A third of Malta's young are missing family upbringing - Mgr Grech

Pauline Abela

Feb 15th, 11:58

It's all well and good to advocate a family with man, woman and children - and for most that is the ideal aim. However, in an environment were man and woman no longer have to put up with each other 'till death do them part' there is no reason why either should put up INDEFINATELY with a spouse who is violent, is unable to manage finances or even has extended sickness with no reasonable expectation of supporting him/herself within a reasonable time-frame (though those in the last category I believe should be supported though not to the extent of self-martyrdom by the partner -eg help out, ensure that person is in as good position as possible but still have a life)

Many marriages fail due to financial reasons and perhaps that is were the Church can help. The church does not need to give money but it can put pressure on the government to improve education and implement fairer work practices so that the family is not constantly under pressure.

One thing that does seem prevalent in Malta is the 'need' to appear 'cool'. As a result, parents make sacrifices to give their kids as many of the latest material things, clothes as possible.

It is the 'be cool at all costs' mindset that needs to change along with better real-life skills such as money management and awareness of what it means to look after a baby (aimed at high school kids) that might help.

Joe Xuereb

Feb 14th, 23:33

@Carmel Pule`. I shouldn't worry too much about not knowing much about the Lady Boys of Bangkok etc. Suffice to say that these gay transvestites earn a living by hosting in clubs and bars, prostitution and so on. Their heterosexual sisters do much the same while others use the internet to meet older men living in the West. For the young women, this is a way of getting away from their life in the Philippines, Thailand, etc. I would not be surprised if many of these marriages turn out to be abusive. Certainly, this social phenomenon is very much tied up to the area. It is called abject poverty and a subdued people rendered so by terrible regimes and poverty. The gay guy who turns his status to financial advantage was not unknown even in Malta not so very long ago. I believe that it is in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris that a high percentage of the prostitutes who ply their trade in public are, in fact, transvestites from Brazil. The same in Italy, where street-walking is very much part of the social scene. Again, many foreigners (from Nigeria in particular) from 'poor' countries or merely people who decide to earn a living in this manner.
Of course prostitution exists everywhere but I do not see it as a particularly American or British, or German thing. Not in the same way that it is a phenomenon that is particularly Thailandian, Philippino. These are financially depressed countries and the people have a mindset to match. Not so the USA or the UK. I imagine Malta is, and has been, somewhere in between.
Personally I look askance at prostitution because I think it is degrading, exploitative, dangerous. I would not ban it, if nothing else because one cannot. But I find the why and wherefore women choose it, and increasingly men, very interesting. It says a lot about society in general. I could say the same about the use and abuse of drugs. As for the issue in hand, the state of the Maltese family as it is now and projected over the next twenty years; it is easy to pinpoint the malaise. Trying to find trends that would reverse the state of play is more intractable. I think that tampering with an already faltering economic system to the extent that wives would not have to work is a non-starter. One possible solution would be to review what we understand by 'family', setting up of creches that would resolve the absent mother stumbling block. These have been introduced in some advanced cultures with some degree of success. Malta is always resistant to change (understandable) but often, to its detriment.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Feb 14th, 18:11

@ Ramon Casha (14 Feb at 13:26)

Your comment does not make sense to me because I do not accept your glib classification of what is wrong and what is right. I accept the classification of the Church through the local bishops because it is to them that the Constitution assigns that responsibility not to priest-haters. You are an absolute non-starter.

@ Loredana Cassone.(14 Feb at13:31)

It is not true that the Church or the Constitution protected priest child rapists if the victims and/or relatives shouldered their responsibility and took the advice given to them to lodge a report with the police.

