Just over a quarter of a century ago, Church and State clashed in an epochal battle over fundamental principles in education - namely, the right to send one’s children to a school of one’s choice. CHARLES BUTTIGIEG explains why he thinks the resulting compromise – welcomed by some but criticised by others – was the best possible outcome.
Charles Buttigieg was editor of Il-Hajja, a daily newspaper which was subsidised by the Archdiocese of Malta (but as he points out, not the official Church newspaper), when war broke out between Church and State over the financing of education. “Il-Hajja used to give top priority to the Church schools issue,” Buttigieg – who later served as the Curia’s public relations officer – recalls. “We were always very careful to ensure balanced and fair reporting, and to keep our opinion columns open to all. At the same time we had our own editorial stance, which was mainly inspired by what we felt were the best interests of the common good: the parents’ right to have true freedom of choice as regards the education of their children; and the right of the Church in Malta to be able to pursue properly and with all due freedom the exercise of her mission in the educational field (including safeguarding the schools’ character, identity and autonomy).”
The former right was at the very epicentre of the struggle. In 1984, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff ceded his place to then Education Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, who had been co-opted to fill the role vacated when Agatha Barbara was nominated for the presidency.
From the outset, Mifsud Bonnici appeared determined to make all schools operating in Malta free of charge, under the battlecry ‘Jew B’Xejn, Jew Xejn’ (Either free, or nothing). Thanks to the Education Act of 84, it became de facto impossible to obtain a licence to operate a school if one also charged tuition fees – a state of affairs that at the time precluded all Church-owned schools, as well as a limited number of privately-owned schools, including St Edwrads’ College in Cottonera.
“There was a point when I was approached by some parents and teachers and asked to contribute, as a parent, to the work being done by the Federation of Parents Teachers Associations (FPTA),” Buttigieg, whose children attended a Church school at the time, explains. “I accepted and joined the FPTA council.”
Matters came to a decisive head in September 1984, when Archbishop Joseph Mercieca declared that ‘under the present cirsumstances’, it would be unsafe to open schools for the scholastic year 1984-85. Instead, lessons were organised clandestinely in the private homes of volunteer parents.
Buttigieg remembers the situation vividly. “Malta was facing a very, very difficult and delicate situation. There was a moment when, in view of the kind of environment that was developing, the Church leadership and Church school authorities had to face a very pertinent question: whether it was wise to open the schools in a situation that appeared to spell the possibility of violence.”
Not everyone at the time agreed with the official policy to keep schools closed, arguing that it would have been in a spirit of defiance to open them as usual. Buttigieg however disagrees.
“I truly believe that Archbishop Mgr. Joseph Mercieca’s and his team’s decision not to open Church schools at that point in time was a very responsible one. It was in the best interest of all the people of Malta, especially of the children. The way Archbishop Mercieca used to deal with matters, whatever happened (and surely he also had to suffer an awful lot of unjust and unwarranted personal attacks), shows that all along he continued to be inspired by his basic mission as a pastor and his motto, ‘Ilkoll ahwa fi Kristu’ (We are all brothers in Christ).”
The Church’s official response to the Education Act was to challenge it in the Constitutional court. However, the atmosphere at the time was such that the trial never ran out its full course: in part owing to consistent deferments as one judge after another exempted himself (or was met by objections from government); in part also because of a change of government in 1987, and a subsequent agreement with the Holy See which obviated the entire legal process.
However, for the duration of the court case Malta was subjected to moments of intense political tension, culminating in violent attacks on the Archbishop’s Curia in Floriana and the law courts on the same day. Memories of these and other events prompts Charles Buttigieg to list out his personal beliefs regarding political violence.
“I have always been convinced that: (i) violence, wherever it comes from, cannot be condoned and does not solve anything, (ii) violence breeds violence, (iii) any danger of a circle of violence must be resisted and stopped; (iv) one should only fight for one’s rights and duties with legal means, and; (v) dialogue and persuasion are the only way out of an impasse like the one our community was facing at the time.”
This, he adds, is what came to his mind upon visiting the Curia and seeing what the situation was after it was attacked.
Eventually, as outlined above, an agreement was reached between the government and the Church resulting in the reopening of schools. But while effective in defusing the immediate tension, some held that the resulting compromise - whereby the core issue at stake, payment for education, remained to all intents and purposes unchanged – had given in to too many of the government’s demands.
Buttigieg however defends the agreement.
“The April 1985 compromise-reconciliation agreement, in my opinion, translated into a cornerstone for a new approach in the handling of the issues that remained to be resolved. I believe all people of goodwill were happy to see - whatever the reservations one may have had about some point or points of the agreement - that a new platform had emerged towards working for durable solutions in the best interest of the common good and the respect of the rights of all concerned.”
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“Il-Hajja used to give top priority to the Church schools issue,” Buttigieg – who later served as the Curia’s public relations officer – recalls. “We were always very careful to ensure balanced and fair reporting, and to keep our opinion columns open to all. At the same time we had our own editorial stance, which was mainly inspired by what we felt were the best interests of the common good: the parents’ right to have true freedom of choice as regards the education of their children; and the right of the Church in Malta to be able to pursue properly and with all due freedom the exercise of her mission in the educational field (including safeguarding the schools’ character, identity and autonomy).” 
