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MEPA gives 5 August deadline for dismantling of Zebbug divorce billboard
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority steps in to handle the delicate matter of the erection of a billboard on the church parvis...
29 July 2010, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
MEPA has given the Zebbug parish a deadline for 5 August, to remove an irregular billboard erected on the church parvis that ominously warns churchgoers and passers-by that "God does not want divorce".
The billboard was an early warning shot in the ongoing divorce debate, but the decision to erect the billboard backfired, with the parish priest issuing an apology to the billboard’s official sponsor, Vision Tech. In fact, the advertisement beneath the ominous message – originally featuring the official logos of Nintendo and Sony products such as Wii, Xbox, Playstation and PS2, among others – was painted over at some point since Monday, as the pictures on this page attest.
Zebbug parish priest Fr Daniel Cardona issued a statement to explain that the billboard was in fact part of ‘an ongoing campaign in favour of the Catholic Church’s official teaching on divorce – adding that he “regretted any inconvenience” caused to the “electronic company that helped the parish cover part of the costs of this billboard”.
Vision Tech manager Jason Grech also explained that his company was one of several to have sponsored the Church’s billboard initiative, and that he had no idea what message the billboard would display.
The billboard message changes periodically, and that “the time had come to erect a new billboard.”
But by coincidence, the change in billboard happened to take place on the Sunday of the feast of St Joseph, when Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – the Nationalist MP who has just presented a draft divorce law as a private member’s bill in Parliament – attended the traditional mass inside the Zebbug band club across the road from the Church.
And the same mass was celebrated by Fr Daniel Cardona. So the initiative was widely interpreted as a political statement ahead of the parliamentary debate on divorce, now scheduled for after the summer recess.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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get a permision like all we do to do such things- than you can post what you have been given permision to do. the laws are there for everyone -get a permision and than one can put a sign of a wolf dressed as a sheep or so ;-)
Alfred Galea •
Is worried about a little billboard?? Is this why the CEO gets paid thousands and thousands to worry about a little billboard?? On private land??
It gets more ridiculous by the minute.
Shouldn't they worry about the raping of the environment by friends of friends and their wives??
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It seems probable that we shall witness a battle of the billboards about divorce just like the one in the sixties on the famous "sitt punti" which included, among others, the introduction of civil marriage which had to wait till 1975. Can't the Catholic Church stick to disseminating its teachings among her faithful and leave the others alone? Hasn't the Church learned anything from history? She's going to end up losing more of her adherents and her diminished membership will mean even less authority to speak for everyone as she purports to do today.
As for this parish priest, I wonder if he has some direct line to the Almighty who updates him about what He wants and does not want. It seems, however, that Providence has different plans for the rest of the world but not for Malta. The rest of the world already has divorce and the Creator, in His infinite wisdom and compassion, has not yet sent another great flood to destroy it nor another rain of fire and brimstone as in Sodom and Gomorrah.
