I’m at Ċirkewwa, lined up for the noon ferry. The coast road drive from the InterContinental Hotel seems like a flash. As I drove, my mind roamed across the elegantly organised hall where the Times To Debate conference had just been rounded up.

Doesn’t the deliberate refusal by the priest to read a pastoral letter amount to the excommunication of the bishops from that Eucharistic congregation- Mgr Joseph Farrugia

So many priests. I almost wished I had not shown up, just to turn the proportion of priests-lay people into more reasonable terms.

In a not-entirely unexpected dig at the large number of “us” present, Martin Scicluna, who delivered the first keynote address, said he felt like he was surrounded by a shoal of piranhas. He said it with obvious gratification.

Mr Scicluna’s statement was practically a repeat of his recent contributions to The Times. I listened to his pleasant voice but felt as if I had already heard it all. During the debate he became boringly repetitive.

He was passionately supported by my colleague at the university, Fr Rene Camilleri, with vintage 1990s claims about the Church, especially in Malta.

In his writings, I find Fr Camilleri invariably pained by what he sees as the disregard to the spirit of the Second Vatican Council prevalent in Malta – let alone, I suppose, Gozo. He made valid points regarding the need for the Church to be as near as possible to those in society who are in need of understanding, support and love.

In my view, Fr Camilleri stated, perhaps too forcefully, that the Church is “a human institution”, though, in the long run he did concede that “there is a divine element in it”.

Asked by the chair about his failure to read the bishops' pastoral letter on the IVF issue, Fr Camilleri’s answer seemed confusing. If I grasped what he said, I believe his argument was that the bishops' teaching was callously lacking in understanding.

Mr Scicluna bravely joined in to say that the pastoral letter on IVF was a case of how a pastoral letter should not be written.

I kept thinking: but doesn’t the deliberate refusal by the priest to read a pastoral letter, issued specifically to communicate the teaching of the magisterium, amount to the excommunication of the bishops from that Eucharistic congregation? Would it not have been better if he had read the pastoral letter and, maybe, softened its perceived punch by explaining what the bishops really meant to say?

Fr Colin Apap, lining up after Fr Camilleri, contested Jesuit priest Fr Paul Pace, another university colleague, whose congregation, as I know it, carries out an effective ministry to irregular immigrants and refugees in Malta.

Fr Pace had said the Catholic Church was actually at the forefront in the defence of the poor. Fr Apap, one of the last to speak, obviously wanted to make sure that we were not misled by what Fr Pace and, after him Mgr Gouder, had said about the subject.

He wanted to make sure all of us knew how much the Church in Malta was distant from the poor, alienated as it is by pomposity and lace-weirdo younger priests.

Mgr Anton Gouder, pro-vicar general of Malta, was predictably great. He was a clear, reasoned, calm and convincing Catholic voice in a relative confusion of Catholic voices. He gave witness to the Church, explained its structures, admitted its weaknesses, spelled out its work in society and insisted, statistics in hand, on its contributions to education, charity and culture in Malta.

Thank God also for Mgr Charles Vella who spoke and went on speaking, loudly and clearly, in defence of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, of whom Mr Scicluna, and some others, were giving none other than a miserable caricature.

President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami came out as the authentic Catholic, born and bred in a Malta that still straightforwardly recognised its true identity in the values of Christianity.

Dr Fenech Adami had no time for politically correct pessimism and had all the time for the optimism about a Church which, rather than falling behind the times, is not only still full of life but is going through a glorious present. The persecution it is currently undergoing in the person of Pope Benedict and the bishops who are loyal to him is proof of it.

In the debating hall there was also Kenneth Zammit Tabona, a long-time friend whose intervention was, how should I put it, typically Kenneth, “a convinced Christian and reluctant Catholic”.

He did have a point on the time-scales of action in the Catholic Church. He said that he did not want to see a repeat performance of the Church’s secular drag in the rehabilitation of Galileo. I would object to the example but not to the point.

So many priests, and men – as distinct from women. Actually there were in the hall a good number of women. I was the “guest” of three of them at the breakfast table.

Of all the women present, only two spoke up. I particularly liked what one of them (Claire Vassallo) had to say. She objected that the women in the Church kept too low a profile, as was the case in the debate proceedings. But she also spoke eloquently of the contribution that women could give to the Church.

Professor Joe Friggieri, as he always does, raised the level of the discussion to his typical heights. It is always nice to listen to his articulate considerations, on any subject. His vision is consistently broad and his arguments, rooted in philosophical insight, manifest rationality and cultural vision.

Prof. Friggieri argued he would not confirm that our churches are empty. But, in a down-to-earth manner, he called for a more intelligent exposition of Catholic teaching, better homilies, beauty in the liturgy and engagement of youth.

There were other floor interventions, all of them significant in themselves and signifying a certain love for the Church. I noted that no secularists or self-styled atheists made an appearance. But, perhaps, that is to be expected.

A foreign student sitting beside me did not speak out in the debate but, in her significant way, she did participate in it – with the holy beads in her hand, reciting the Rosary, “for the Church” – she told me.