Rabid anti-clericalism on the rise?

I was of two minds how to react to l-orizzont's vile attack against Bishop Grech on Monday August 1. Should I treat it as another incident in the media silly season series just inaugurated? This is a season when logic is turned upside down and the more bizarre a story is the more sensible it seems to those whose minds are dulled by the scorching sun perhaps aided by some social drinking during the festa marc ta' fil-ghodu. We have already been regaled by Cyrus's soap and sex series; Manu Maltes's two magic kiwis and Gaddafi's burping missiles.

Or should I treat l-orizzont's uncalled for attack on Bishop Grech as something to be taken seriously? Is it the swallow that alone does not mark spring or is it just one in a series of incidents that heralds an anticlerical winter?

I refrained from writing since more important things were on my schedule. Paying tribute to my mother on her anniversary was more important than tackling l-Orizzont.

MALICIOUSLY BANAL

Most probably most of you missed the journalistic gem penned by l-orizzont. My great problem is whether to classify it with the stupid or with the malicious. However one cannot exclude that it is maliciously stupid.

In fact the opening paragraph is as banal as it is malicious.

"Il-Kurja ta' Għawdex qiegħda tagħmel minn kollox biex jekk jista' jkun Dun Mikiel Attard, li miet seba' snin ilu, tagħmlu Beatu qrib l-Elezzjoni Generali peress li dan is-saċerdot huwa ħu l-Ministru Giovanna Debono u ħu l-Arċipriet tal-Katidral ta' Għawdex."

l-orizzont is accusing Bishop Grech that he is trying to expedite Dun Mikiel Attard's proposed beatification to prop Minister Giovanna Debono's electoral fortunes! Image Bishop Grech phoning the Vatican congregation during the long summer months asking them to get off their you-know-what to rush the beatification process of Fr Attard! Image the rushing about, and the huffing and the puffing to get all the papers ready stamping them in red: TOP PRIORITY.

This is as banal as it is malicious.

Accusing Bishop Grech of attempting such a thing is not only accusing Bishop Grech of grave sacrilegious behaviour but also accusing him of being an utter fool.

Anyone who knows anything about the beatification process knows that the speeding up the beatification process happens as often as large meteorites hitting earth. It only happens for the likes of Pope John Paul II. Even if Bishop Grech were to be tempted to give in to such sacrilegious behaviour ( L-orizzont is imputing that he already fell for that temptation) he is endowed with a sufficiently high IQ (something that whoever published the story is definitively not) to know better than to try the impossible.

NO PROOF, JUST RUBBISH

Do you think that after publishing this libellous obscenity the Editor of l-Orizzont tried to prove it in any way? The answer is: absolutely not.

Read the more-lame-than- a duck-"proof" in the second paragraph.

The paper based its story on anonymous "sources close to the Curia of the diocese of Gozo."

We are not told who they are or how close they are to the Curia. Were they sitting on its doorstep smoking after sunset trying to find the relaxation that a non-existing evening breeze denied them of? Are they close because they live round the corner? These so-called sources "reveal" that this is the most recent in a series of causes strongly championed ("jimbotta bil-qawwa kollha") by the Bishop of Gozo. Alas, the whole list is not forwarded to the readers. You just have to trust them.

And what are these strenuous efforts that Bishop Grech is doing day and night to reach the election deadline? I am quoting verbatim and in Maltese as the piece is so stupid that you would think that I have mistranslated.

"F'bullettin ippubblikat fil-jiem li għaddew mill-Kurja ta' Għawdex sar appell dwar Dun Mikiel biex "dawk li jixtiequ jagħtu x-xhieda tiegħu fuq ir-ruħ twajba ta' Dun Mikiel, jew jaqla' xi grazzja bl-interċessjoni tiegħu, huwa mitlub jikkuntattja lill-Postulazzjoni Dun Mikiel Attard fis-Seminarju Maġġuri tal-Qalb ta' Gesù, ir-Rabat Għawdex".

Incredible, isn't it?

W€LCOME

This is not the first instance of rabid anticlericalism by the paper of the General Workers Union. Perhaps it is not even the worst.

On the eve of Pope Benedict's visit to Malta they had a one word screaming headline: W€LCOME". (If I remember correctly they used the German word.) As you may notice the Euro symbol substituted the letter "E". They had the temerity to suggest that the Pope was visiting Malta for financial gain!

The anti-clericalism of l-Orizzont took a turn for the worst during the divorce campaign. It was frequent, rabid and emotionally laden. Is the August 1 story an attempt of getting back at Bishop Grech for his role during that campaign? L-orizzont had frequently given front page coverage to many socially inspired homilies and speeches by Bishop Grech. Then the editor tried to make them fit the paper's anti-government agenda. It seems that his anti-divorce stance made them forget all the positive (though very selective) coverage they had given him during the last few years.

Whom are they serving?

The anti-clericalism of the GWU's papers is different in style and content from the newly emerging anti-clericalism of those posing as progressive and liberal. This brand of clericalism is more refined and hides behind high flowing slogans. They rubbish priest in a "nice", pseudo-intellectual style. L-orizzont's anti-clericalism is very crude and, thus, probably less harmful and less effective. It seems that willingly or unwillingly they are stoking the embers still existing from the conflict of the 1960s.

Whose agenda is their anti-clericalism serving? What benefit do they hope to get from such banal and malicious attacks on Bishop Grech?

I do not know the answer to these last two questions.