‘Mass walkout’ in Zejtun as Church intensifies fear campaign

CLARIFICATION This report was amended at 3:11pm, because of its erroneous reference to Fr Ang Seychell. MaltaToday was in contact with Fr Seychell, who confirmed the priest in question was not him but another priest. The error is regretted and MaltaToday apologises for mistake. Fr Ang Seychell has confirmed the content of the article is as reported.

“If there are any of you planning to vote ‘yes’ to divorce, don’t expect to come here the day after and receive Holy Communion,”a priest warned his congregation during the 5:30pm mass… whereupon a number of people stood up and walked out of Church altogether.

It is understood that last Saturday’s was an unprecedented reaction to the otherwise predictable message: leading observers to question whether the hardliner attitude adopted by the Church in recent weeks may be backfiring.

And while the Zejtun walkout may have been an isolated incident, there have been several other symptoms of disenchantment among Catholics at an apparent steeling of the Church’s campaign rhetoric in recent days.

The Curia has in fact intensified its efforts in the past week, as evidenced by Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech’s homily last Sunday, during a mass celebrating the confirmation of a number of teenagers in Victoria.

Grech took the opportunity to lash out at what he described as “brigands” and “wolves in sheeps’ clothing” who would “lead the flock astray”: widely interpreted as a reference to a recently-formed group of pro-divorce lay Catholics.

“Today they are after divorce. Tomorrow they will want other things too,” Mgr Grech warned, adding that people who were not loyal to Catholic beliefs should not call themselves either Catholics or Christians.

“Otherwise it would be a farce,” he said.

Reacting to Bishop Grech’s homily, the group in question - Catholics: Yes Because It’s A Right – deplored the open hostility shown towards them by the Gozo Bishop.

“It is with deep regret for us as Catholics that our brother made recourse to such language about his Catholic brothers and sisters. Such language falls short of Christian charity and does not consider with respect and wisdom the position of Catholics like us,” spokesman Carmel Hili said yesterday.

“Catholics who will be voting yes will not be declaring themselves in favour or against divorce as a matter of moral or religious legitimacy,” hili added. “They are only recognising the State’s duty to legislate for all its citizens, irrespective whether they are Catholics or not. This is in line with the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings of our Holy Mother Church.”

Separately, the Moviment IVA campaign has also raised the alarm over allegations of  “intimidation” and “coercion” by individuals involved in religious organizations, especially targeting the elderly.

Campaign manager Michael Falzon said yesterday that people affiliated with religious organisations are “abusing of their position” by attempting to scare vulnerable citizens into voting ‘No’.

“Elderly people in care homes are being told that divorce will mean that government will have to spend so much that it will not afford to pay their pensions,” Falzon said.

Both he and Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said they had been approached separately by various sources, including relatives of the elderly people in question. They confirmed that the intimidation was taking place in Msida care homes by individuals affiliated with the M.U.S.E.U.M organization, among others.