The Malta Independent on Sunday
A changing Church?
There have been mixed reactions to the business brunch message by the Archbishop on the Catholic Church’s role today, but the one clear signal that was received certainly says we are at a moment in time when the Church is aware it needs to change or else
While it is true that different religions are caught in different time capsules, some, like Islamic fundamentalism, are still going through a phase the Catholic Church went through, to the detriment of civilization and humanity alike, in the Dark Ages. Religion needs to come to terms with reality and to accept the evolutionary process required to stay in touch with a more alert, better educated and a much more sceptical society.
The Archbishop’s message had enough clichés and regurgitated content to possibly alienate more people who honestly want to see a realistic, down-to-earth Church that looks ahead and accepts its inglorious – along with the glorious, of course – chapters of the past rather than giving them a gold-tinted touch. But it also presented new facets to actual Church thinking that give one hope, even to those many of us who either no longer practise a strictly controlled style of religion or even do not bother to have a religion at all. Like the Church, we retain the right to say why we have chosen to stay away, what we think should be done and where we should be heading as we still form part of what is and should continue to be a free and democratic society.
I have already written in this same space about the breath of fresh air that Pope Francis has been so far not just to his Church, but to the whole world at large. It is a feeling that hopefully will quickly inundate the rest of the Church hierarchy at both international and national levels. The slower the tempo, the bigger the threat of a Church coup by conservatives who, there is no doubt about it, must be seething with anger in some hidden corner of the Vatican, very much like the same, archaic clique that sadly still has too much influence in the Maltese Church.
Archbishop Cremona’s declared acceptance of a Church role that has nothing to do with superior attributes and attitudes or with any divine expectation of privileges, is refreshing and an indication that somewhere there, behind the smokescreen and in silent mode, lies the new Church, a changing Church that rightfully takes its place with others in an ambience of mutual respect that is, after all, the prerequisite of the secular and pluralistic society that the modern world, at least those parts of the world that have achieved it, has happily come to expect and accept.
Indeed, globalization has its many defects, but it can also be the positive force that the world needs to eventually become one in a distant future that will have to deal with extra-planetary realities and situations that would need one voice, one civilization, one vision, and, most important, one humanity. Sorry to sound so much like Freddie Mercury!
For many, the fly in the ointment of that Church business brunch was the keynote speaker – former US Ambassador to Malta Douglas Kmiec, whose public perception is that of a Bible-thumping, Catholic fundamentalist holding steadfast and uncompromisingly to traditionalist ideas. One incredulous blogger even asked: “Does Kmiec still think the Maltese are in urgent need of his ministrations to our souls?” Whoever decided to give him this opportunity cannot really be in synch with even the basics of the more than welcome prospect of a changing Church.
Putting the cart before the horse
The day will certainly come when the few hundred thirdparty migrants we can afford to have (or have enough territory for) will settle here and be able to vote in local council elections and other polling opportunities.
Aditus is correct to say they should be granted the right. It is just a question of when. Certainly not before an integration system has been established, not necessarily like the one being debated in the UK over the ‘Britishness” issue. But migrants go to another country where there are other values, other cultures, other traditions, other lifestyles to which they need to adapt without giving up their own personal customs and beliefs. It is exactly what the vast majority of Maltese migrants did when they went to places like Canada, Australia, the US and the UK. In one simple word, they integrated, so they vote and have been voting in all kinds of elections there.
However, the odd one sometimes even gets infected with certain prejudices. On my first visit to New York, I was invited to a very warm reception at the Maltese club. It was such a happy occasion, sadly spoilt at the very end when I was just about to leave. I had just told the small group of hard-working people that I would soon be on my way to Atlanta where the mayor at the time was for- mer US Ambassador at the United Nations Andrew Young, when one solitary figure said: “Ah, so you’re going to meet that black bastard?”
I wanted to strangle him on the spot, but the rest of the group turned on him like a pack of hungry wolves, so they did the good work for me.
In a nutshell, I think the government is right in being wary of the recommendation made by the well-meaning members of aditus. We cannot put the cart before the horse. Let them be integrated first, and I don’t just mean paying the relevant taxes, then let them vote.
‘Teenage’ delight
It is with “teenage” delight that several of my old mates from the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju of the late 60s and I greet the news of the forthcoming visit to Malta of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the great Russian poet, on the initiative of the Malta Arts Council and the RBSM international boarding school in Malta, backed by the National Book Council.
Yevtushenko was one of many heroes of the time that we idolised as we endeavoured to promote the Maltese language and to produce newwave literature that tackled social issues rather than the patriotic/religious themes that had featured overwhelmingly until then.
He is now 82 years old. The special bond, that immense affinity, with the man and what he still represents remain strong. We loved him as teenagers. We welcome him as ageing men and women.
A swoop on our backyard
In a swoop on our backyard, US special forces last Sunday captured a suspected ringleader of the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Libya. Ahmed Abu Khattala, who reportedly lived openly but kept a low profile in Benghazi, was snatched on the outskirts of the city in a secret raid by American troops working alongside the FBI.
Libyan authorities were not notified of the operation, a US official told Reuters news agency. Did they fly across our airspace? If they did, were the Maltese authorities notified? Are the Russians now entitled to swoop on Eastern Ukraine to stop the current massacre of Russian-speaking innocents there?
Then Americans express astonishment so many people all over the world do not like Americans (politicians, not people).