Archbishop's aide gets earful from listeners on Church radio RTK

It was not a good day for Pro Vicar General Anton Gouder. The first four listeners on Church radio RTK’s Jaqblu, Ma Jaqblux on Monday – where he fields questions from the public with TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi – held him responsible for having “created the sin” that stopped voters from going to the voting booths on Saturday and for fudging an earlier message from theologians to voters “to use their conscience” when voting.

Gouder told listeners that the Bishops’ statement published by MaltaToday before its 10pm embargo at the end of the referendum voting day was not an apology but a declaration on what the Church felt was necessary for the strengthening of the family, irrespective of the referendum result.

“I have no problem in resigning, but in the Church we don’t apply for our jobs... the Bishop might transfer me anywhere if he so wishes. I took a vow of obedience and I would obey his orders.”

“The aim of the bishops' note was to depart from the result of the referendum and invest more in the family and helping young people go into marriage, whether civil or religious, with a strong foundation of love.”

Gouder conceded that an embargo was “an understanding” between the press and sources not to publish a statement before a set time, referring to MaltaToday's decision to publish the note before 10pm. Peppi Azzopardi chipped in, saying that MaltaToday had underlined the public interest was best served by publishing the bishop’s statement before the time requested by the Curia.

Gouder’s own analysis of the voting outcome of Sunday’s divorce referendum, where over 122,000 voted in favour of a divorce bill, was equally harsh: he said that some 50,000 voters, those who had either not collected their voting documents or abstained in the referendum, had been “irresponsible.”

“I’m sorry about the way I’m putting it. I feel it was a great lack of responsibility on their part... I don’t accept the explanation that they didn’t know what they were about to vote for. They didn’t that divorce was very important socially, apart from its religious aspect. I fear they don’t care about the society they live in... maybe because the referendum wasn’t about something pecuniary, about some new tax. We’re poor when it comes to social values.”

Gouder later added that such voters had allowed others to choose for them, and that they should have chosen the ‘less harmful option’ in the referendum.

But RTK listeners told Gouder that the Church had played a role in scaring voters with the prospect of sin, and that the Church seemed to have first told voters to consult their consciences, then included religion in their consciences, and finally revealed by priests such as Fr Mark Montebello of having heavily wielded their influence on Catholic voters.

One listener took umbrage at the ‘late’ apology from the bishops on Saturday night, and insisted that many of the voters who stayed at home had voted in favour. Another listener expressly stated that she felt hurt as a Catholic, having been made to think that voting in favour of divorce, was a sin. Another listener said the Church’s campaign had backfired because of its overzealousness.

Other listeners congratulated RTK for its balanced coverage, and some congratulated the Church’s position in the referendum campaign.

“I don’t agree with this argument, naturally. Saying that something is a sin, is not scaremongering. You can choose to sin because you’re not scared or don’t commit sin because you love God,” Gouder said.

Referring to the infamous homily in which Gozo bishop Mario Grech referred to pro divorce Catholics as “brigands” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, Gouder said that the same week’s homily on Sunday concerned the Good Shepherd, and that Catholics who preached wrong teachings were entering through the back door as “brigands... a word that is used in the Gospel. And likewise, it talks of wolves snatching sheep and of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. The Gozo bishop did not insult anybody.”

Instead he said that pro divorce activists, like Deborah Schembri, claimed at the end of the final BA debate that voting for divorce was not a sin. “Go see what people would have said had Arthur Galea Salomone stated that voting for divorce was a sin. So it’s ok saying something is not a sin, but it’s wrong to say something is a sin?”

Gouder was one of several theologians at the start of the referendum campaign who issued a statement saying that voters who arrived at an informed decision on divorce, should vote according to their conscience. Later, the Church issued a statement saying that a decision based on conscience should be put to the test by reciting the decision in front of a crucifix.

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