Divorce doesn't scare me - Cana founder

Joseph E Briffa

Aug 17th 2009, 17:39

@ Joe Bonetti....people in their right senses do not divorce or separate or whatever because of the reasons you mention. If any of these acts provoke a separation or divorce then it is either the last straw, or the people are simply suffering from a mental condition and need treatment.

Joe Xuereb

Aug 17th 2009, 12:37

Those whose marriage feels solid need not fear divorce. It is not compulsory.
Piscopo, so God is against divorce. But the God worshipped by Muslims and Jews allows divorce. We are told that the infiltration of Muslims into our society is not a problem as there is only only God and we can all pray together under one roof. Oh yes! I hope you are following my train of thought Piscopo. As one Churchy luminary, an erudite par excellence said on these pages 'it is up to their (Muslim) leaders how many mosques they need in Malta. Then said luminary believes we will all pray together, picking church or mosque, depending on which of either is flavour of the week. I've heard of cross-dressing. But cross-templing?! Cross being an intented pun naturally. As in 'haram' - forbidden.

Raymond Sammut

Aug 17th 2009, 11:49

@ r ferriggi

"do we still have to live in a '' big brother dictates'' society??????" It seems that this is what the Maltese Church wants. Dictating is easy. Educating is hard. This is what Mgr Vella means when he states that he is not afraid of divorce laws. That is, he is not afraid to do what is hard. The Maltese Church, however, seems to differ. It wants to simply keep dictating, which is a lot easier to do except that contemporary society is now beginning to resist.

On its part, the State also wants an easy way out by introducing divorce laws and leave it up to the public to deal with their broken marriages. This, of course, puts the State in conflict with the Church. State and Church are in conflict because both refuse to do what is hard. This is their dilemma, not Mgr Vella's. Cana will simply keep doing the right thing -- no matter how hard -- as it has been doing for the past odd 40 years. Mgr Vella's stance is clear: "I shall build a marriage on solid foundations, and no divorce law will be able to wreck it."

r ferriggi

Aug 17th 2009, 10:09

it always seems to me that the wrong people speak about the subject of divorce....

or to put it in another way,,,,,,,, those most afffected speak the least about it!!

it is easy to preach when you are not affected by any problem.

and us maltese do have the knack to condemn and judge and pontificate.... big time!!!

can the anti divorce segment understand there are people who do not abide by the catholic religion's principles of going about life's problems??

do we still have to live in a '' big brother dictates'' society??????

J Farrugia

Aug 17th 2009, 10:09

@ J Falzon - The Church has every right to preach and teach the truth. Truth must always prevail, and the church has a constitutional right to preach to all Maltese citizens especially catholics that divorce is wrong and creates social upheavel as well as destroys all that is sacred for the family, the children. Just take a look around you and see the beautiful results we have in our country. Do you want further denigration that already we are experiencing? If you are morally sound you will never accept this state of fact.

Joe Bonnetti

Aug 17th 2009, 09:50

@JosephBriffa/RaymondSammut...etc:Yes, Church&State are not one, but the constitution Section 2 gives the right to speak on subject by the Catholic Church in Malta. Then with divorce, this reminded me of what Mr Justice Coleridge said in court of what is happening in other countries and this can happen here too, so he said: "I'm drawing for the general attention as to the endless game of "musical relationships", or "pass the partner", to which such a significant portion of the population is engaged." Such terms cannot be left out in our law, otherwise they can go for an appeal and win it.

So, he further stated "the nature of divorce are...just..because..one..presses the tooth paste from one side and not from the other, Others because, the man used too much toilet paper, or he or she went very..often..to..the..toilet, or because his wife left the toilet seat open, Other divorced his wife/husband..because..she/he..failed..to..buy his favorite sweets or fruits, and many other funny points such as now the wife lost her two front teeth, or in church he often go to sit near our neighbor, or because he was doing too much aftershave or deodorant and the list goes on and on.

J Farrugia

Aug 17th 2009, 09:27

Dear Mons Vella if divorce doesn't scare you it scares almost all married couples of goodwill. And it scares them stiff. We know what happens to divorced or separated couples. the trouble they leave behind, the broken families they leave, the children unleashed against this and that partner. The new word Partner instead of pogguti. Truth be told that you dont know what you are saying. Time seems to have made you less mature than you were. Going against the Catholic church's teachings means that you have lost your priestly vocation. The church forgives the sinner but it cannot change the truth. Those who opt to leave their husband/wife for any reasons, commit adultery and continue to live in a state of adultry. And they cannot be called practicing catholics, they are lapsed catholics like there are lapsed priests. Both are in the wrong and cannot be made right unless they leave their partner. Remeber what John the baptist used to tell Herod. You cannot live with your brother's wife. But still Herod continued in his wrong ways. John was beheaded for his convictions and Herod lived his lustful life. But Christ praised John and not Herod.

