We cannot pretend there's no racism in our Church

The General Chapter of the Franciscans held in Assisi gave to the friars all over the world useful material for reflection on essential elements of our heritage, an examination of conscience and an impulse toward putting the proposals of our option for the poor into practice.

For an ever-increasing number of friars, the poor man is not just a brother but a "preferred" brother. Some communities have handed over friaries to be centres for the recovery of alcoholics and of drug addicts and to provide shelter to asylum seekers.

Concerned with the current crisis in migration in Malta, the Peace Lab stimulated awareness of the situation in local and foreign media. The Peace Lab also initiated legal proceedings to protect migrants from deportation when it was not fashionable to do so. For the past four years, it has extended to them real time assistance in language orientation, sport, medical care, trade training and insertion in the job market besides a place of worship both for Christians and Muslims.

This is solid contribution far away from seminars and discussions which can only produce printed paper or loud noise without any credibility. But day in day out we have to avoid the sprouting jungle of racial prejudice. Because in Malta our Church is very slow to prompt any action for justice and peace because this could complicate the life of our Church or that of our groups or Christian communities and therefore, it would be better to stay on the sidelines.

Can we pretend there is no racism in our Church? The lack of sensitivity to ethnic make up is not linked to a particular parish, but is a Church wide phenomenon.

Attending a recent seminar run by a Church organisation, an African young girl complained she was the only representative of an ethnic community. Certainly, in colour terms she was right, as the work group did seem to be made up of a sea of white guests and participants involved in migration.

The bigger question though was how representative was she of ethnic make up of those who work as teachers or attend Maltese Catholic schools as students.

It is not just in Catholic schools though. What of the Catholic press - how many people of ethnic minorities do they employ? Maybe, if there were at least one or two people from ethnic groups employed in a position of opinion maker or in a position of influence, the Catholic papers might have a less white establishment view of the world.

What of the other parts of the Church life? How many black bishops were present in the European Conference of Bishops held lately in St Petersburg?

Locally, it is true that Archbishop Mercieca has several times called on people to reach out and make those coming in welcome. But it is equally true that the Church in Malta has to look seriously at its structure and seek to address the problem.

Seminars run by Church organisations and held in four-star hotels or national shrines crop up like mushrooms every season but did any one of them mark any evident contrast similar to the multi-ethnic congregation who attended the migrants' Mass celebrated by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor on May Day this year?

As more migrants come into this country, the need to address racism in the Catholic Church becomes ever more pressing. The arrival of migrants offers a great opportunity for our Church to gain added vitality.

For this to happen though, the migrants have to be genuinely welcomed and integrated into the Church and not simply assimilated, where they attend Church but do not really become part of the community. If they do not feel part of the community they might drift elsewhere.

If members of ethnic minorities have long been present on construction sites, factory floors, and the refuse sector, why are they still a rare sight in our Church organisations that routinely bring them into contact with Church congregations?

As Benedict XVI put it: "Our mission is to serve people and to do this well, it is necessary that the composition or our apostolate force reflects that of the society in which we live."

Fr Mintoff OFM is director of the Peace Lab, member of the OFM Justice and Peace Commission and Founder of Franciscans International.