Gozo Bishop Mario Grech has warned that in 20 years' time, a third of Malta's adults would have grown up without enjoying the unique experience of a proper family upbringing.

Speaking during a Qalb tad-Deheb Prize activity held by the Cana Movement, Mgr Grech said that nothing substituted a family upbringing for character formation . It should, therefore, be a matter of concern that almost a third of babies were currently born out of wedlock. This meant that in 20 years' time, a third of the young adults would have been denied the experience of a proper family upbringing.

Those who wanted to have a long-term view for the country needed to work hard to ensure that Maltese families were not weakened and that the family value continued to be held dear, the bishop said.

Mgr Grech suggested that an Association for the Family could be set up to safeguard the rights of the family in various sectors, such as education, health, work, entertainment, politics and the economy.

To date, he said, the family had left others to speak for it, but the time had come for the family itself to have a direct voice in the socio-political debate.  

In the same way as there were associations which defended the rights of workers, consumers and animals, why shouldn't there be an association of families to ensure that laws and regulations respected the natural rights of this natural society, which was the family?

In the same way as there were various groups which lobbied in various areas - such as those in favour of the environment and those against censorship - why shouldn't one consider the creation of a group of families that worked in favour of the family? Mgr Grech asked. 

He said that this grouping should not be confessional, it that the reality of the family was a natural one. Safeguarding the family was a lay, not religious value and it was the current precarious state of the family which dictated the need for coordinated action to safeguard the family.

Obviously, Mgr Grech said, Catholics had a lot to offer. The core of Christian values about marriage and the family was in line with human values. All those who believed in a family built on a marriage between a man and a woman should view the setting up of such an association as an opportunity for the institution of the family to continue to be respected as an achievement for the dignity of mankind and the formation of future generations.