Joseph E Briffa

Aug 17th 2009, 09:02

@ Joe Bonetti... for one thing, the bible must not be taken literally and for another Mgnr Vella is not all out for divorce. What the Mgnr is saying is that whether there is divorce, separation or whatever, a happily married couple will not be tempted to separate or divorce or seek annulment. But in cases where the marriage has failed - in some instances all means to save it have been tried but failed, in others the disgruntled couple may seek the easy way out and separate, or try to annul the marriage or, if available go for a divorce. The three alternatives have, in effect the same result - separation, simply the end of a union. But in the secular world, there are differences; after a separation one can't remarry not even in a state register office because it would be bigamy, in the case of an annulment one can marry 'again' in church and in a register office as he/she was 'never' married, while in the case of a divorce one can marry again in a state register office, bu not t in the church, which doesn't recognise divorce. Church and state are NOT one.

Anton Portelli

Aug 17th 2009, 08:50

Yes At LAST a courageous priest with A LOT OF COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead of Staging a crusade against divorce and diving people away from it the church should organise a crusade to try to win back folk that have abandoned it and no longer believe in it because they find an oppressive dictatorship instead of someone who is ready to give a helping hand with the problems he or she has.
Mr. Camilleri, this is not a political issue - no one should be trying to accommodate the Nationalist Government - this should be an issue where all political parties should be unanimous to help those individuals who are in a very difficult and anomalous situation. Bear in mind only we Maltese and the Philippines are the only two nations still without divorce in the whole world.
Mr Joe Bonetti can you tell why the Church issues annulments - after a long, tedious and VERY EXPENSIVE trial or more rightly INQUISITION PROCESS?

J. Falzon

Aug 17th 2009, 07:29

the church would never change it s mentality regarding the introduction of divorce...the church must only give it s opinion regarding this subject and cannot change the state's mentality

Raymond Sammut

Aug 17th 2009, 02:41

@ Joe Bonnetti

All you are doing is judging unfairly Mgr Vella on the basis of the relatively small amount of knowledge you obviously have on Scripture. You do so while overlooking the realities of contemporary society. It is naive to assume that Mgr Vella is not aware or is omitting what is specified in Scripture, to which he dedicated much of his learning.

The tenet of Mgr Vella's movement is as sound as ever; that is, prepare and build a marriage "on rock and not on sand". Neither the State nor the Maltese Church can claim to have been champions of this tenet. All indications are, in fact, that they constitute a twinned failure. The State, on its part, sees divorce as an easy solution to this failure. The Maltese Church, on the other hand, sees divorce as a revealing mechanism to its own failure. In Maltese: "id-divorzju jikxef l-ghawar tal-Knisja."

B Agius

Aug 17th 2009, 02:33

oh and then there are other types - like Raymond Camilleri hereunder, that bring partisan politics into everything! This is another way of seeing things through the prism of party politics. In any case : isn't Joseph Muscat in favour of divorce? So why is this a PN thing? Maybe elements of both parties see the inevitable and actually agree on something. But neither have the guts to say it the way they see it because of the power of an anachronistic Church that wants the State to dictate what it wants. And , in Malta and the Philippines, it still succeeds in 2009! There are many other just as good Catholic adherents that learnt how to remain loyal to their beliefs and live in pluralistic societies without too much interference by the Church as it does in Malta. Are they better for it? Probably not. But neither is Malta any better than anywhere else. Some may argue it's a worse situation as there are more Catholics living a bigger lie - and , unfortunately, that's what our society of today wants and creates! The Church will eventually catch up .

B Agius

Aug 17th 2009, 02:24

The tree Abrahamic religions have followers - actually the Maltese word describes them better - fidili- that are fundamentalist and take whatever they like in "the book" the mean exactly what they want it to mean. Some throw rocks and bombs because of their beliefs. Some, like Mr Bonnetti, try to keep everyone under their invented yolk and invoke Christ to back up their conservatism when it suits them.

edgar rossignaud

Aug 16th 2009, 23:40

The interview with Mons. Charles Vella is very refreshing indeed coming from any priest, but really breaking news coming from such a learned and experienced member of the clergy. No doubt living abroad for such a long time has helped him shed off the cob-webs of the Catholic Church in Malta, and to see the truth as it really is. It is obvious that no priest is going to rant for the introduction of divorce, but the local church should focus more on ensuring that those who enter into a Catholic marriage, do so as convinced practising Catholics, who would never consider divorce if it was available. The institution of marriage should be shored up by th Church, which should stick to its pastoral service, and keep its nose out of secular issues such as the environment, building permits and corrupt practices.

