Gozo's spiritual hub

I refer to the letter by Mgr Anton Gauci (August 30).

I believe Mgr Gauci was riding his own wavelength when he voiced his fears that the Gozo cathedral's "exclusion" from the coming international meeting of priests may be due to "parochialism". I believe his fears are unfounded. From what I gather, the reasons are more logistical and technical than otherwise.

The Gozo cathedral was never on the cards simply because it cannot hold 1,000 priests and over. What was provisional about the programme was never the venue (Rome itself indicated the open space in front of the Ta' Pinu sanctuary) but the day and time.

This is an appropriate occasion as any other to appeal to the Gozo diocese to be more careful about the true interests of its cathedral church. In this case I fully share Mgr Gauci's traditional nostalgia for Mgr Gonzi.

Is it right that certain priests should be excluded from membership of the cathedral chapter?

Does it behove a cathedral church to consider any parish as its "rival"?

Knowing the controversy surrounding the cathedral church's self-designation as "mother and head of all the churches of Gozo", why did Mgr Gauci deem it necessary to bring it up into his otherwise substantially reasonable letter? He must know that canonically, the cathedral church is simply the church that, on the establishment of a diocese, is chosen as the new bishop's station. Thereby it becomes the chief church of the diocese, holds the bishop's "throne" and acts as a bond between all the churches of the diocese. Being a "cathedral" does not by definition denote any historical "motherhood" or social pre-eminence.

The Gozo cathedral is a church that should solely merit respect. One hopes for the time when it will be released from its present parochial bonds to return to what it should be: the spiritual hub with which all the Catholics of Gozo could identify without fear or favour.