Pule' Carmel

Feb 14th, 16:20

As long as we need women to have human children, the FAMILY which sees us into the long future will consist of , a man, a woman and children.
There other combinations which could separtate these individual members as in orphanges , gettos, where workers will look after other people's children. Communism preached that any child belong to the nation and the state can take the child over. This seems to be adopted by the bees and ants fraternity where a queen produces and the others work. That bee and ant system is also family.
I suppose scientific experiments will one day produce people to behave as snails and oysters other creatures who do not need to pair up to produce offsprings for the future.
I suppose many combinations can be called relations, but as family is concerned well someone must first define "Family" before using it so loosely.
I am sure that " Family " will eventually embrace many relations, but as far as I am concerned having the available information I have at the present time, " Family" means a relation which produces what I know to be normal children in a womb. Others relations are relatons awaiting a name I guess.
Any human relation must be respected for it is a result that nature seems to bring about as many other relations, but at present I am thinking of the lady boys of Taiwan, there seems to be such a lot of them, advocating a third sex. This starts to get complicated for me so I better close my opinion for I am not qualified to try and reach any conclusion, but I do worry about so many things that nature seems to bring about, they may be natural but are they a longlasting specis that can produce itself or are they a consequence of some effect the world is produceing. I suppose the dinosauri were family but something destroyed them. This is the way I see it, the by products of modern living seem to produce so many variances and I am sure that even what I beleieve to be a " Family" will disappear as the dinasours if our environment is changing due to economis, environmental reasons. I believe the fact that a woman produces about 1.3 children instead od 12 as before, well this will eventually destroys even what I was brought to beleieve what a family is!.

Eve Axiaq

Feb 14th, 15:38

..............and another third of Malta's young are missing brothers and sisters!

J. Abdilla

Feb 14th, 15:20

Ma nafx kif il knisja qatt ma qajmet certi kwistjonijiet fuq certi pizijiet li l familji maltin qed ikollhom igorru f dawn iz zmienijiet,illum il mara qed ikollha tohrog tahdem bilfors u mhux ghall kapricci,illum jekk jahdmu il mara u r ragel p paga minima laqas jistghu jaghmlu kapricc ta darba f gimgha li jmorru jiehdu pizza,tahsbux li qed nesagera.Qed ikun hawn stress kbir fuq it tfal ghax hafna minnhom jidhlu d dar u ma jsibu lil hadd jilqahom,u nerga nghid li dan ikun sagrificcju kbir ghall genituri.F dawn l affarijiet serji hemm bzonn li l knisja ssemma lehina,ma niggudikawx ghax Alla biss jaf minn liema tbatija qed jghaddu hafna nies,jien nahseb li lehen il poplu ma tantx ha jaghmel hoss,imma lehen il knisja jaghmel.FORSI.

J. Abdilla

Feb 14th, 15:20

Ma nafx kif il knisja qatt ma qajmet certi kwistjonijiet fuq certi pizijiet li l familji maltin qed ikollhom igorru f dawn iz zmienijiet,illum il mara qed ikollha tohrog tahdem bilfors u mhux ghall kapricci,illum jekk jahdmu il mara u r ragel p paga minima laqas jistghu jaghmlu kapricc ta darba f gimgha li jmorru jiehdu pizza,tahsbux li qed nesagera.Qed ikun hawn stress kbir fuq it tfal ghax hafna minnhom jidhlu d dar u ma jsibu lil hadd jilqahom,u nerga nghid li dan ikun sagrificcju kbir ghall genituri.F dawn l affarijiet serji hemm bzonn li l knisja ssemma lehina,ma niggudikawx ghax Alla biss jaf minn liema tbatija qed jghaddu hafna nies,jien nahseb li lehen il poplu ma tantx ha jaghmel hoss,imma lehen il knisja jaghmel.FORSI.

Joe Xuereb

Feb 14th, 14:52

Somebody below said that a happy family is mom, dad and kids. And that nothing else ever worked. Maybe we should give Communism another chance. If nothing else, that blueprint did away with Religion and that is a very good way to start looking at life realistically. Jesus was right about a level playing-field for humanity. It is a shame he spoilt it all by this life after death hullaballoo.

