The agreement between the Archdiocese of Malta and the Band Clubs’ Association on the celebration of religious feasts is welcome. It is a step forward towards a much-needed deep and effective reform to invariably ensure a true Christian spirit and dignity in such celebrations.
The agreement is the product of talks between the two sides following the launching of the Archdiocese’s October 2009 consultation document entitled Restoring Feasts Together.
That document was the result of many years of experience through previous regulatory and disciplinary efforts. Unfortunately, such efforts failed to secure sufficient cooperation towards achieving the desired results and free feasts from all kinds of degrading, appalling and vulgar behaviours.
A significant point of the agreement, which comes into force in Easter, is that the club that organises a band march, or whoever invites the band to participate, and the police will now be responsible for the new regulations. Another is that when the Church authorities conclude that such marches have reached a point where they can no longer be controlled, or reformed, they will be prevented from being held in the festa period.
The behaviour of revellers in certain band marches used to cause a very big headache. Therefore, such measures should bring about concrete results in this particular area.
However, there are other areas about which agreement has still to be forged and/or announced. For instance, the deal struck does not cover the parish external feasts commissions. The sooner this matter is addressed the better.
There are also discussions with the National Association of Feast Street Decorations and the association representing fireworks producers, which appear to be still pending. These sectors’ contribution towards lifting the standard of celebration of religious feasts to the kind of dimension their very nature deserves and in line with the signs of the times is essential too.
Judging by the wide-ranging guidelines issued some months ago by the National Association of Feast Street Decorations, the prevailing attitude justifies optimism. These guidelines stress that the decorations used should be linked to the life of the feast’s saint and should respect the historic identity of the various towns and villages. They also advise caution so that decorations put up by one or more organisations do not obstruct decorations set up by other organisations. Moreover, the guidelines aim at avoiding decorations used during band marches to be installed in front of the seat of other societies in the same locality.
The latter guideline complements the very wise provision of the Church-band clubs agreement on the situation in parishes where more than one band club exists. Indeed, the agreement lays down that, in the absence of a written agreement between such clubs approved by the Church authorities, they cannot pass by each others’ premises.
Religious feasts are first and foremost Church celebrations and the Church justifiably has its pastoral priorities. The true spirit of religious feasts is and must remain paramount. This means that the fundamental sense of direction of such celebrations has to be, in each and every sector and instance, a genuine and solid love for the saint being celebrated, expressed through a solid commitment to follow the good example of his/her witness by truly living the values of the gospel. If this fails, disciplinary and corrective action should be prompt, bold and forceful. The situation is already bad enough.
The road map requires full clarity regarding responsibilities, sound relationships, healthy cooperation and solid remedial actions whenever and wherever these become necessary.