Lessons from a procession dispute

We can now write and talk; the die is cast and the contended matter is over.

It was not a question of an agreement reached or not reached between the contending parties in 1976. Everybody knew, or had to know, of this agreement. It was a question of consent being given by the Cathedral parish to Mgr Nikol Cauchi for a procession to be held on Good Friday morning by another parish. A procession that at 12 noon would have been no more, leaving ample time for the Cathedral parish to hold its procession starting at 6 p.m. But the Cathedral parish opted to react in the way now known to all.

Nor was it a question of what Cardinal Knox had to say in 1976 about holding two processions in the same streets on the same day. The Cathedral parish has itself not heeded this directive by conveniently holding the feast of the risen Christ on Easter Sunday morning, just after the one held by St George's parish and La Stella Society: two feasts of the same Christ in the same streets on the same morning!

St George's parish was loyal to its leader, the Bishop of Gozo, even when he asked for the sacrifice from the parish. And had he nipped the thought of holding the procession on Good Friday morning in the bud, I am sure that our Archpriest Mgr Joseph Farrugia would have buried it.

So the procession was held on Wednesday evening and it was superb - even in its meaning. On Maundy Thursday we participated in a pilgrimage of prayer in honour of the Blessed Eucharist: it was the day! And on Sunday morning we had the usual procession with the risen Christ. And in between, from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday we had the usual, wonderful Church ceremonies culminating in the pontifical high Mass by Bishop Cauchi and St George's Collegiate Chapter on Easter Sunday morning.

Had the Cathedral parish said "yes" instead of an adamant "no" it would have gained and lost nothing. That would not have been tantamount to saying "thank you" - for good manners - for a procession offered on a silver plate by St George's parish to the Cathedral parish.

As to St George's parish yielding to the Bishop's request, it has won and lost nothing. Rather, it is the Church in Gozo which has lost. The Cathedral parish acted the way it did because it failed to understand the true meaning of the Eucharistic year. St George's parish acted the way it did because it fully understood the true meaning of the Eucharistic year, with its chapter of Canons and presbiterium and its Parish pastoral council. That was the difference between the two parishes.

It made me proud to be living in St George's parish in the year 2005.