Unfortunately, men of the Church like to speak about stuff they know nothing about. I am thinking of marriage guidance/counselling, family life, economics, sexual orientation at variance with the usual, and so on. By definition. Not forgetting that they know nothing of priestly child-abuse, but enough to claim they knew nothing of the suffering of such children, but enough to sweep the matter under the carpet until they were forced to come out of the closet so to speak, when the victims started to come out of the woodwork to remind them and the world that child victims of priestly sex-abuse DO suffer, and how! It was then that the filth had to be de-brushed from under the thick Persian rugs, but putrid with infamy.


@Tommy Vella (10:51). Quote: 'Like the proven fact about prison inmates reading the bible in their majority'. Surprise me. As we say, 'quando non posso piu', ritorno dal buon Gesu` (a man clutching at a straw and all that). More heartening was the news some days ago that the inmates at CCF were taking part in an experiment exploring Shakespeare. Now THAT is what I call rehabilitation for people who were let down, who quite likely came from broken homes. Or maybe not. One can bring up a child in the most exemplary way but, reaching a certain age, a child will do its own thing as a result of market/social forces. I was brought up 'proper' and look how I have turned out. As queer as a coot, and proud of it. A fully paid-up member of society, an unfailing tax-payer, and as happy as a sandman. Never been to prison and never handled a bible. But life is tough. What am I to expect, an easy ride?! Nature, like life, is, what Nature does. Fighting it is like fighting the whirring sails of windmills on a windy day.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Feb 14th, 13:30

@ Mike Hunt.

Does it ever cross your mind that we Maltese are actually proud of our “Malteseness”, that decades ago we ditched a Colonial mentality that we ha had to suffer because of our small size, and that we are not at all impressed by foreign surnames or by the residence abroad of intrusive antireligious contributors, whether Maltese expatriates or total foreigners?

We are proud to be Maltese, “entrenched” peacefully in our home country and not upsetting anybody else in his native country. We view the interference by these anti-religious strangers as an indirect admission of their inner envy at our conservatism and a “sour grapes” mentality. Otherwise they would earn our eternal gratitude by leaving us alone, not interfering in our “ultraconservative mindset”, by refraining from persistently intruding in our internal affairs, scratching each other’s back locally and boosting each other’s derision of our civil and ecclesiastic authorities.

If you deigned to leave us Maltese alone to enjoy our Malteseness in peace, you would thereby avoid having to complain that I unfailingly “crack you up”.

Victor Rodenas

Feb 14th, 12:41

What about those children who stay at a boarding school all their life, coming home for a few weeks in Summer and a week at Christmas time.Are these children in a proper family upbringing?Many of these schools are Church schools.

Mike Hunt

Feb 14th, 11:32

@William Flynn

I think what Francis Saliba M.D (never fails to crack me up) is trying to say is there are still those amongst the Maltese who use their Malteseness as an excuse why to entrench themselves in an ultra-conservative mindset out of fear of change and the unknown.

Joe Fenech

Feb 14th, 11:25

That is out of order. How dare he imply that cohabiting couple (hetero or gay) do not equal married families? He is also implying that children born out of wedlock are b....

The bishop should apologise and step down.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 11:04

@Tommy Vella

What’s your ideal family, Tommy Vella? A pregnant 13 year old child betrothed to a man almost old enough to be her grandfather?
That's how the holy family started off. These days, the man would be up for statutory rape, the parents of the girl would be pilloried.
If the pregnancy went to full term, this would likely result in two wards of the state under the care of the family services department; the mother and the child.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 10:56

This unthinking bishop with his palace and servants and chauffeur forgets that every gay person has parents, brothers, sisters, extended family, friends, workmates who love him/her. That every separated mother and child also has parents, grandparents brothers, sisters, extended family, friends workmates who love and respect her.

The bishop doesn’t realize when he stigmatizes these people he is upsetting half of Malta because they have gays and unwed mothers in their family and friendship circle; and a fair chunk of the other half because they don't buy his senseless, archaic diatribes. These are almost more unpopular than his losing and selfish stance against divorce.

I hope he keeps it up so the removal of Article 2 is hastened.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 10:35

Francis Saliba has obviously never been to my beautiful city Melbourne. Today, my wife and I spent a lovely day there and what a beautiful, clean, modern, enlightened, civilized city it is. Remember my time zone is Malta +10 hrs.

