A pastor who carried his cross with dignity

21 March marks the fifth anniversary of the day when death ushered Archbishop Mgr Joseph Mercieca into the kingdom of peace and eternal light.

Born in Victoria, Gozo, on 11 November 1928, Joseph Mercieca was ordained priest on 8 March 1952. After graduating in Theology and Canon Law in Rome, he was appointed chancellor of the Gozo Curia and started teaching theology and Canon Law at the Gozo Seminary, where he also became rector until 1969, when Pope Paul VI appointed him judge of the Sacred Romana Rota.

On 27 July 1974, Pope Paul VI nominated him auxiliary to Archbishop Michael Gonzi. He took over from Mgr Gonzi, as Metropolitan Archbishop of Malta, on 12 December 1976.

Throughout his 30 years as head of the Church in Malta, Archbishop Mercieca proved himself as a wise, prudent, humble and gentle pastor whose main commitments included communicating and witnessing Christ, promoting evangelical values and the Church’s social teaching, striving for the common good and invariably strive to be an active instrument for fraternal unity.

During his term, Archbishop Mercieca piloted, among other initiatives, the setting up of the Archdiocese’s various secretariats and commissions, the publication for the first time of the Church’s aggregated financial accounts, the signing of the ChurchState agreements on Church schools and Church property and a Diocesan Synod.

During the early 1980s he led the Church in Malta throughout a Church-State impasse regarding the future of Church schools and the State’s expectations regarding Church property.

The crisis was undoubtedly a crucial test to his leadership qualities. He had to bear, among so many other strains, a massive spate of misinterpretation, provocation, vilification and hostility. Yet, he invariably remained calm and stood his ground with all the human and spiritual dignity his pastoral leadership required of him for the ultimate benefit of the Church and society as a whole.

Inspired by his motto, “We are all brethren in Christ”, Mgr Mercieca constantly advocated love and unity. He regularly pleaded, by word and deed, against division and all sorts of violence. Although violence was repeatedly used against him, he continued to preach forgiveness and condemning every form of retaliation to provocation.

He strongly believed that the search for solutions should be grounded in a calm, civil and genuine dialogue.

During the crisis, there may have been people who would perhaps have preferred to see Mgr Mercieca responding or acting differently in the face of certain harsh charges, abuses or stances. However, he knew when to remain hushed, when to speak, and what to say and how to say it. Indeed, it was through and as a direct result of his sage, realistic and forward-looking leadership that things did not escalate into some terribly grave twist in the country. He used to suffer everything in silence because his ultimate aim was to strive for just and durable solutions for the good of all

“All along my Episcopal ministry, whatever happened, I continued to always pray God to keep helping me to continue to love, to be a voice striving for the best of the common good, to be an instrument that brings and sustains unity among our people, whatever the personal sacrifice this would require of me,” said Mgr Mercieca on 18 January 2007, during his Thanksgiving Mass; the end of his service as Archbishop.

Love for the family

Mgr Mercieca’s episcopal ministry priorities included marriage and the family.

His defence of the family according to his own convictions according to the teachings of the Church was a hallmark of his episcopate. Time and again he encouraged social legislation and policy to support the durability of marriage and to protect the family and its unity always better.

He used to call upon society to understand and value the deep mystery of marriage between a man and a woman, also advocating marriages that endure and strive for steadfast families.

Mgr Mercieca strongly held that although many things change in cultural and social evolution, it remains a fact that it is woman who conceives, carries and delivers the children of men. He further believed that in calling woman to motherhood, God entrusted the human being to her in an entirely special way.

Certain pronouncements of Mgr Mercieca in his constant emphasis about the complementary natural role and responsibilities of both parents, particularly the mother, in the care of their children, especially in their first years, may have led to a certain amount of debate and, occasionally, even unfair interpretations. Still, his teachings about mar

riage and the family were invariably in line with the Church’s social teaching, further propelled by his convictions about the best interest of marriage, the family and society.

The highlight of Archbishop Mercieca’s final years as head of the Archdiocese was the unprecedented exercise of the 1999-2003 Diocesan Synod, which he envisaged as a time of renewal for the Church in Malta.

Announcing the findings of the Synod and the plans for their implementation, way back in 2003, Archbishop Mercieca indicated what may be considered as the pastoral roadmap he wished to propose for the future of the Church in Malta.

Mgr Mercieca said the Synod showed “that we must be a Church that is committed to a new evangelisation, and also a Church that takes its ongoing formation seriously”. He also had bridgebuilding in mind: “We should give witness to communion and work for the unity of all our brothers and sisters. We should also work with contemporary society in a spirit of dialogue.”

Archbishop Mercieca saw the Synod as an inspired encouragement to God’s people in Malta “to be a Church that always works with a spirit of service, which means that we must also work for a just society. It encourages us to work with a spirit of solidarity, giving special attention to those who have moved away from the Church, or who feel they are not accepted fully”.

After 2007, when his service as head of the Archdiocese came to an end, Mgr Mercieca had the opportunity to concentrate better on a kind of pastoral work that was very close to his heart, primarily being close to the sick and the afflicted.

Mgr Mercieca had always been very close to the sick. For many, many years he used to make it a point to regularly visit hospitalised and sick people, and one of the experiences dearest to him was accompanying the sick in their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Archbishop Mercieca was the pastor the Church in Malta and our nation greatly needed at the time when Pope Paul VI chose him as the successor of Archbishop Michael Gonzi.

The Pope definitely knew what was brewing up in Malta when he picked Mgr Mercieca as Mgr Gonzi’s successor. He foreseeably told him that a very heavy cross was awaiting him as the head of the Church in Malta.

Mgr Mercieca shouldered his cross with evangelical courage and dignity, sustained by an immeasurable faith in God and a genuine love for one and all, convinced that there is good in every human being.