Archbishop in Independence Day appeal for good governance and accountability

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna yesterday appealed for good governance and accountability while celebrating Independence Day Mass at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

“As we celebrate the 55th anniversary of Independence, we pray that Malta, as a Nation, and we Maltese, as citizens of a sovereign state, embrace stewardship as a way of governance and a way of life,” he said.

Moreover, Archbishop Scicluna said the gospel reading he had chosen for this year’s celebration “hinges on another important aspect of the calling of the country’s stewardship: accountability.”

He explained: “Accountability requires leadership to be open to public scrutiny and censure. Accountability is the antidote to that sense of impunity that makes a mockery of leadership as service and of democracy as an expression of the rule of law.

“The steward leader, in a democracy worthy of the name, knows too well that he is accountable to the people he serves both politically and legally. He will embrace politics as a service to the common good and will respect the fact that he is not above the law.”

He told the audience of politicians, diplomats and dignitaries: “The 55th anniversary of Malta’s Independence and of the consequent realisation of sovereign statehood for the Maltese Islands gives me the opportunity to offer some brief reflections on governance as the art of stewardship of the state on both the national and the international level.

“The art of stewardship helps the leader live out his high calling to take charge of the household, in this case the state, in the spirit of service to the well-being of society and the promotion of the common good.”

He described how in the New Testament, the Greek word for ‘steward’ is ‘oikonomos’. This, in turn, shares its roots with the more familiar term ‘oikonomia’ (from which the word ‘economy’ is derived). ‘Oikos’ is Greek for ‘house’ or ‘home’, while ‘nomos’ translates to ‘law’ or ‘order’. The root suggests that the steward (the ‘oikonomos’) is the servant that guarantees and promotes order, stability and consequent peace in a household or home.

“The steward,” he observed, “is entrusted with the well-being of a household that is not his property to abuse at will. He is a servant and is called to serve, and not to be served. He is called to dedicate his life to the good of others and will shun any temptation to abuse his authority for personal gain, profit or advantage. In order to fulfil this calling to the best of his abilities, he needs a healthy sense of detachment, internal or psychological freedom and the humility to face adversity and failure when things do not go according to plan or where tough decisions taken in good conscience come at a heavy political price. All this needs a good dose of the sense of humour St Thomas More prayed for daily in these words:

“Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it.

Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called ‘I’. Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.”

The Archbishop noted how Pope Francis had quoted this prayer in a number of his writings.

“I once told him how much this prayer had touched me and he told me that he prayed it every day,” Scicluna reflected.

He added: “The gospel I chose for this year’s celebration hinges on another important aspect of the steward’s calling: accountability. The Lord will come and demand an account from the steward of his stewardship or ministry. He addresses his parable to Peter and the other apostles and concludes with the aphorism: ‘To whom much is given, of him will much be required’ (Luke 12:48).

“In the Lord’s parable, the bad steward gets drunk and mistreats the members of the household. That is, he is ruled by his egoistic passions and needs, and abuses his authority. The bad steward turns authority on its head. For him, it is not a means to serve, but an opportunity to be served.”

Independence Day, he said, “comes every year to challenge us Maltese citizens to develop a true sense of the state (what the Italians call ‘il senso dello stato’). Independence Day challenges each and every one of us to grow beyond an atavistic sense of entitlement at the hand of a benevolent despot (so typical of the heritage of our colonial past) and to move into the very uncomfortable place of participating in the destiny of our society as co-stewards.

“This place is uncomfortable because, to paraphrase the wisdom of US President John F. Kennedy, being true and loyal citizens of an independent country means that we ask ourselves first and foremost what we need to do for our country, rather than what our country needs to do for us. We need to move past the passive, quasi-parasitic dependence on the state as the Big Brother of Orwellian infamy to a proactive coownership of the instruments of the state as the stewardship of the well-being of each member of society, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.”