And the bush too. If only Francis Saliba could see the Kimberly and the Red Centre and the magnificent forests and the desert in bloom this year with millions of birds and flower; horizon after horizon; and the Far North and the Great Barrier Reef.

But the best part is this; PEOPLE ARE FREE in the bush and in the cities of Australia in every sense of the word. No Bishop or pope is going to tell Aussies how to live.

And what of the other place near and dear to my heart; the Republic of Malta. Well the people of that nation delivered the knockout punch to the bishops last year when two thirds of the voting public ignored the orders of the bishops and either voted yes or didn’t vote at all. How sweet that was.
And they will ignore bishop Grech in his unholy alliance against the gay community.

Rather they would want to see the bishops stop the platitudes and take care of business and report child rapist priests to the law enforcers.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 10:19

The "Constitutional right" of the bishops to tell the Maltese people what is right and what is morally wrong is a temporary aberration which will be soon blasted out of the constitution with the contempt it deserves.

The bishops would be better employed speedily making up the lists of child rapist clergy, which EVERYONE agrees is the cancer of society, and provide it to the police for action.

The Vatican wants this to occur but the bishops continue with their diversions against gay people and single mothers.

Ramon Casha

Feb 14th, 10:05

If the gospels are to be believed, Jesus was born out of wedlock, to a teenage mother who was dating a significantly older man who was not the father. According to the criteria listed by Bishop Grech above, Jesus family was the antithesis of a "proper family".

Francis Saliba M.D.

Feb 14th, 09:56

The anti-Church bias in this and other blogs is nauseating.

Not so long ago similar sentiments about the family were also intelligently expressed by the President of the Republic but, correctly, they did not draw the venomous onslaught usually directed against the dutiful bishop.

Evidently, the target is not the similar message emanating from both the ecclesiatical and civil authorities. The intended victim is the Bishop and the honest way he carries out his constitutional right and duty to teach.

Mr Chris Vidal

Feb 14th, 09:46

Dear Bishop, life now changed unfortunately most of the time to the negative. Today no one can marry at 16 to make sure that all children are born within wedlock. There are too much pressures mostly financial and people need to work like slaves all their lives in order to be able to pay the bills to make the greedy ones happy and rich including the banks' CEOs and the politicians that support the extreme capitalism. so there are 2 solutions either for children to be raised without proper family or else not to have any at all.

Eve Axiaq

Feb 14th, 09:33

Yes we are following the 'open minded' countries like USA, Britiain and majority of Europe countries. Social problems are always on the rise. Troubled childhoods is the main cause and USA comes first. We will face more serious consequences in twenty years time with a big burden on the taxpayer.

Ms. P.M Graham

Feb 14th, 09:26

"the unique experience of a proper family upbringing."

Define, "proper"
then define "family upbringing".

Mgr Grech, with respect, your condescending attitude to all but "proper family" is your problem and dare I say it, the Church's problem. You have no respect Sir for anything or anyone outside your own rather outdated views of Family or the struggles that ALL families are going through right here right now as has been noted in comments below.
Instead of segregation and discrimination if you truly want to see family values return you have to show respect to ALL and not just the "proper" and then get down to the grass roots and walk it like you talk it.

I don't know what facts you base your opinions on, Mgr Grech, but News Flash there are many wonderful families all over Malta doing a sterling job of raising their families who may not to you be "proper" but are significant.


"It should, therefore, be a matter of concern that almost a third of babies were currently born out of wedlock. "

Why? If a child is born into a loving, caring, secure, wholesome environment, why should it be a concern? A ring on your finger does not make you a good parent and the children of those born or raised out with your "proper" family, fair no better and no worse than your conventional setting, in fact I would go as far to say that "proper" is not always happy.

No one is Superior Mgr Grech. We are all equal and for the record :) MY family is quite safe for this generation and the next and the next. Why? because I work hard at it every single day.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 09:03

People have to make do with the cards they’re dealt with in life. May the number of types of families always exceed by one the myriad of problems making a family hard to exist. May all the types of families be recognized in Malta as they are in every secular country that hasn’t got an Azzjoni Kattolika person as PM, a Catholic Junta as a ministerial cabinet, and a party in power has “Religio” in its motto.

