Shameful behaviour at Nadur carnival infuriates Gozo Bishop

Joe Zammit

Mar 24th 2009, 17:48

Carnival is essentially a time to make fun, but we must never make fun of God, of his Catholic Church, her sacred ministers or things. The virtue of temperance puts the limits where they should be according to God's law as taught to us by his one Catholic Church. Merriment and enjoyment are good. Also saints led and still lead a joyful life. They had and still have a sense of humour. But they have never made fun of God or of his sacred persons or things. So let's keep carnival within its proper limits!

AD Brincat

Mar 22nd 2009, 04:40

Xi ħadd li kkummenta qabli semma lil R. W. Emerson, li hu filosofu Amerikan li kien għall-avangwardja fir-raġunament reliġjużi tiegħu. Fi żmienu imma! Li għandna bżonn illum huwa raġunament li jieħodna lura fil-valuri tajbin ta' darba. Jien ma nafx l-età tal-persuna li kellha din l-idea vojta fil-Karnival Għawdxi li għadda, imma nista' ngħid b'ċertezza li għandu madwar 17-25 sena. Jien naqa' taħt dak il-grupp f'età wkoll, u naf x'jien ngħid meta ngħid li anki ż-żgħażagħ Maltin qegħdin jittieħdu b'din il-marda komportamentali li qed tinfetta il-kultura mondjali moderna.
Għaliex dawn in-nies li kienu fin-Nadur, li raw x'kien qed isir fit-toroq tagħhom, quddiem it-tfal, quddiem it-turisti, quddiem dawk li għadhom jemmnu f'ċertu valuri (li fid dinja tal-lum 'il ġurnata tidher kważi ħaġa stramba u ta' barra minn hawn li wieħed għad jemmen fihom), ma marrux jirrappurtaw lil-Pulizija? Għaliex ma marrux jgħidu tagħhom lil dawn "in-nies" b'dak li bdew jagħmlu? Illum biex naħarbu min-"nies" bħal dawn biss kapaċi. Iżda wieħed irid ikun kapaċi jgħid le u jesprimi edukatament l-offiża li ġarrab minħabba dawn in-nies.
Niftakar bil-protesti li saru minħabba xi 'comic strips' dwar Mawmettu. Wiċċ Mawmettu rarament tiltaqgħa miegħu fl-Iżlam, iżda ir-rabja li ġustament tinħoloq fil-kredenti meta wieħed jiċċajta b'ċertu affarijiet, taqbeż il-kontinenti.

c.scicluna

Mar 20th 2009, 15:37

i think that you can wear whatever you want in carnival, you can wear a costume of a devil, so why not of christ?

Joe Zammit

Mar 5th 2009, 20:16

We must never ridicule Christ and what he did for our salvation. It is immature and devilish to ridicule Christ. A public reparation in Gozo in needed to amend for the public offence made. We must show our love to Christ publicly and directly against this public offence.

Johnny Smith

Mar 5th 2009, 18:16

Attention: P.DEBONO:::> If a person dressed is as JESUS CHRIST did not undermined his objective by offending public decency with his dress only but with his false body exposure in large format and resting on a cart, this is not also or to say against local public human dignity of Christian faith.

If this which in your opinion is not offensive, but many agree that this surely goes against public decency when he was exposing this infront of young Children even if made of plastic or other material and this should be protected by the Police Force, yet they done nothing. Disgrace MINISTER for GOZO.

The commissioner for Children PLEASE DO NOTE and not note ONLY, but take action now......

Karl Consiglio

Mar 1st 2009, 11:26

But then again bad taste and seeing how far you could push it is what makes the Nadur carnival such a popular attraction in the first place.

Joe Xuereb

Mar 1st 2009, 11:09

@ D.Diacono. So dressing up as Christ during Holy Week is OK. It is a sobre occasion and one is not expected to laugh. During Carnival on the other hand...... You would not ban laughter would you? @ Francis Saliba. Karl Consiglio is merely asking the bishop what he thinks of eternal damnation that has been preached 'for so long'. In fact way before the bishop conception was even thought of. This was easy for me to understand and I am not a doctor of anything. Why was it not so for you I wonder?

Joe Zammit

Mar 1st 2009, 09:52

The Bishop of Gozo is right in showing his disapproval and expressing overtly his condemnation of what was a public offence to God. When Christ saw the sellers offending the sacredness of the temple, he showed his disapproval with all his might. What happened at Nadur carnival was premeditated and was a public offence to God. This necessarily needs public reparation. The public offence pleased the devil and the devil is never satisfied in his evil. He always wants more. So we Catholics with all our love and strength prove to him that Christ is to be adored and loved only, and NEVER to be ridiculed.

Karl Consiglio

Feb 28th 2009, 20:57

Anyway this is like dealing with a bully, the more the bishop shows his disapproval, the more he can expect this sort of thing to happen. I believe his getting infuriated was pretty much the desired effect. Should he keep quiet next time the guys involved will realize that what they dressed up as is at the end of the day just in bad taste rather than offensive.

