Church needs more creativity – Fr Joe Borg

Fr Joe Borg, an academic who formerly held posts in national broadcasting, criticised the lack of creativity present within the Church and hit out at the “sloppy homilies” which, in his view, have contributed to below-par deliverance of Sunday Mass.

In his Sunday Times of Malta column, Borg refers to a homily recently delivered by Gozo Bishop Mario Grech where he spoke of the need for a blood transfusion to instil some life back into the institution. Grech had said that there was a feeling of tiredness and sloth, which was so bad that it was accompanied by the smell of death.

“… the needed blood transfusion should take the form of more creativity; yesterday’s solutions should not keep on being proposed for today’s problems,” Borg wrote in today’s Sunday Times of Malta.

He goes on to say that not enough is being done to make Sunday Mass an enjoyable experience. “Mass on Sunday is still by far the most patronised Church activity. But does anyone (mea culpa added in too) invest in this celebration, which is pivotal to the life of the Church, spiritual nourishment of Christians, evangelising moment par excellence and the bloodline of the Christian involvement in the secular world, as much time as it deserves?”

“This lack of time investment is evident in sloppy homilies, mediocre reading of the Word of God, lack of sense of community and hardly any feeling of a joyful celebration,” he said. “Whenever I celebrated Mass for neo-Catechumen communities, it was always a celebration of joy; a joy that is incredibly absent from our Sunday parish celebrations.”

“We need more creativity, reflecting the needs of particular groups and cultures, not more restrictions, as evidenced by the Vatican’s promised restrictions on the sign of the giving of the peace.”

Borg was also of the opinion that the value of charity was lacking and should be reintroduced within the Church’s teachings. Parishes, for instance, should donate the amount of money which they spend on village feasts towards charitable causes. “Charity is at the core of being  a Christian,” he said. “We can never give enough, as we can never be Christians enough.”