How dare the bishop in this day and age call for a coalition against gay rights and marriage; for this is what this is all about; make no mistake.

Mark Said

Feb 14th, 09:00

I find Bishop Mario Grech's words and warnings truly enlightening. He has spoken nothing but the truth! What is now needed is only for them to be heeded straight away!

Mr Rik Van Colen

Feb 14th, 08:39

I would like to thank the bishop for clearly and unequivocally stating the true nature of the catholic faith.

None of this wishy washy pseudo liberal one sometimes hears from these so called progressive christians.

Thank you again for showing how exclusive, uncaring, and downright mean the catholic church truly is.

A family man.

William Flynn

Feb 14th, 08:22

What do they know?

Some time ago I read an article about a priest leaving the priesthood in his late 30's. He didn't know what a credit card was. He'd never had a bank account. Life in the real world was totally unknown to him.

The vast majority of ordained men haven't got a clue what real life is about. Most live in an unreal in the unreal sheltered world of a 12 year old living at home with mama.

Luciano Mule Stagno

Feb 14th, 08:22

I think the correct statement would be "A third of Malta's young are missing a traditional family upbringing" So some of those children will be raised by co-habiting couples, single parents (very often in close collaboration with extended family), etc...
However does that necessarily mean a lesser life or one where you have fewer or lesser values? Where is the data to support this?

Charles Grima

Feb 14th, 08:04

Ah......if only I was born 50 years from now, I wouldn't have to put up with all this rubbish from people who don't know the day to day hardships of life...

Like when you are practically broke, and the electricity bill come sin, or you got to pay for the car license and insurance, or your kids school van, or uniform, or taking a step back when you are at the supermarket... What do these people know of hardship? What do they know?

Ultimately, you are just taking space on an overpopulated island...

Carmel Debono

Feb 14th, 07:49

...and what has the church done about it?
What mattered 2000 years ago not longer applies in today's world, sadly your church continued with its expired preaching

Alfred Hili

Feb 14th, 07:28

The traditional family as we old people know it, is disappearing. We saw this happening in he Western World. It is now our turn. A married woman's place is in the home especially when the children are still under 16. It is becoming impossible for both parents to go to work and look after children. It is also financially impossible to bring up and educate your offspring unless both husband and wife go to work.

Alan Deidun

Feb 14th, 06:35

Mgr Grech is as always a beacon and a bulwark of time-honoured values which should be embraced not only by Catholics and Christians, since their endorsement translates into future citizens empowered with life teachings which will serve them right throughout their lives - he is not afraid to speak his mind or to upset the odious cart of political correctness or to attract the ire of atheists, rabid secularists and liberals, Church floggers and all those who have an axe to grind with the Church. He is well and truly living his mission

Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti

Feb 14th, 05:44

Well, allow gay men and lesbians to marry; children then will be born in wedlock. Really what does a paper signed by a priest or a marriage celebrant signify except that the couple probably wasted a hell lot of money on matters that are not that important when such funds could have been diverted towards the purchase of a house? What matters is the love family members have towards each other. And there are plenty of proper families where such love is missing.

Phil Zammit

Feb 14th, 04:37

The Bishop speaks true words of wisdom and insight.

If EVER you - the Maltese - had an opportunity to learn from other countries' experiences in family disintegration and the resultant distress, THIS IS IT! Look at the USA, Britain and similar nations who "thought" they were "open minded" by experimenting in what's considered a "family". Have you looked at how GREAT they are lately? - bankrupt physically and morally.

Only a spade IS a spade - irrespective of whether you call a pick a spade!! A family is composed of a mother a father and their offspring - preferably under one roof. Any other form of persons grouped together is simply a household. That's not to say that a household can't be good and nurturing. When it comes to children and their upbringing, there's no substitute for a loving mom & dad.

