'Death threats' against missionary

Since 1997, Maltese Dominican Fr George Frendo has worked with Albanians in need, helping them to build homes, receive medical treatment and continue their studies. Next month he will be ordained Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Tirana-Durres.

The religious community must pay more attention to lay people, according to Fr George Frendo, and this is one of the things he intends to work on once he is ordained auxiliary bishop of the Tirana-Durres archdiocese on September 21.

"Sometimes our mentality is based too much on hierarchy," he explained.

His view is similar to that of former San Salvador archbishop Oscar Romero who, as Fr Frendo pointed out, had expressed his belief that bishops should learn from lay people. Mgr Romero had gone to great lengths to thank those who talked to him and pointed out his mistakes.

Sixty-year-old Fr Frendo would also like to see more dialogue between the clergy from different countries. Being Maltese is a distinct advantage here, since the Albanians have a certain affinity with the island because of its colonial history.

Once he is ordained, Fr Frendo will be helping the bishop with his pastoral activity and continuing the work he has been doing for the past eight years as vicar general of the archdiocese.

The Tirana-Durres archdiocese has a large Catholic community which has grown substantially over the past 12 years as many Catholics that were living in the mountains moved to the cities. Historically Catholics have been at a disadvantage in Albania, which is predominantly a Moslem country. Under Turkish rule, for example, they either had to forsake their religion or pay taxes, which led many to flee to the mountains.

However, times have changed. Despite the fact that Catholics are still in a minority, Albania has developed a tradition of inter-religious tolerance. In fact, Pope John Paul II described the peaceful co-existence between people as a model for other countries to follow.

Fr Frendo believes that there is a lot of similarity between Catholicism in Albania and Malta. Both have a lot of popular traditions, although he added that "fortunately" in Albania there were no feasts.

Like the Maltese, Albanian Catholics are superstitious and the use of statues and other religious objects is very popular. "The role of the Church is to educate these people about faith."

Fr Frendo admitted that the superstition worries him. He referred to American psychologist Gordon Allport's view that those who are religiously mature understand they have to serve God, while those who are religiously immature use God.

"There are people that want to place our vestments on their sick child or to take a sick person's clothes and rub them against a statue. It is true that miracles can happen when there is faith, but it is important to distinguish between true faith and superstition. Some people go into a crisis of faith when they don't get what they ask for. There is a lot of bargaining with God," he said.

Fr Frendo moved to Albania in 1997, a year after the Dominicans set up their mission there and shortly after completing his term as prior provincial.

"When I first moved there, I thought it would somehow be like a honeymoon after my time as provincial," the soft-spoken priest said with a smile.

But life in Albania has been far from calm or easy, and like other priests in the former communist country, Fr Frendo had to work hard. Apart from helping the locals, the Dominicans also lent a helping hand to thousands of Kosovans who sought refuge in Albania when their country was at war.

The archdiocese took care of more than 4,000 Kosovans. This, he pointed out, could never have been possible without the generosity of the Maltese, who sent money, medicine and clothing. Some Maltese volunteers even went to Albania to lend a helping hand.

"We worked very hard during this time and were also at risk." In fact, Fr Frendo himself received a number of death threats.

The horror stories recounted by the Kosovans have obviously left a lasting impression on Fr Frendo. His face is overcome by sadness as he recounts the ghastly events uncovered by an art competition for children. One picture depicted children in a classroom looking on as soldiers shot at their teacher while another was an image of people running for safety as buildings behind them were destroyed.

Fr Frendo said he would like to include these stories in his memoirs, which would include experiences of life in Albania - the horrific poverty and people living in boxes erected in slum areas. The archdiocese helped them build decent homes. Over the years the Maltese have been very generous, he said. Half the money raised during the 2001 and 2002 Kerygma Volleyball Marathon went towards the Albanian mission.

Recounting some of the hardships experienced by Albanians, Fr Frendo said that although medical treatment in state hospitals was theoretically free of charge, the majority of doctors would not perform surgery unless they were paid beforehand. Just days before coming to Malta, Fr Frendo was asked for the equivalent of Lm100 - which is a considerable amount in Albania since salaries are so low - by a woman who needed to have a hysterectomy.

He said it was impossible not to help people in this sort of need and the archdiocese has assisted several children with their studies after they finished compulsory education at the age of 14.

"There are some very promising students. But at the same time, their families would be expecting them to start working in order to help with the expenses. So we have helped the families ourselves so that the children can continue with their studies."

The poverty in Albania is one of the reasons why young people want to leave. Although Albanians are no longer leaving their country on loaded ships, it is still every young person's dream to get out. "Unfortunately, they do not see a future there."

The country went through turmoil in the early 1990s, when almost five decades of communist rule came to an end and a multiparty democracy was established.

During the Albanian civil war in 1996 and 1997, there were two Maltese priests in Albania, one of whom was Fr Frendo's brother, Fr Gwann. Fr Frendo was still the provincial in Malta at the time, and the Maltese Foreign Ministry put considerable pressure on him to try and persuade the two priests to leave because their life was in danger. However, they opted to stay and help the Albanian people.

When he looks at his own country, he does not believe that the racism developing in Malta stems from religious differences, but from an inability to deal with other nationalities.

"We have always had an inferiority complex with regard to many other European countries, especially the British, and we express this as a superiority complex to other people. In fact, we have always looked upon Arabs and Africans with a certain disdain. Now we are looking at them as people who are taking something from us, without understanding that God did not create things for a certain category of people but for everybody and we did not have any special right to be born in Malta rather than Ethiopia."