There's nothing to write about, since the whole country has decided that the only topic is divorce, so I'll have to follow suit. Only a week to go, and then instead of flogging the dead horse, we'll do its post-mortem.

Live and in full colour, on Sunday morning, I got the full strength of their Grace the Bishops' Pastoral Letter on the referendum, delivered by none other than Bishop Grech. As far as it goes, that is at face value, the Letter was nothing more than a statement of the Church's position on divorce and as such unexceptionable.

However, taken a few steps down the line, it is more than that.

By the contra-positioning of "family" (without Mom and apple-pie, though if they had been needed, they would have been poured on as well) against "divorce", the Bishops have put over a clear and unequivocal message: divorce is bad, family is good, so don't vote for divorce.

Leave aside that this is a non sequitor of cosmic proportions out here in the real world, where marriages break down and children suffer even though we don't have divorce (though we have separations and annulments and foreign divorces)

Leave aside the now-beaten-to-death argument that voting for allowing divorce into the civil law of the Republic of Malta does not mean denying the Church's teaching on divorce.

Consider instead these two propositions: that the Bishops are as guilty as the MPs of deserting their duty and that the Pastoral Letter is as misleading as the referendum question, and consequently an insult to our intelligence.

Taking the second proposition first, instead of the verbal sleight of hand involved in telling the faithful to vote "no" by resorting to manipulation and suggestiveness, the Pastoral Letter should have come right out with it, clearly and unequivocally. It didn't and in this it is as much an insult to our collective intelligence as the infamous question, which instead of putting the options clearly, is dressed up to appeal to as many shades of conscience as its promoters, politicians to a man, could cram onto the head of the pin that was pricking them.

In not coming right out with it, the Bishops were as guilty of dereliction of duty as the MPs (first proposition)

The Honourable Ones, instead of taking the bull by the proverbial and doing their job, passed the buck to us, allowing the so-called debate to be overtaken by fundamentalism of all shades. The Bishops, in their turn, instead of making it crystal clear that they expect a "no" vote from people who take any notice of them, tried to keep within the wiggle-room, a craven attempt at being seen to be leaving to Caesar what is his but really whisking it away from him.

I don't agree that the Church should have campaigned for a "no" vote but once it has decided to do so, it should have had the moral courage to come out and say so clearly, rather than skating about.

Why the Church has decided to stick its nose into civil law is a question that is as old as the secular vs confessional debate, I can't fathom. I don't agree with former Judge Sciberras' pretty ludicrous monetary argument but the explanation may well lie in the idea that the Church wants to control – directly or indirectly – every aspect of society. It is not surprising that it is fighting such a strong rear-guard action against dilution of the gains it had made when the 1975 Marriage Act (which had effectively recognised divorce in Malta, albeit at one remove) was amended to reinstate Church marriages to such a favoured position in the civil law. Perhaps that is the explanation.

In any event, on Saturday, I will be voting "yes" because not everyone believes that the Catholic Church has the right to decide the way in which the citizens of this country conduct their personal lives. It has every right to teach and to guide but that's as far as it goes and I intend to vote to give it that message.

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