Another red card for Dominican monk

The controversial Dominican monk Fr Mark Montebello hits the headlines again after the Archbishop stopped him from participating in a seminar at the eleventh hour.

Some months ago, Bro. Saviour Gatt had invited Fr Montebello to say a few words on promoting a culture of peace at a seminar for teachers in Church schools, themed The Way Forward For Christian Education Today.

The seminar opened two days ago and Fr Montebello was expected to deliver his speech on Tuesday. However, he received a call from Bro. Saviour on the same day the seminar opened, asking him to refrain from taking part.

"Bro. Saviour informed me, apparently against his wishes, that Your Excellency had ordered him to withdraw and cancel my participation at the seminar," he said in a letter he wrote to Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.

"Surely, such an order goes against any acceptable ethic. One questions whether this is the 'way forward' that the ecclesiastical authorities are indicating for Christian education today.

"I'm not contesting my position, because I'm convinced such bad deeds wrong the perpetrator rather than others. With this letter I am forgiving those who, more than once, consciously harmed me, directly and personally," Fr Montebello wrote.

The letter, which the Curia received yesterday, was also copied to the media.

When contacted, a Curia spokesman said that "if the need arose to comment, a statement will be issued" and declined to say anything else.

Last May the Archbishop imposed a six-month ban on Fr Montebello prohibiting him from commenting on religious, moral and ethical matters.

When contacted Fr Montebello said he could not begin to fathom why the Archbishop had made this latest decision.

Asked if his planned speech contained any inflammatory or controversial remarks, Fr Montebello said his talk was based solely on the concept of peace.

"I was going to speak on the concept of the basis of the Church's social teaching. It delved into how peace means progress and justice, and the fact that peace was not merely an absence of war," he said.

"There was nothing controversial in it. It was an induction on how to make the idea of peace practical on an individual level. Ironically, the seminar was on 'the way forward'. If this is how the Church wants to move forward, I dread to think what the way backward would be," he added.

Fr Montebello described the Archbishop's reaction to his participation as "childish", especially since Mgr Mercieca had not even bothered to look into what he was going to be talking about.

"I take the Archbishop's stand as prejudice against me, just because of who I am. I cannot think of any other reason behind his decision."

Was he upset?

"I take it in my stride. I don't get upset with these things. I was actually going out of my way to attend the seminar because I had to cancel an appointment at the prisons, which I have kept religiously for the past 10 years. I truly believe that who does something like this wrongs himself, not others."