The local Church during the Diocesan Synod proved itself bold enough to take on the challenge of renewing itself and maximising its potential in a post-modern culture.

The Synod was a great opportunity and a risk. The Church had succeeded, against all odds, in giving a faithful vision of itself to the people outside the Temple: the young and not so young generations some of whom lost trust when faced by a Church bereft of vigour and trasparency.

Rightly or wrongly, these individuals perceive the Church as attached to the economic, political, cultural global settings as dictated by the wealthy countries, where the rich become richer and the poor poorer.

This great section among the people of God, both those who in some way are still attached to the Church as well as those who opted out, looked hopefully to the Synod for a renewed model of a human-divine, person-oriented Church.

Synod's new vision

In the Synod's vision, the renewed local Church will embrace the following basic principles:

1. It is a sacramental communion Church; open to all baptised whatever their condition or circumstances; they gather around the Table of the Lord to embark on a human-divine adventure, joined in one common endeavour - that of the continuous building of God's Kingdom in today's culture.

2. It is a pilgrim Church. The People of God are essentially wayfarers. They must watch out for any sign of complacency, the sense of having arrived. This ongoing reforming Church must necessarily be a participative Church.

3. It is a sister and brother Church, gender inclusion with a preferential option for the poor.

This Church model needs the appropriate policies and structures if it is to be realised. Above all, it must ceaselessly practise discernment in the spirit. The children of God must be free of all chains of servitude in order to safeguard their commitment to truth and freedom: "The Truth shall make you free" (John 8, 32).

New demands have arisen in the life of the Church: a new evangelisation, a new attitude, a new mentality, a new language and a new conception of leadership. This is the greatest hurdle for a fulfilled Synod, but there is no way out. Our God is a demanding God, but he loves us beyond measures; His support for a praying, courageous and hopeful Church will not fail: "I am with you always" (Mt. 28, 20).

Leaders in the Church

The weakest point in the Maltese Catholic Church is leadership. Here I am referring to several leaders on different levels of Church life. It lacks ecclesial communion-building. The potential leaders who survive this barren ground and reach maturity are few.

The result is that when a lay person, a religious or an ordained minister has to be appointed, Church authorities at all levels find that the choice is restricted, and they sometimes face a Hobson's choice. This may sound harsh, but I had exactly this experience when I was in a decision-taking position in the Maltese Church, and I know that this is by and large the experience of those who carry out priestly and pastoral ministries in the Church.

I am very much afraid this shall create a serious difficulty for the implementation of the Malta Church Synod's plan. However, notwithstanding this crisis, I believe that the Spirit will not fail His Church, particularly at this moment, when the People of God need the Spirit's help for a prayerful discernment in the choice of the bishop to come.

Choice of the bishop

The future bishop should be chosen specifically with the Synod's conclusions in mind, as the individual who best embodies the Synod's vision, and the likeliest to bring it to realisation. As a person, he must be a prophet, a collaborator, a facilitator, and an empathiser.

Apart from this, the next bishop, diocesan or religious, of the local Church, should satisfy other requisites, such as:

1. He must be deeply prayerful.

2. He must have lived a poor lifestyle.

3. He must have practised the call of giving a preferential option for the poor... the poorest.

4. He must be an updated all-round theologian and evangeliser.

5. He must be faithful to God and faithful to men and women.

6. He must be faithful to the Church's Magisterium and faithful to the people entrusted to him through their Baptism, whatever their circumstances in life, and to the world.

7. He must have a long experience in teaching.

8. He must have been entrusted by the Church with leading ministries.

9. He should care for local churches throughout the world and in a special way for the Church in Rome; the destiny of the Universal Church should give him intense concern.

10. As regards governance of the Church, he must have been trained in communal discernment or, as some would have it, a community democracy.

Election model

In the election of a bishop, it is high time that Church authorities turn to the roots of Church tradition for an election model, in an appropriate manner, that warrants credibility: Pope Celestine I declared: "I insist on the fact that no bishop should be imposed on the community against its will."

Pope Leo the Great said: "The bishop who shall supervise on the community must be chosen by the whole community". St Cyprian, in a letter to the presbyters and deacons, wrote: "I decided not to act independently, to stand only to my opinion, without your counsel and the consent of the people."

The choice of a bishop is a crucial event for the Church in Malta. It is the concern and responsibility of the whole community to be involved in this choice. We should help our bishop and the commission concerned with the election of bishops, for the best choice possible, by respectfully expressing our discerned opinion, either in public or in private.