News | Sunday, 21 March 2010

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Good Causes fund gives €1,500 grants to ‘upgrade’ illegal Girgenti shrine

James Debono
The Good Causes Fund has granted €1,500 to the followers of religious mystic Guza Mifsud, to upgrade their meeting place which still lacks any planning permits.
The money will be used to “upgrade the site at Girgenti as a meeting place for prayers and worship”, even though the Moviment Madonna tal-Konsegrazzjoni is still seeking to “sanction the use” of their Girgenti shrine, where Mifsud is believed to have been visited by the Virgin Mary.
The group has also applied to sanction “additions” made in the past years and the erection of a bronze statue of Jesus Christ.
MEPA’s natural heritage advisory committee (NHAC) is objecting to this application because the development involved the paving of a significant area which is both outside development zones, and part of a Special Area of Conservation. Various structures and additions were then developed without legal permits.
The panel says sanctioning cannot be recommended, in view of these illegalities.
The shrine attracts pilgrims who come to pray to the statue of the Virgin Mary, erected by Guza Mifsud herself in 1986. When Mifsud had been asked whether she had a permit from the civil and ecclesiastical authorities to erect this statue, she famously replied she had the permission of the Virgin Mary. A church was built in the area, which was later to be designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) by the European Union’s habitats directive.
A gigantic cross was later erected in 1992 and a belfry was attached to a nearby farmhouse, giving it a church-like appearance. A number of stone benches were also constructed.
Mifsud became the stuff of legend, when prior to her death, she was rumoured to have warned of bloodshed in the eventuality of a Labour victory at the polls. She would die on 26 October, 1996 – the very day Alfred Sant became Prime Minister.
The National Lotteries Good Causes Fund which issued the grant to Mifsud’s disciples, is a public entity which uses part of the government’s tax revenue to assist social, cultural, educational, sport, philanthropic or religious organisations.

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A waste of taxpayer’s time and money

Anna Mallia
No policy on work permits