In my unsplendid isolation, I sometimes try to follow snatches of what is going on so that I am not completely cut off. From what I follow there is no doubt that the hatchets are out for the Archbishop, Mgr Paul Cremona.

He is not only getting it right and left, but centre as well.

There is little doubt in my mind that an effort at a coup is taking place.

There are those who do not simply want a change in leadership. They want a change in style as well.

They don’t like Cremona’s style. To them he acquiesced too much in letting in progressive legislation, from the divorce Bill onwards.

They wanted a much fiercer battle, a return to the terrible atmosphere of the 1960s.

I believe Cremona learned the basic lesson from those times: that the continuing politico-religious warfare benefited no one, least of all the Church.

What is termed to be his failure to get to grips with the progressive legislation is, in fact, a decision which he took, I believe, from the standpoint of the Church.

The Church has bled too much over the past 40 years or so to allow itself to indulge in another politico-religious dispute.

Cremona’s critics do not accept this viewpoint: rather, they want to turn it on its head.

They are not in favour of a secular state. They want the Church to resume the powers that it had before all this came about.

That is why they are making a distinction between Cremona as a man of God and a leader.

No one can question his pastoral commitments but as a leader he is questioned, and how.

He is questioned because he is not leading the Church into fierce battles with the government, as if such fierce battles would benefit the Church more than a relationship where the Church holds its own views but recognises that the State has its own rights in a secular society.

This is what is meant by the distinction introduced in the debate. This does not mean that Cremona is leading the Church perfectly.

Hawkish element wants to see the Church again donning the vestiges of a warrior ready to stand up to the government on ‘moral issues’

I took due note, for instance, of the views expressed by Fr René Camilleri.

Those views need to be well interpreted. They are not an attack on Mgr Cremona’s style of leadership but they do criticise him for not following up with administrative decisions that are required.

That is a far different view from those expressed, for example, by Fr Joe Borg.

He is, as he puts it, a hawk, and what he wants from Mgr Cremona are hawkish reactions.

What do normal Catholics actually want? One cannot reply with a broad answer but I think that the relative peace between Church and State has been welcomed by all men of goodwill.

They want their Church to be militant in putting forward her teachings, but above all they want a language that is understood by both sides, which means that it is not threatening to either side.

That is not what the hawkish element in the Church planning the coup would like to see come about.

They want to see the Church once again donning the vestiges of a warrior Church ready to stand up to the government on what are termed to be moral issues, transcending the right of the people who want it to be a secular state.

We have yet to see what will happen, whether social moderates like Fr René Camilleri have their position recognised in wanting the Archbishop to be more administratively assertive, or whether the extremists will hold sway and through their pressure bring about fresh trouble leading to new disputes between State and Church.

We are not living in good times, where everybody says what he really needs to say.

We are living in times of manoeuvring, where the extremists throw coal upon the slow fires in order to make them burn again.

They do so at a time when Mgr Cremona is said not to be in good health. But I would still say that he doesn’t need support. He needs understanding.

The Church needs all men of goodwill to speak out and to stand up to the coup that is confronting them.

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