for the young leaving the church.
The phrase pride of place means just what it is. No need to belabor that point, because whatever the Latin means, the Church still allows other musical style during Mass as long as they express praise to God.
The Council allows for other appropriate musical styles in order to facilitate the active participation of the people.
So stop bashing Catholics who prefer other musical styles while praying so that they can actively participate.
The Church is no longer stuck in Eurocentrism.
thank you OCP vs. chant. the translation of principem as’ pride’ was just one more sad mutilation by’ poetic flourish’ that dimmed the and blunted the original Latin documents, a replay of Jacob tricking Isaac with the skins of goats to gain the inheritance of Esau.
The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
What does that mean?
Pride of place does not mean 1st place. It means the most important place. But how does that apply to liturgy.
The most important music in the liturgy?
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.
“All other things being equal, Gregorian chant holds pride of place because it is proper to the Roman Liturgy. Other types of sacred music, in particular polyphony, are in no way excluded, provided that they correspond to the spirit of the liturgical action and that they foster the participation of all the faithful. Since faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is fitting that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, set to the simpler melodies.”
I wouldn’t know if it was polyphony or chant. I guess I would know if it wasn’t.
Reform:
What you described seems to be a pretty scant “pride of place” placement for Latin chant in the Novus Ordo Mass.
That was not how St. Pope Paul VI envisioned the “pride of place” use of Latin in the Novus Ordo Mass named after him.
In 1974, Pope Paul VI published the booklet “Jubilate Deo” with a collection of Ordinary Mass parts in the simplest Gregorian chants. It was for use of the Novus Ordo. Even if the text or the Propers (recited or set to music) are in the vernacular, the Pope suggested that the Ordinary at least should be in Latin and sung by the people, not just the choir.
He writes in his Voluntati Obsequens apostolic letter that the chant in Latin would “…make it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony…and with the living tradition of the past. Hence it is that those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse Gregorian chant the place which is due to it.”
And believe me, it can be done. Near where I live, in Oakland, CA, is a church called “St. Margaret Mary’s” that offers both the extraordinary form and the ordinary form of the Mass. Both forms use Latin chant, and both forms of the Mass are popular with the faithful.
margarita, thanks for your informative post.
Other music is allowed at Mass by way of exception, if a parish cannot sing the Latin chants yet. Every parish should be singing in Latin and singing Gregorian chant, and if they aren’t then they should be working towards that goal. OCP music is dreck. It doesn’t praise God. It’s cotton candy for people who want an emotional stimulant that pretends to be worship. Parishes should not be stuck in singing OCP music. Those that do are inferior Catholic parishes.
Contemplating doing something physical against a member of the clergy is thuggish behavior, “bohemond.” Eschew violence.
Pope Paul VI did not write “Voluntati obsequens.” The Congregation For Divine Worship did. And it is not an Apostolic Letter. The letter did not prohibit the use of other musical styles . The letter also repeated the principle at work which is to foster the active participation of the people through congregational singing.
It is uncharitable to describe parishes that do not prefer chant to be inferior.
Going to the old Mass only is a bigger sign of disobedience from Vatican II.
Chants of the Ordinary
Kyrie XVI
Gloria VIII
Credo III
Sanctus XVIII
Pater Noster
Agnus Dei XVIII
Verbum Domini
Mysterium Fidei
Ite Missa est
Hymns
Adoro Te Devote
Alma Redemptoris Mater
Ave maris stella
Ave Regina caelorum
O Salutaris Hostia
Pange Lingua/Tantum Ergo
Parce Domine
Regina caeli
Salve Regina
Veni Creator Spiritus
Ubi Caritas
Thanks for correcting the error.
Going on 60 years now and STILL they are in love with Vatican II. Empty seminaries, empty Convents, empty and closed churches by the thousands and counting, no belief in the real presence, Mass attendance at 10% it was 80% prior to the Council, drums, guitars, clowns, dancing girls in leotards, hand holidng, kiss of peace, altar girls, lay people handing out wafers with unclean hands, standing for Holy Communion, felt banners, dinner table in place of Altar of Sacrifice, yes the New Springtime was a total and complete success!!
It’s easy to blame what has gone wrong since Vatican ii on things you dislike but who people never encounter actually experience (clowns, leotards, dinner tables, felt banners, unclean hands etc) , but it’s much more difficult to blame what people actually tell you they stopped going, like little engagement in women in the leadership of the Church, little help in the real world practicalities of raising a family, condemnations of families for the situations they face, and of course, the sex abuse crisis and cover up that goes on even now. All this mixed with the hypocracy and notions of superiority that frequently permeate our churches. If these things were addressed, you could have just about any valid liturgy you wanted.
Maybe it IS time we quit clowning around and get real with what is really going on with parish attendance and liturgy wars.
“…but it’s much more difficult to blame what people actually tell you they stopped going,..” I am most glad to agree with you on this, YFC!! It would not be easy but if parishes could contact those on the roles who have stopped coming and get the reasons for their discontinuing the practice of the faith, and publish those results, that would be helpful. Let the strays have their say, so to speak. I would be interested in seeing the results.
