Bishop’s dangerous comments

With regard to the article ‘Bishop outlines the Gozitan position: condoms are not safe’ (5 December, 2007), I would like to make the following comments.
I have to say that I find Bishop Mario Grech’s comments regarding condoms not only disturbing but also potentially dangerous.
Whilst I agree that nothing can guarantee safe sex other than complete abstinence, the Bishop has to realise that we are living in the 21st century and not the Victorian era. It is a fact that people are going to have sex and it is therefore imperative that people are provided with the education and the means to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and all forms of sexually transmitted diseases.
I think the fact that students at the university campus have petitioned for a condom machine is a sign that opinions are changing regarding the church’s stance on the use of condoms. I also feel that the young people who have signed this petition are to be congratulated for their responsible attitude.

James A. Tyrrell
County Antrim,
N. Ireland

Promoting Victoria parishioners’ interests

On 10 December, one of our local dailies carried a report on the installation ceremony of the new Victoria archpriest, giving us a picture of the happy smiling mitred bishop assisting the archpriest in pulling “the ornate rope to ring the big bell of the Gozo Cathedral”. The report also noted that “the parish in a statement said it was a moving ceremony.”
Perhaps the most interesting words in this report were those reporting the good bishop’s note that “he had appointed the new archpriest in order to strengthen and promote the interests of the parishioners.” Another report elsewhere had said the bishop had taken these steps for “spirituality and good” (ghall-ispiritwalità u l-gid).
Such remarks might have been intended to dissipate any doubts there could have been concerning the genuine intent of the good bishop. And there could have been quite a few! Perhaps it was these “doubts” which led president Michael Caruana and his philharmonic society to issue “five directives given to parishioners” during a meeting on 23 September, amongst which “not to take part in functions by Bishop Mario Grech at the Cathedral”. On that occasion, the same society had said “it refuses to accept the arbitrary decision by Bishop Grech.”
In no way shall I here show the slightest of doubts as to the genuine feelings the bishop had when stating that his moves were intended “to strengthen and promote the interests of the parishioners”. A leading article in a local paper on 4 October, entitled “Uprooting parochialism”, while noting that Bishop Grech has “the Liberation Thelogian John Sobrino SJ as a role model”, had stated that the good bishop “will not hesitate to take the bull by the horns if this is the only way to uproot parochialism in his diocese”.
Even if Sobrino is a man whose teachings have been condemned by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, uprooting parochialism is something praiseworthy. And if this intent of “uprooting parochialism” is really what comes under the above bishop’s words “to strengthen and promote the interests of the parishioners” or even “ghall-ispiritwalità u l-gid”, it is unlikely that the good bishop will pass down in history in a negative way. This without prejudice to what some said when noting “the absurd way the change of its archpriest was carried out” and “the undiplomatic and unfair manner” in which things took place.
To put it mildly, one notes that perhaps not everyone would be that ready to subscribe to phrases speaking of such things as good intents, uprooting parochialism, strengthening and promoting the interests of parishioners… Pestered as they have been by rumours connected with the part of an irritated politicians, they might find it extremely hard, perhaps even impossible, to swallow certain “assurances” given! And this not merely with regards to such parishes as Kercem, where no pest of parochialism exists and where the parish is still without its father!
But again, this is not he place where I will pronounce myself on this. History might see to it elsewhere. The point is that the good bishop has thought it wise to try to assure us of his good intents. Moreover, the roller has continued and is continuing along its way. After the shots, irksome to quiet a few, of the society concerned, this has patched up the garment. Now we are asked to understand that, at least for the time being, black clouds have sped away. So it is exactly in this atmosphere that one would be wise to make some suggestions not to only to promote parishioners’ interests, but also that we desists from irritating the Lord who will not fail to visit us with His justice.
Haven’t we learned any lessons from the two surveys held in connection with priestly life in Gozo and the part of the local parish priests, one in 2004 and one in 2007? Or have we behaved in such a way as to show that we couldn’t care less? Are we giving the flock the food the sheep need and expect? What are we doing to deal with the scourge of religious ignorance prevailing in the flock? Why have parishes, not only Kercem’s, deprived of the physical presence of the shepherd, when we should keep in mind those words of Holy Writ: “O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zach. 11:17)? Part-time shepherds, away from the flock and with other commitments or spending the night in some remote village!
What amount of sacred knowledge are our seminarians being given? How are these given enough knowledge in the sphere of languages and their literature? What about the liturgy in our churches? And not merely that being adulterated as a result of things connected with a spirit of show and prosopopeia, perhaps also on the part of the pastors themselves!
A few days ago, a British paper carried this: “The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away… the liberal Cardinals don’t like the sound of it at all. Ever since the shock of Benedict’s election, they have been waiting for him to show his hand. Now that he has, the resistance has begun in earnest – and the Archbishop of Westminster is in the thick of it… And he is not alone: dozens of bishops in Britain, Europe and America have tried the same trick… ‘Pope Benedict is isolated’, I was told when I visited Rome. ‘So many people even in the Vatican oppose him, and he feels the strain immensely.’ Yet he is ploughing ahead.”
All this throws some light on what I have said above when noting that “we are quite aware of the sad times the Church is passing through”.

Mgr Anton Gauci
Victoria

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