The stability, wellbeing and prosperity of a nation is anchored in its FAMILIES. Nothing else has ever worked.

Roderick Micallef

Feb 14th, 04:04

Dear Bishop & Curia,
Each and every time I read or hear statements from you or your associates. Always full of Drama, warnings & accusations. Honestly I don't know whether to burst out laughing or crying, at least people are not so ignorant and stupid any longer to listen & believe your medieval ideologies.
Now this, the 'proper family upbringing' dilemma. Dear Bishop can you tell us exactly what authority and experience you have in this field? Personally I would never take advice on family upbringing from someone that doesn't have his own family, but that apart
The only trouble I see is actually with the church itself in not accepting the facts of life, not accepting for example that a single parent obviously with kids is still considered a family, two persons of the same sex that are in love with each other are still a couple. Infact the Bishop himself said 'Those who believed in a family built on a marriage between a man and a woman', that explains it all dear Bishop.
Infact as I see it, I think the Bishop and the church are most probably more afraid that in 20 years time not many people will be left around that will share the same point of view on family like the church does now! I can already forecast that in 20 years time the church will NOT be enjoying the unique experience of filling it's coffers with donations coming from families built on a marriage between a man and a woman!

Luke Lanzon

Feb 14th, 01:01

There is one problem chrisitian values and nature don't go hand in hand, one is man made the other is nature which was here before any religion was invented. Don't beleive me? ask the dinasours.

Gerry Cowie

Feb 14th, 00:31

Confirmed humanist, Ramon Casha's list of what constitutes a family is entirely his own business. He is happy to tell others they are wrong for not adhering to his own criteria for a family. Here is something for him to keep in mind:- Most would consider that he is wrong. It is he who has the wrong idea of what constitutes a family.

There is much hatred from humanist circles against the Church. And Ramon is careful to criticise the Church in particular, because that is what humanists do!

Raymond Sacco

Feb 13th, 23:29

Quote: "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."
So what does consitute a family for Mr. bishop? A signed contract? Two rings? A mass celebration?
What is the difference to the bishop between families in and families out of wedlock? Doesn't he consider the latter, 'proper' families? Is it possible that proper family upbringing diminishes or intensifies according to a signed paper?

Francis Grech

Feb 13th, 23:09

I am not going to write any fancy words as some people do as I only have minimum education but main reason for the fragmentation of the Maltese family I blame it on the church it self,when did the church complaint how the very high cost of (living like gas water and electricity and food like every thing else) to the government that forced mothers to go to work and don't have much time to teach their young one the basic of good parent hood, it found plenty of time to object about the issue of the divorce quick enough ,but no when the government paid himself and those around him €500 a week and the workers only €1.60 oh that was OK then further more if the church want the family to get together again it had to get involved in how the country is being run, and I don't care if mu spelling is wrong because i say it the way I feel.Bye

Joe Fenech

Feb 13th, 22:50

Being born out of wedlock does not mean "you don't have a family". The bishop is here implying that if your parents are not married, you are a bastard and that cohabiting couples don't take their family seriously.

He should make an apology or step down.

Ken Cowan

Feb 13th, 22:35

What rubbish!
I know a couple who are, perhaps, the best couple I've ever known;
They work together, they are each other's best friends, they have two charming grown daughters.. yet the very first thing the woman said to her new boyfriend when they first met was "Don't ever mention the word 'marriage' ".
She is Catholic and goes to Mass... but she laughs at the ridiculous statements of the Church. Her faith is not based on their backwards teachings. And so, this couple, together for 24 years now, is happy, strong, united.. and UNmarried.
They put the lie to everything this priest is saying.
Meanwhile, how many wonderful, loving gay parents are there, as well as single parents - not because the child was "born out of wedlock", but because the husband or wife died.
The parent and child are STILL a family, no?
The presumptuousness of this bishop seems to know no limits - except that of logic. It would be nice if he tried to use some for a change!

