Pro-prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle urged the Filipino bishops to end the "culture of superiority" as it is one of the hindrances to synodality and fraternal cooperation.
"One block to synodality and fraternal cooperation is the sense of cultural superiority which brings prejudice towards the others," Tagle said in a statement of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sept. 23.
"Even some of our lay leaders assume a culture of superiority," he added.
Tagle was among the speakers on the second day of the five-day course on servant leadership and pastoral management for bishops held at the Caritas Philippines Academy in Tagaytay City on Sept. 19.
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Tagle underscored the "cultures of the ordained, please watch what culture is operating in your seminaries."
He explained that the culture prepares them to assume a rank rather than preparing them for a ministry.
Moreover, he noted that humility is essential for both services and synodality.
Tagle also pointed out how God "walks humbly" with the collaborators.
"Even if they are not the best or the most perfect, even if they are frail. He walks with them. He guides them, and he even learns from them," Tagle explained.
"Synodality, for me, is possible only if we walk humbly with God," he emphasized.
Moreover, Tagle noted that freedom plays a crucial role in fostering genuine fraternal cooperation and synodality, as it enables authentic collaboration.
Tagle said that freedom is not a block to synodality but "mentalities, attitudes, wrong values, that make us unfree to love, to respect and to work with others."
"This is pastoral discernment: guiding people to recognize personal, individual, and communal obstacles to freedom—the freedom to love, serve, and walk together," he added. (Erika Mariel Custodio Escover)