The Church, Gozo and IVF

“This is a child of sin,” a priest told a mother who had just given birth to a baby conceived by means of IVF. She recounted her sad and shocking story to me during one of my house visits. Is this a reflection of the wording and the spirit of the bishops’ latest pastoral letter?

Trying to please everyone for political expediency never got anyone anywhere- Helena Dalli

It may well be. In fact, parents who have had to resort to this type of medically-assisted procreation have been advised to ask for pardon: to “trust in God’s mercy and to seek the road to self-reconciliation”.

Thankfully for believers, this is not how all men of the cloth look at the matter. In fact, when another priest visited this woman and she told him of her experience, he held the little one close to him and said “this is a child of God”.

A contradiction that comes to mind with regard to the Church and IVF is: how is it that the bishops are speaking up now? IVF has been used in Malta for over 20 years. Is it alright then for parents who can pay for the treatment and not so for those who will now get it on national health service (hopefully not in the way being proposed by the government, but that’s another story)?

I was brought up believing that the Church has a preferential choice of the poor.

When Cardinal Prospero Grech spoke about the approach taken by the Maltese Church on certain matters, he pointed out that the Church could have been more flexible when handling the divorce issue, for instance. Maybe he will say the same thing in some years’ time about IVF…

The rhetoric on IVF seems to be turning uglier though. There are those who believe that had the Church been stronger in its campaign in Malta – as it was in Gozo – in the run-up to the divorce law referendum, it would have had its way. And, therefore, the lesson learnt should be: a more fundamentalist approach on IVF.

The Bishop of Gozo is being presented as the successful and ideal bishop for Malta. The argument runs as follows: Gozitans have voted against divorce law because of the uncompromising stand by a militant bishop. We want a militant and powerful Church. We have to teach the truth inexorably.

On the other hand, the Church in Malta lost the battle against divorce. If we now adopt the unrelenting stand taken by the Bishop of Gozo, we will win the battle against the devil who is proposing evil laws, such as IVF.

The Church in Malta has been hijacked, not by the holy spirit but by those pulling the strings, even while its leader has been suffering from exhaustion.

It is evident that the Church here remains in crisis. Suffice to mention that some priests have refused to read the bishops’ pastoral letter in church and that it was read in Gozo first and then in Malta. I believe this is the first time that a joint pastoral letter was read in this sequence.

As with icebergs, it is of the essence to consider what lies beneath the water’s surface. I am told that the hands of those who manipulate the Church’s public stand are working overtime in order to reach their objectives. Their arms stretch far and wide and all those perceived to be against their agenda will be marginalised or asked to shut up.

Observers say that our Church is not in the mood for reform. For decades upon decades, the same people have produced a fossilised Curia resistant to change.

In my various discussions with open-minded clerics and others who care for the Church, I realise that, for some, a way of “defending” the Church – where they do not agree with its authorities – is to be quiet and passive. To let things be. Those who speak publicly end up paying a high price for their outspokenness. They also point out that the Church has learnt nothing from the divorce law referendum experience.

In the meantime, a pastoral letter lacking any sense of compassion and Christian charity does not leave much to the imagination. How difficult is it to understand the mood of the leaders of the church when their pastoral letter encourages couples “not to concede to the temptation of taking easy solutions simply because they are technically possible”.

“Easy solutions”? Surely the Nazarene would not have put it so insensitively.

From the legislative perspective then, the government is caught between a rock and a hard place. Had Labour not declared that IVF will be one of the first Bills to be presented to Parliament if elected, it would not have come out with a Bill at all. What we have been presented with though, is – as experts in the field have pointed out – a far cry from what is needed.

Trying to please everyone for political expediency never got anyone anywhere.

Helena Dalli is Labour spokesman for the public service and gender equality.