They are tripling down on failure, one thing about liberals they never ever admit to failure.
No one has complained about this blasphemy.
All Catholics must be synodal by walking the accompaniment path of synodality to be a listening and synodal church. God calls us to listen to each other today, to listen to all voices, especially to listen to the unheard voices and voices pushed to the margins. Only by listening to everyone will the church be synodal. The synod will promote synodality and make the church more synodal. Jesus was the sacrament of synodality. He listened to everyone. He met with people where they were. He accompanied them. The church is Christ’s body. Since Jesus was synodal, the church must also be synodal. The synod on synodality will deeper synodalize the church to be truly synodal.
Synodality is not the goal. The mission of the Church is the goal.
Kamala,
What you describes here might lead to indifferentism or syncretism, which, I don’t think, is what Cardinal Tagle is saying about the synod.
You wrote, “Jesus was the sacrament of synodality. He listened to everyone. He met with people where they were. He accompanied them. ”
He accompanied them to…where?
I’ve always thought Jesus leads us – LEADS, not accompanies. “Then he said to all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and FOLLOW me.'” (Lk 9:23) Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and FOLLOW me.” (Mt 16:24)
To follow the Lord means to let Him lead you. I walk behind Him, and where He goes, there I go also. I don’t walk beside Him because a little turn to the left or right on my part could lead me some place where He wouldn’t want me to go.
Cardinal Tagle is correct in saying, “The goal is to walk with others in the church, not separately,” The key words here are “IN THE CHURCH,” not outside the church. The “walking together” means “reconciliation in the truth (the Church) knowing well that neither reconciliation nor unity is possible outside or in opposition to the truth.” (Pope John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Penitentio.” https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-
As the canonist Peter John Vere explains Pope John Paul II’s Exhortation on Reconciliation and Penance (1983):
” It must begin from a presentation of the truth, offered in a calm way, with respect for the intelligence and consciences of others. The dialogue of (ecumenism/synodality) can never replace or attenuate the proclamation of the truth of the Gospel, the precise goal of which is conversion from sin and communion with Christ and the Church.”
Yes Kamala, we are synodal if we synodalize our synodality. Well said.
The poster “Kamala” talks in circles just like Kamala Harris. Can only wonder if it is really her, or someone just acting like her. (Laughter.)
How correct Cardinal Tagle is when “He expressed concern for the temptation to use faith-related matters to support ideology rather than Catholic teaching.”
Good job, Your Eminence.
Answer to Romulus Augustus
Just remember that the Protestant Reformation came about even though the Catholic World celebrated Mass in Latin.
Preserving the Latin will not save the Church from all heresies, protests, and controversies, but Christ will.
Besides Protestants are now returning to the Catholic Church since the Mass can now be in the vernacular and understandable. I did.
Tagle explained … “my vision for a synodal church is a church that rediscovers this wonderful gift of the Spirit given to the whole church in Vatican II.”
I was under the impression the Spirit was given to the church and the world on Pentecost.
You are misreading it. He is not saying the Holy Spirit was given to the whole church in Vatican II.
He is saying Vatican II’s vision of synodality was the wonderful gift given by the Holy Spirit to the whole church in Vatican II.
From Lumen Gentium (4)
. “Having accomplished the work that the Father had entrusted to the Son on earth (cf. Jn 17:4), on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify the Church forever, so that believers might have access to the Father through Christ in one Spirit (cf. Eph 2:18). He is the Spirit of life, the fountain of water springing up to eternal life (cf. Jn 4:14; 7:38ff.), the One through whom the Father restores life to those who are dead through sin, until one day he will raise in Christ their mortal bodies” (cf. Rom 8:10f.).
I think you’re right that I misread it. Thanks.
Oh, what a Tagled web we weave . . .
I’ve read every comment on this thread and can see absolutely no physical threat to the clergy, as one commenter asserts.
Synodality refers to the entire people of God being involved in the life and mission of the Church. Which has always been.
Synod has more than one meaning. At the time of the Vatican Council, synod and council were used interchangeably.
So synod has been seen as a meeting.
Since Vatican II, it has acquired the meaning of all the members of the Church, including laity being involved in the Church’s mission of spreading the Gospel, the knowledge of Salvation in Christ.
The listening session were an attempt to listen to every member of the Church. Most chose not to participate. Those who conducted the listening sessions were required to report accurately what they heard.
Reform and restoration
The letter was sent under the auspices of Pope Paul VI to all bishops of the Catholic Church.
It did not say all songs should be in Latin chant, but just the Ordinary parts, meaning:
Kyrie, Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
Some bishops don’t like pre-Conciliar practices. Synods are definitely pre-Vatican II. They’re part of our ancient tradition. Synod, (from Greek synodos, “assembly”), is a local or provincial or regional assembly of bishops and other church officials meeting to resolve questions of discipline or administration. The earliest synods can be traced to meetings held by bishops from various regions in the middle of the 2nd century. They don’t determine doctrine. They don’t vote on the number of persons in a marriage or Persons in the Holy Trinity. They can’t alter Divine Revelation or human nature.