Emanuel Simiana

Feb 13th, 22:11

What damage did the Bishop do during the divorce issue? The damage was because he defended the family? The problem is that, what is in fact right or wrong for certain people, does not count. For these people right is what is convenient to them at the moment. Some people do not agree with the family as presented by the Bishop because they don't want to conduct a life based on reason and responsibility, instead they want to base their life on instinct and pleasure.

Gustav Svensson

Feb 13th, 21:59

For me family has nothing to do with the church or any other religion.

MALCOLM SEYCHELL

Feb 13th, 21:03

Can anyone try to explain to this person, that nobody is attacking the traditional family.

However there are other types of families which sometimes work better than the traditional ones.

ted darmanin

Feb 13th, 21:03

The MGR seems to be implying that only children in the traditional family are lucky and have a good upbringing. Any other child is unlucky and would have missed the proper upbringing. Says who? You MGR?Jesus said do not judge.... and yet......

Joe Xuereb

Feb 13th, 20:49

The bishop is talking about a world as he would like it to be. He talks about the family unit being natural. Very basic fact the family's naturalness is debateable at least. The family is made up of its members and it has many conflicting needs to survive as a cohesive unit. These needs, plus the fact that different people operate differently in order to survive within or without the nuclear family, militates against the smooth-running of a family or indeed anything without much compromise. A free-for-all would indeed be very destructive and this is why marriage is a social construct so that the destruction of the species - as in 'behaving' like animals - is kept at bay. But this, in itself, does not make the family unit, a natural. Seen as such, it means that anyone not fitting into this natural setup is exorcised and marginalised. And the reasons for being marginalised are as numerous as there are people. The present model does not seem to be working (did it ever?). The issue is very complex. And it will continue to be so for as long as people fall in love, and fall out of it. It is called the Human Condition. And market forces.

Michael Grech

Feb 13th, 20:46

Could 'the precarious state of the family' be related to the precarious state of the economy, employment and standard of living of many? Are the sky-high prices of property and the exhorbitant cost of living putting extraordinary pressure on many family units? Are the laissez-faire attitude in economy and society's morals related? If the Church wants to eradicate the plant, it should target the roots not this or that branch, and I suspect the root is something beginning with C. Is the Church attempting to eradicate this root, implicitly/explicity sustaining it or being Pilatesquely neutral (which means the same thing as sustaining it)? Fr Grech at least makes a statement regarding such topics every now and then. The same may not be said about his Maltese counter-part who is all intent on smiling and sorting out festa-related issues.

Ramon Casha

Feb 13th, 20:35

Wrong! The problem is that the church has a completely incorrect idea of what constitutes a family. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

A man and a woman, married, with kids are a family.
A man and a woman, UNmarried, with kids are a family.
A single woman, with kids are a family.
A single man, with kids are a family.
Two women, with kids are a family.
Two men, with kids are a family.
An extended family with grandparents or cousins and uncles and aunts living together or in close proximity is a family.

I mentioned only examples with children since it ties in with his article's title.

If any "Association for the Family" is set up to discriminate against any of these families, it will be an enemy of the family and a cancer on society - which seems to be precisely what Grech intends, as he perceives it as excluding any family which is not based on "a marriage between a man and a woman". Any organisation set up under such conditions risks turning into something like the "Family Research Council" and the "American Family Association", two evil, hate-filled organisations that dedicate their efforts to harm and attack gays and same-sex couples.

Mr A Magri

Feb 13th, 20:09

"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."

No, It does not mean that. Ignorance beyond belief.

Joseph Borg

Feb 13th, 20:04

Ofcourse you are right Mgr Grech. But you know why?
Because nowadays the whole world is being deceived by satan.
And we know this as it is revealed in the book of revelations. So it is clearly indicative that the Holy Bible is a fact and not fiction and it is the only reliable source for truth.

Alex Ciantar

Feb 13th, 20:03

so now the bishop wants to divide different unions and the less fortunate? .......very charitable and christian thinking!!

Hasn't this bishop done enough damage during the divorce issue? what else will he think of to divide this ditty little nation?

Mike Hunt

Feb 13th, 19:47

"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."

Of course ... single or gay parents lack dignity ...