John A. Zammit

Aug 16th 2009, 23:29

I have alreday commented on this article; however with your premission I would like to joke a bit just to ease off the tension. I remember reading Thomas Hardy's Under The Greenwood Tree for my GCE over forty years ago. There is an episode where a young man tells his father that he would like to marry a prticulatr girl because she was beautiful. His father replied " Women, they all the same in principle, it is in flourishes that they differ" I also remember an old man in the village where I used to live who used to tell us teenagers that women are all the same so one could marry the first woman one meets on leaving one's doorstep. This type of reasoing surely does not leave space for divorce. I hope that there would not be an avalanche from females branding me a male chauvenist (pig) Thank You.

C. Piscopo

Aug 16th 2009, 22:14

Jesus' words in the Gospel are very clear - He does not accept divorce. In the old testament, in the book of Malachi chapter 2 verse 16 it says straight 'God hates divorce'. As a priest Mgr Vella represents Jesus Christ, it is his duty to preach exactly what God says. There is no room for personal views or modern ideas, it is the Word of God. Since the beginning of the world God’s laws were and will remain the same till the end. Divorce is a law against God’s law, therefore a mortal sin. It is the duty of the priest to save souls and not send them to hell. A priest holds an enormous responsibility in front of God. As Christians it is our duty to save our souls and that of others.
Do we know better than God what is best for us? Are we defying God now? Do we want to end up like Sodoma and Gomorra? God is above all and there is a punishment for those who go against Him. We are playing with fire. Do not forget we all have to face Jesus for our judgement!

Raymond Camilleri

Aug 16th 2009, 19:16

Nationalist priests preparing the 'christian democrat pseudo-ideology' to accomodate divorce it seems! Obviously anything the PN does will be blessed by the church or at least by the usual gang of priests...

Joe Bonnetti

Aug 16th 2009, 19:13

Well Mons. Charles Vella, if I recall correctly in a marriage ceremony you said to the couple, the following words “and until death do us part” and then you told them to pledge their love, loyalty, and devotion to each other, with the following words “as long as both of you are alive as husband and wife you are to accept each other unconditionally.”

Are these not the words you say to couples, you don't tell them “until you're fed-up and divorced or separated” but then Jesus Christ had he not endorsed human concept of marriages [see Matthew Chapter 19: verse 3 to 6], yet you are going against the teaching of Christ. "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. Yet, are we going against the teaching of Christ. Any interest in this game, maybe you have another project in mind ?

Robert Callus

Aug 16th 2009, 15:08

Thumbs up to Mgr Vella. It is perfectly understandable that as a priest ''he would not like to see the introduction of divorce''. No one expects the church and its people to change its mentality. It would be hypocritical if us 'secularists' pretend the church does not interfere with the state and then we interfere with the beliefs of the church.

Mgr Vella sees the reality that divorce is not the cause of marital breakdown. With his attitude, both the church and secular society can work together so that marriages are built ''on rock and not on sand''

Raymond Sammut

Aug 16th 2009, 14:45

In my view, if there ever was anyone in Malta or abroad who deserved membership of the Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika, it certainly is the founder of Cana. Unfortunately, however, I do not find this name on the list. Only the usual suspects.

Joseph Camilleri

Aug 16th 2009, 13:48

Mgr Charles Vella has articulated the feelings of several practising Catholics who have never understood the position of the Church's hierarchy that the legalisation of divorce can have a detrimental effect on Catholic marriages. It can, however, help separated people who wish to form a legally-recognised union with another partner. As Christians, we must be the first to practise the tolerance we preach. As Christians, we can only wish them the love and fulfilment that, for some reason, eluded them in their first marriage. Mgr Charles Vella has shown the courage to accept new social realities and the strong faith of one who does not believe the Catholic Church is a house of cards that may come tumbling down at the smallest knock on the door.

gaffarena joseph

Aug 16th 2009, 11:53

Not at last, but this good priest has been doing good to our community for the last 40 years now.
To create the cana movement was not an easy task in those days, but Father Charles,overpowered them all and opened the cana movement,and after the first year we began
to feel the satisfaction of having such a movement.
Father Charles was always modern in his thoughts,and that is why his movement is still giving young couples the right advice to a lifetime marriage.
Father Charles was always ready to hear our views,and made his utmost to solve our difficulties.From her I, wish him a life full of health and happiness.

Anthony Roberts

Aug 16th 2009, 11:34

I think that what the Mons. has said is very clear and precise. Before anything I am a Catholic and really politics take a back stage, but where something as necessary as this comes into the foreground, I have to agree with him. Marie Roberts

Sharleen Gatt

Aug 16th 2009, 11:19

It must be a miracle at last someone sees sence and wakening up to reality and 2009/2010. Malta wakey wakeeeeee. its called PROGRESS. I think some people who never ventured out their own doorstep should either spend time overseas and see how the other half lives or take up reading or study sociology.

B Agius

Aug 16th 2009, 10:51

At long last - a Catholic priest with some common sense!