Joe Zammit

Feb 28th 2009, 20:37

Making fun of a religious thing or religious person is stupid and bases the offender. Making fun of Christ, God made Man for our salvation, is evil. The Ten Commandments, the Bible, the Catholic Church and Our Criminal Code speak clearly of this. We are practising Catholics living on Catholic islands for the past 2000 years and we want only to praise and adore Christ in our private and public lives. Such a public offence necessarily needs public reparation.

Alfred Busuttil

Feb 28th 2009, 09:53

Why is it ok to dress up as Egyptian, Norse, Greek or even Hindu gods and goddesses but not as Jesus, or for that matter Mohammed? To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next". So maybe you could say that these people who dressed up as Christ and the apostles were just guilty of being a little ahead of their times.

Stephen Saliba

Feb 28th 2009, 09:18

The Nadur carnival is the best and the most real carnival we have on our islands however one must condemn acts that offend our religion.

Joe Zammit

Feb 27th 2009, 21:48

Dear Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Mario Grech, be assured that your message has fallen on fertile ground. Continue to speak out the way St Paul would do if he were among us! Nothing will separate you from the love of Christ. And for the Church entrusted to you by Christ, you will suffer everything but your sufferings will produce an abundance of fruit. In their majority Gozitans are behind you. We pray for you.

Joe Zammit

Feb 27th 2009, 20:02

The people of Gozo should make a public reparation for this public offence.

Dr Francis Saliba

Feb 27th 2009, 17:47

@KarlConsiglio

Is your comment directed at Bishop Mario Grech? And if so where did you hear him say that "Those outside the Faith will burn in the eternal fire of Hell?" You must be a much more assiduous church goer than most because no one I know has ever heard any bishop say that.

carmelo aquilina

Feb 27th 2009, 17:47

I think the Nadur carnival is close to the spirit of carnival than the bland boring and over-orchestrated event in Valletta. leave it alone Bish, let your hair down and don't trun us into Iran please

saviour attard

Feb 27th 2009, 15:27

Sa kemm il-ligi ta' pajjizna hija dik li hi, dak li rrefera ghalih l-Isqof t'Ghawdex huwa reat, u l-ufficjali ghaz-zamma tal-ordni li kienu prezenti messhom hadu passi. Dan huwa mod degredanti hafna, u li weggha s-sentimenti ta bosta, ta' kif wiehed ghandu jiccelebra l-karnival. Referenza ghad-diskors ta' l-Isqof saret ukoll fil-programm ta' Ray Calleja fuq TVM Il-Gimgha wara nofs inhar fejn wiehed mill-partecipanti kkundanna bil-qawwa kollha dak iz-zufjett bir-Religjon Kattolika li fil-fehma tieghu kellu jigi mwaqqaf u jittiehdu passi kontra minn ghamlu.

J.Tonna

Feb 27th 2009, 15:03

@ Ramon Casha - His Grace the Bishop of Gozo (and to Mr Bishop as you said) was quite right. No one should offend the Founder of our Religion. I wonder why the police did not act at such an offence.

Alfred Grech

Feb 27th 2009, 14:58

Ramon Casha, that was very rude of you. Yes, the Bishop has the right to interfere when some disrespect Christ the way they did. If you look around you, you'll find out that things are getting from bad to worse by not putting too much importance to what the Church teaches.

J Farrugia

Feb 27th 2009, 14:17

@ Paul Debono and Ramon Casha. - Do you mind if I dress up for carnival like your parents do? Do you mind me ridiculing your family just for fun? That's what these where doing insulting God and the catholic religion which is against the law. Or dont you know that there is a law which states that no one can dress up like a priest, a policeman or an army official during carnival?

Alexander Vella Gregory

Feb 27th 2009, 13:13

I wonder what would have been the reaction had someone dressed up as mohammed or buddha...

oh, and just in case His Grace missed the point...Carnival IS rude and offensive!

Karl Consiglio

Feb 27th 2009, 13:08

Dear Bishop,

Its a lot more offensive to preach, for so long, that those outside The Faith will burn in the eternal fires of hell. Don't you think?

D.Diacono

Feb 27th 2009, 12:50

Li tilbes ta xi qassis jew soru OK, imma li tilbes ta Kristu fil-carnival tkun qieghed tizuffjeta bir religjon taghna u hija sagrilecc tilbes ta Kristu fil-karnival ... zmien il blugha ... jekk trid tilbes ta Kristu ghaeml hekk fil paegants tal Gimgha l-Kbira li huwa zmien aktar addatat

P Debono

Feb 27th 2009, 10:24

If Jesus were born in the 21st century, I am sure that he would have had a sense of humour like most of us, unlike the Bishops and most representatives of the Church in general who are living amid piles of gold given by common citizens themselves.

Although I did not go to the carnival celebrations, I see nothing wrong with people wearing a costume of the risen Christ with his apostles. The real offence would occur if they wore a costume of Jesus before crucifixion. Then I would be gravely offended.

But as I said, Christ has a sense of humour and it is time for the Bishop and most of his clan to get off their high horse and move on with the times.

Ramon Casha

Feb 27th 2009, 10:17

Dear Mr. Bishop, you have your Easter and other occasions.

This one is NOT yours.