Where do PN and the Church go from here?

The divorce referendum result last Sunday was disastrous for the Nationalist Party in general and for its leader, Lawrence Gonzi, in particular.

With 53 per cent in favour, the party that made it a point to take an official stand against divorce was on the receiving end of a veritable hiding. This after a much better organised, and certainly much better funded, No campaign which was fully backed, endorsed and supported by the PN.

However, it is not the result per se that has harmed the party and the Prime Minister – but the way the issue was handled and how it continues to be dealt with.

When Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando presented a Private Member’s Bill last summer, Dr Gonzi had two options: one was to face him down, put his own neck on the line and publicly send him to blazes; the other was to go for a political fudge.

Dr Gonzi, despite saying he was dead-set against divorce as a matter of principle, went for the latter. He sought to appease the errant Nationalist MP but then added an extra element, the referendum, which he seemingly assumed, wrongly as it turned out, might keep the party united and still win him the day. What followed was a series of well catalogued blunders by the PN. As it adopted an official position, it contradictorily said its MPs would have a free vote.

It then turned divorce into a win-at-all-costs issue – putting its media in election mode and ensuring none of its other parliamentarians or officials contradicted Dr Gonzi in public, thereby isolating Dr Pullicino Orlando.

This frustrated people within the party who were in favour of divorce and infuriated a significant portion of those who have swung the last three general elections the PN’s way. Perhaps more significantly, it also effectively took the decision out of the Prime Minister’s hands – a factor he must be sorely regretting today.

What he has now is a mess. He lost the divorce issue, and factions within the PN are as evident as ever. Rather than mend rifts, this issue has sown deeper divisions. To boot there is confusion among the Nationalist MPs who toed the party line over how they will vote in Parliament after Dr Gonzi told the nation the referendum decision must be respected.

The PN was, of course, not the only loser in a divorce debate that turned needlessly bitter and political (in all senses). The Church must closely examine how it conducted itself too.

The Archbishop’s opening shots were conciliatory, when he said no one should embark on a crusade. Yet the Church he leads then wasted no time in doing just that. It undeniably had a right and duty to speak out against divorce and to play a full role in the debate, but it was the manner in which it did so that grated.

A number of priests spoke out of turn and the bishops themselves ended the campaign by reminding all those who were considering voting in favour of divorce that they would have to answer to Jesus Christ.

The bishops were not just embarrassed by the result, because the majority of those who voted chose to ignore this thinly veiled threat; by making such statements they also portrayed a Church that is uncaring, unloving and unforgiving – core values upon which the House of Jesus Christ is built.

Their last minute expression of regret, which was mistimed and again mishandled, especially after a leading priest needlessly stressed it was not an apology, did nothing but add salt to wounds which the Church should, throughout, have been striving to heal. Time will tell whether it is now too late to do so.

It is no good saying the other side also played dirty. People look to the Church to lead by example. And the example in this case was anything but one which should be followed.