When stones speak

The National Statistics Organisation recently informed us how much money is being spent on festa activities by the parishes of Malta and Gozo. Yes, you have read correctly. It was not the Press Office of the Archdiocese of Malta or that of the diocese of Gozo that gave us the detailed figures and explanations. A Church body did not give the information, but it was given by a state-run organisation. We will comment on this further on, but first let us look at a few statistics.

According to NSO parishes last year spent Lm600,000 on festa celebrations. Gozitan parishes' expense is proportionately larger than that of Maltese parishes. In fact Gozo's parishes spent Lm154,000 or 25% of Maltese parishes. Forty per cent of this expense was spent on outside festivities and almost 20% on street decorations.

This expense of Lm0.6 million does not represent all the monies spent on festas. The NSO clearly states that it does not include the vast sums of money spent by, for example, band clubs and fireworks factories.

Our introductory paragraph pointed out that this information was given by the NSO and not by the Church. In past editions we have noted that today the Church is not as forthcoming with information regarding financial matters as it was 10, 15 years ago.

One remembers the time when the aggregated accounts of the Archdiocese of Malta, the diocese of Gozo and the religious orders were published. This annual event was stopped many years ago. No one noticed. This perhaps means that that the event in itself was not considered important. But it was not replaced by some other action which informs people of the financial state of the above-mentioned sections of the Church in Malta. This is unfortunate, and we suggest that new efforts be made to find the right medium to pass on this information.

There is at least another aspect that one should consider. Can pastoral decisions about different activities and ministries be taken without the help of research and statistics? Can the Pastoral Council, for example, give advice about what should be done about our parish feasts if they do not know, among other things, what they cost? Can pastoral priorities be considered without a detailed analysis of the expenditure involved to do that priority?

Quite naturally the cost aspect is only one aspect, but it is an important one. There are several instances where the cost factor should not be the most important factor in the equation.

This situation seems be similar to what Christ said on his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. When the leaders of the Jews asked him to stop people from celebrating, he said that if they did not shout for joy the stones would do that. It seems that when Church institutions fail to inform the people about these aspects we now have a state institution to do so.