Rev. Joseph L. Tagg, III
Deceased: 2011-03-19
Diocese: MEMPHIS
Seminary Graduation Year: 1978
CSM Graduation Year: 1988
Father Joseph Laughlin Tagg III, born on May 28, 1944 and on the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, March 19, 2011, Father Joseph Laughlin Tagg III passed away. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Laughlin Tagg Jr. Joseph was a member of the first graduating class of St. Dominic School for Boys. Joseph attended Christian Brothers High School, where he was elected President of the Student Government Association and received the American Legion’s bronze medal for honor, courage, leadership, scholarship, and service to the school and society. Joseph held a passion for sports and was a very accomplished football player. In the fall of 1962, Joseph attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he was elected Vice President of the UT Student Body and President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a capacity which he held for two years. Joseph also hosted the “Jumpin Joe Tagg Show” on a local Knoxville radio station, and he was a two-time best actor in “Carnicus,” an inter-fraternity pageant produced each year at Tennessee. Joseph returned to Memphis in 1967, entering night law school at the Memphis State Southern Law School. Following graduation and passage of the Tennessee State Bar, Joseph joined the law firm of Gerber, Gerber, & Agee, and practiced law until 1974, when he sought his life-long passion of entering the Catholic priesthood. He was selected as a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College of Rome, graduating from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas with a master’s in theology. On December 10, 1988, Joseph was ordained a Catholic priest. His first assignment was at Holy Spirit, where he served for two years. In 1990, Father Tagg began studies at St. Paul University in Ottawa, where he obtained a canon law degree. He completed this degree in 1993, and became one of only a few in the U.S. to hold law degrees in both church and civil law. He returned to Memphis to serve, among others, as associate pastor of St. Anne on Highland, sacramental minister of Holy Names, and pastor of St. John. Father Tagg also served as the Judicial Vicar, senior canon lawyer, for the Diocese of Memphis. Father Tagg was best known for inspiring parishioners through every day lessons of courage, directing motivational religious retreats, and fighting for those without a voice. A highly respected legal advisor and prominent member of the Memphis community, Father Tagg’s accolades include serving as Co-Chairman of the Regional Board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ), recipient of the NCCJ Humanitarian Award, founding member of Diversity Memphis, and a member of the CBHS Hall of Fame. Father Tagg was preceded in death by his parents, Mary Arnette Canale Tagg and Joseph Laughlin Tagg Jr., and his brother, George Canale Tagg. He leaves a host of friends and family including two sisters, Mary Abbey Tagg and Arnette Sturla Tagg; and two brothers, William Taylor Tagg and James Whitfield Tagg, all of Memphis. He leaves five nieces, Lauren Tagg Hill, Mary Catherine Ingram Tagg, Anne Laughlin Tagg, Sharon Elizabeth Tagg, and Mary Canale Tagg; and three nephews, William Taylor Tagg Jr., George Canale Tagg Jr., and James Whitfield Tagg Jr., all of Memphis. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, with a Rosary at 6:30 p.m. at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The Funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Thursday, March 24, at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with Burial to take place at the Monastery of St. Clare. The family requests that memorials be sent to the Monastery of St. Clare, located at 1310 Dellwood Avenue, Memphis, TN 38127, (901) 357-6662. Canale Funeral Directors 901-452-6400
