For centuries, the Church in Malta had a monopoly of structures and a monopoly of values. It was by far the biggest structure in our islands and had the duty to shoulder roles which, though they were not an intrinsic part of the Church’s core mission, had to be assumed as a service to the people.

During the past century we had an ever accelerating process of secularisation of structures. Sometimes it was an explosive process, sometimes it was a calmer one. Sometimes the process was forced by particular legislation; sometimes it was accepted by some while detested by others.

The theological developments of Vatican II helped the local Church to adapt itself to the newly emerging situations. The traditional theology of the Church and the State as two perfect societies was officially and definitively abandoned, though it lingered in the mentality of various ecclesiastics.

In a recent visit to San Marino the Pope once more appealed for “a healthy laicism”. Within such a scenario the co-operation between Church and state will be with a constant commitment to the defence of the common good.

This positive development on the part of the Church towards a healthier Church-State co-operation (see also Pope Benedict’s God is Charity para 27ff) was not always reciprocated by those who for one reason or another wanted an emarginated Church. Their position goes against our history and culture as well as against common sense.

Why should one sideline Malta’s largest non-governmental organisation especially at a time when civil society is coming of age? This attitude can be a reaction to the excessive ‘temporal’ power the Church exercised in the past which was perceived by many as an attitude of arrogance.

Such an attitude is completely foreign to the positions taken by Archbishop Paul Cremona. Through its various structures the Maltese Church has a lot to contribute to society and has a democratic duty to do so.

The question arising from the loss of the monopoly of our value system is of a more difficult nature. The Christian value system, though probably in its generality is the value system of the majority, is not the only value system used by the Maltese to legitimise their actions and choices.

It is a pity, though, that a value system that originated within the context of the liberation of Israel from Egypt and climaxed in the New Testament teaching about the freedom of the children of God, has been purported to be a negative system that limits liberty.

We have been lousy marketers of our value system. At San Marino, Pope Benedict said the Christian value system “is attentive to the true good of the human person, to dignity and liberty, and capable of safeguarding the right of all peoples to live in peace”.

In his words, this value system leads to “a culture and... society centered on the human person – the image of God, and therefore the bearer of rights that precede all human legislation.”

In the present moment, the Catholic community, instead of despairing, should realise that there is a lot in common between the Christian ethical ethos and other ethical systems in Malta. There are also, un­doubtedly, great differences. Confronted by these differences (and sometimes antagonism) we should still prefer dialogue to confrontation.

We should spare no effort to explain the reason why we take our positions. The attitude ‘this is wrong because we say so’ is a no-no. The attitude ‘this is so because Jesus or the Church says so’ is only valid within the Christian community.

We need to develop reasonable positions to dialogue with those outside the Christian community. Our strategy should address the cultural more than the legislative process to project our funda­mental values. We need to develop a new language and a new narrative.

This is why last Sunday I ended my piece by writing that we live in exciting times, not dismal ones.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.