Lambs, sheep, flock and shepherds... These are used in a myriad of biblical allegories and metaphors. God and Christ are presented to us as the shepherd of God's chosen people... And God's people are presented as a flock. "Take care of my sheep" and "feed my lambs" was one of Jesus' last instructions.
Throughout history, the Christian Church has maintained this symbolic language not only in its iconography but also in its teaching. One need not be a theologian to know this; we have learnt it at school in our catechism lessons. The Church is referred to analogically as sheepfold, while Christians are referred to as the flock, and Christ is our Shepherd. He also left human shepherds to lead and nourish His flock. This mission He entrusted to the Pope and the bishops. Their pastoral office entails that the daily care of the sheep is entrusted completely to them.
November 11 is just round the corner. It will be Archbishop Joseph Mercieca's 77th birthday. This brings to mind to anyone interested in the Maltese Church that two years ago, he dutifully tendered his resignation to His Holiness. In my view, Mgr Mercieca's time is over and he must be allowed to step down immediately and leave his office by the front door.
One must assume that the numerous Apostolic Nuncios, who - during the 29-year episcopate of Mgr Mercieca - have represented the Holy See in our country, have been doing their duty informing their superiors about how the Shepherd and the Maltese flock were faring.
Hence it is strange, to say the least, to see how the flock has been left in total darkness as to whether the Archbishop of Malta's resignation has been accepted or not.
Since our Archbishop tendered his resignation, several other bishops throughout the world, including the Cardinal of Wellington, New Zealand, and a fellow Maltese bishop, have tendered their resignations... which were accepted and new bishops have been appointed to replace them.
Given that birthdays are not among the most humanly unforeseeable events, and they come as regularly as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, one justifiably wonders what might be causing the delay in appointing a new archbishop. No wonder that, if rumour is correct, the Nuncio gets quite hot under the collar when asked by journalists about the timing of the changing of the guard!
The merits of Archbishop Mercieca are many and very often unsung. His simplicity and love for those who are weak is exemplary. He has carried out his ministry with self-effacing humility. For him, ostentation is blasphemous. His extreme patience has become proverbial. The way he steered away from political polemic without putting his predecessors in a bad light is exemplary. When he was offended - if not insulted - and hurt, he reacted with love! His respect for other people's conscience and private lives will, hopefully, long be remembered.
Several people disagreed with certain decisions he has taken or refrained from taking: but he made no enemies. There are people who have been hurt by his decisions, but I am sure that this was never the Archbishop's intention.
This notwithstanding, time and change cannot be ignored. Perhaps Archbishop Mercieca's greatest weakness was that he took very few systematic concrete actions which would imbue his flock with the letter and spirit of Vatican II.
Several pastoral plans and a Synod were published... that's exactly what I mean, published. Because there seem to have been little moral authority to sustain them... and they all ended on the rocks. In spite of laudatory statements by acolytes, the Synod is quickly becoming a dead letter... no change of direction or dynamism is in sight.
Various sectors of the flock seem to be in disarray. "Kulhadd Papa!" Although what the Pope is saying about the Universal Church, that is, that there are in the Church good and bad weeds, is valid for the Maltese Church, I will refrain from using these categories. I think that a rough categorisation of the sheep or lambs in the Maltese Church is that some of us are conformists, while the majority just live and let live.
The conformists accept and act on instructions or tradition-based positions. The only means they use to reach their pastoral goals are only those "rubrically" promoted by authority. We find this category of conformists both among the clergy and the laity.
The Seminary and certain organisations seem to be producing this kind of "conservative" Christians. These people would never have found the courage to state what Benedict XVI has recently said, namely, that "the Pope is not an oracle!... that the Pope is infallible on the rarest of occasions!" Besides, the number of Sunday ritualists is increasing.
Another group consists of "withdrawalists". These people love both Christ and his Church. They are often in disagreement with the pastoral positions of the Church. These Christians claim that the Maltese Church is insensitive to present-day people and their culture.
They argue that the Church's compass is not the Holy Spirit living in its members - and in the world - but traditions of our fathers. One reason why the Maltese Church fits so loosely in contemporary Maltese society is not because Christ has become irrelevant but because, in the last three-quarters of a century, the Maltese Church has paid superficial attention to time and history.
The situation is very serious. Many Christians who love the Church have almost lost hope. That is why we have no public protests in front of the Curia and the Apostolic Nunciature! In these circumstances, in the Maltese Church there is only the loud silence of the lambs. Church leadership is continuously and consistently being ignored as irrelevant. The Church becomes "relevant" only when it threatens public policy. It is not offering a radical witness to Christian ideals... Words, sermons and talks: of these we have in abundance... but little witness. Christian witness seems to come from the outer fringes of God's flock.
Should one blame Archbishop Mercieca for all this? By no means! The problem is bigger than the man. However, the situation and the People of God need a different type of shepherd... And they need him immediately. If His Grace and His Excellency are not aware of this, then they are really living in cloud-cuckoo land. If, on the contrary, they are conscious of it, then they should join forces and fly to Rome to push hard for a solution! According to Church law, a bishop should accept the resignation of a parish priest who has reached the age of 75 after considering all the circumstances of person and place. Why should not these criteria be applied to the Maltese Archbishop?
What about the choice of Archbishop Mercieca's successor? Are we going to move "strictly" by the rules of Canon Law or by the spirit of dialogue which has been called for by Vatican II? The consultation, beyond the requirements of Canon Law, which Nuncio Bruno Heim undertook before Basil Hume was appointed Archbishop of Westminster, is, thank God, public knowledge. Are the Maltese sheep children of a lesser God than that of their English counterparts? Or is the term flock being used literally rather than analogically? In this process we need a breath of fresh air! Let not history repeat itself!
Unfortunately, there are signs that few Maltese Christians will have a say. It seems that some of Mgr Mercieca's preferences are being put openly in pole position: Mgr Charles Scicluna at the Roman Curia, Mgr Carmel Zammit - a former alumnus of the Accademia Pontificia - is Chancellor of the Curia and practically Vicar-General, Canon Anton Gouder has been promoted to Seminary Rector. Fr Charles Cordina is the Pastoral Secretary, and, finally, Fr Anthony Vella has just been nominated archpriest of the Metropolitan Cathedral. "All the President's men"! And all cards seem to be in place! Probably we have just to wait for a three-year long sprint.
Galileo has always been used as a stick to give the Catholic Church a beating. However, Galileo is also emblematic of mistakes committed by the Catholic Church in the name of tradition and as a result of lack of due deep and humble dialogue. Galileo should alert us to avoid this! The silence of the lambs in Malta is the voice of, to put mildly, estrangement and disaffection, or, to put it harshly, anger!