Annus Horribilis

There can be no doubt that 2011 will go down in the annals of the Curia as the year the cracks started to show. Readers of this column will know that I am a very vocal critic of the local Church institution and that I am exasperated by their misguided (and very often hypocritical) stance on many issues that affect our lives. However that is not to say that I am not concerned about the fact that the Church is losing ground so rapidly in this country.

There is no doubt that the local Catholic Church is a moral compass that helps in the formation of our children. When I was a child attending a local Church school I was taught values that have stood me well in life. Much as I believe that the nuns were old fashioned and behind the times, the education I got in that school helped make me the person I am today. The same can probably be said of all those who attended Catechism classes at MUSEUM. 

Furthermore the weekend routine where families went to mass together was something that united communities. People in the parish got to know each other and interacted on the church parvis after mass. This routine and interaction is rapidly disappearing as increasing numbers of Maltese no longer go to mass and practice their religion regularly.

Some would say that it is the price of progress, but frankly I believe it is the price of the pig-headedness of some of the men at the top of the local Curia hierarchy.

This year the top honchos at the Curia were given a very strong message by the Maltese public. After spending over a quarter of a million euros on anti-divorce legislation propaganda and also using every trick in the book to coerce the faithful to vote against the proposed legislation, the Catholic Church was totally blindsided by the referendum result.

Unfortunately, however, it appears that the Curia has not really taken the message to heart. Admittedly there was some discussion about the fact that priests are no longer seen to be talking the same language of the people - however regrettably they do not appear to understand that the problem is not the language used per se, but the actual message itself.

I  am not only talking about misguided decisions made by the Curia, such as the fact that they have washed their hands of responsibility for the child abuse cases that have now been confirmed, or the fact that they still seem to be harbouring priests accused of abuse in other countries. I am also not referring to the fact that the local Curia has gone out of its way to silence liberal priests like Fr Mark Montebello, going to extreme lengths to exile him as far away as possible. The problem is much more simple that that - many Maltese no longer accept the opinion of priests as being sacrosanct. In fact, as time goes by, it is actually getting to the point where very many people laugh about the sombre pronunciations made by prominent members of the Curia who appear to still be living in the Middle Ages.

In my opinion the greatest liability of all is Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, a man whose outlook is absolutely Neanderthal. I cannot for the life of me understand how people manage to sit through his sermons without getting nauseous.

The latest example occurred recently - when he announced to the world that children who are sent to childcare centres are "orphans" who have not found shelter in their families. As I look at my happy and confident children, each one of whom attended a childcare centre from the age of one, I cannot help but wonder exactly what society this man is living in.

Clearly, Bishop Grech has serious issues with women leaving the home and working. As far as he is concerned, the right place for a woman is in the kitchen, ideally pregnant and surrounded with six or seven kids all vying for her attention. The role of the man, on the other hand, is that of head of the household, not involved in the day to day caring for the kids, but maintaining the family and earning enough money to ensure that mothers need never work. No wonder he talks of divorce as "widowing" women - for in a society such as the one desired by Bishop Grech, women are helpless creatures who would starve if their man left them.

"Man has difficulty hearing God because he is lacking peace and interior peace and can't even hear himself," he said. It seems to me that man is having difficulty hearing God because of the noise made by people like Bishop Mario Grech. It is sermons such as the ones he is fond of giving that create so much moral dissonance for people that they end up writing off the entire message.

I can only hope that 2012 will mark a new beginning for the local Catholic Church. A year when the liberal factions of the Church are given a voice and when the Curia will try to reach out to families who are living a 21st century kind of life.

In the meantime I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous new year.