26th January 2006
The Malta
Today a new Archbishop
takes over from incumbent Mgr Joseph Mercieca, who has
had been guarding our spiritual well-being for nearly 30 years and has been
forced to continue his watch beyond the normal age of 75.
For many, the search for a new Archbishop was prolonged more than they wished for. However I think I would be expressing a widely-held opinion in stating that the final choice was well worth waiting for. Mgr Cremona has been impressing by his smile and simplicity and although from the outside it does not look that he was perceived as one of the likely contenders, his appointment forced many to exclaim why he was not thought of before.
I understand that his choice is the result of a very wide exercise of consultation and counter-consultation, which in the end seems to have eliminated heavier contenders and focused on an unlikely candidate who quickly gained acceptance in the nation’s heart. I doubt if a democratic exercise in civil political terms would have worked as well as the Church’s non-democratic system.
I can think of no other job where it is harder to deliver what is expected of the incumbent than that of an Archbishop. Mgr Cremona needs all his faith, leadership skills and celestial assistance in order to deliver the impossible. He needs to work out his miracle slowly but resolutely.
He takes over the custody of Malta’s spiritual flock as society is finally starting to discuss openly whether the Church’s resistance to the introduction of divorce should leave society complacent to the social consequences of the breakdown of family units which is happening, with or without divorce, at an alarmingly increasing rate.
With or without divorce, families are breaking down, separations are in double-digit growth, unmarried family units are on every street of every town and village and birth of children out of wedlock will in the not-too-distant future match and exceed those born from normal married families.
The argument of those who argue that the introduction of divorce will bring about the breakdown of family values is getting thinner by the hour. The breakdown of family values has already happened and is continuing to happen proving the case of the pro-divorce camp that divorce is the consequence and not the cause of such breakdown. After all, no one I know is arguing for the Las Vegas type of easy divorce but only for conditional divorce in cases where long-term de facto separation proves irrefutably that marriage has irretrievably broken down.
How can Mgr Cremona bring back into the fold an increasing section of his flock that is deserting regular practice of basic religious rituals as they find the Church insensitive to the reality of the problems of their daily life?
How can the new pastor stick to the Church’s rigid anti-divorce mentality, as surely he is obliged to do, and at the same time keep the Church relevant not only to those who partake the Holy Sacraments, but especially to those whose life realities and the Church rules allow them to be only passive members of the flock. Such passivity, if prolonged, tends to evolve into non-practising Catholics which census after census of Sunday church attendance unmistakably show to be an increasing segment of the overall baptised flock.
And the divorce issue is not the only or even the biggest dilemma that Mgr Cremona will need to come to terms with during his terms as our spiritual guardian. Other issues like social injustices, discrimination against minorities including immigrants, drug abuse, alcoholism, gambling and the alarming increase in suicide rates are all issues that the Church need to champion and ensure that the nation’s conscience remains sensitive to such issues and not adopt the I-am-alright-Bob’s-your-uncle-Jack mentality.
Ultimately the issues that the new Archbishop has to confront are not related to whether or for how long this country can continue to deny its citizens the right to divorce that is accorded by almost all other countries in the world and that is already available to fellow Maltese who marry foreigners. Politicians will surely take care of this when their political calculators start showing that there are more votes to be gained than lost through the introduction of civil divorce.
What the new pastor will no doubt focus upon is the need to rebuild the values which will ensure that even when eventually divorce is introduced in our civil law, it is availed of by as few as possible through persuasion not prohibition.
May God bless you and be with you Archbishop Cremona.
For many, the search for a new Archbishop was prolonged more than they wished for. However I think I would be expressing a widely-held opinion in stating that the final choice was well worth waiting for. Mgr Cremona has been impressing by his smile and simplicity and although from the outside it does not look that he was perceived as one of the likely contenders, his appointment forced many to exclaim why he was not thought of before.
I understand that his choice is the result of a very wide exercise of consultation and counter-consultation, which in the end seems to have eliminated heavier contenders and focused on an unlikely candidate who quickly gained acceptance in the nation’s heart. I doubt if a democratic exercise in civil political terms would have worked as well as the Church’s non-democratic system.
I can think of no other job where it is harder to deliver what is expected of the incumbent than that of an Archbishop. Mgr Cremona needs all his faith, leadership skills and celestial assistance in order to deliver the impossible. He needs to work out his miracle slowly but resolutely.
He takes over the custody of Malta’s spiritual flock as society is finally starting to discuss openly whether the Church’s resistance to the introduction of divorce should leave society complacent to the social consequences of the breakdown of family units which is happening, with or without divorce, at an alarmingly increasing rate.
With or without divorce, families are breaking down, separations are in double-digit growth, unmarried family units are on every street of every town and village and birth of children out of wedlock will in the not-too-distant future match and exceed those born from normal married families.
The argument of those who argue that the introduction of divorce will bring about the breakdown of family values is getting thinner by the hour. The breakdown of family values has already happened and is continuing to happen proving the case of the pro-divorce camp that divorce is the consequence and not the cause of such breakdown. After all, no one I know is arguing for the Las Vegas type of easy divorce but only for conditional divorce in cases where long-term de facto separation proves irrefutably that marriage has irretrievably broken down.
How can Mgr Cremona bring back into the fold an increasing section of his flock that is deserting regular practice of basic religious rituals as they find the Church insensitive to the reality of the problems of their daily life?
How can the new pastor stick to the Church’s rigid anti-divorce mentality, as surely he is obliged to do, and at the same time keep the Church relevant not only to those who partake the Holy Sacraments, but especially to those whose life realities and the Church rules allow them to be only passive members of the flock. Such passivity, if prolonged, tends to evolve into non-practising Catholics which census after census of Sunday church attendance unmistakably show to be an increasing segment of the overall baptised flock.
And the divorce issue is not the only or even the biggest dilemma that Mgr Cremona will need to come to terms with during his terms as our spiritual guardian. Other issues like social injustices, discrimination against minorities including immigrants, drug abuse, alcoholism, gambling and the alarming increase in suicide rates are all issues that the Church need to champion and ensure that the nation’s conscience remains sensitive to such issues and not adopt the I-am-alright-Bob’s-your-uncle-Jack mentality.
Ultimately the issues that the new Archbishop has to confront are not related to whether or for how long this country can continue to deny its citizens the right to divorce that is accorded by almost all other countries in the world and that is already available to fellow Maltese who marry foreigners. Politicians will surely take care of this when their political calculators start showing that there are more votes to be gained than lost through the introduction of civil divorce.
What the new pastor will no doubt focus upon is the need to rebuild the values which will ensure that even when eventually divorce is introduced in our civil law, it is availed of by as few as possible through persuasion not prohibition.
May God bless you and be with you Archbishop Cremona.
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