Dear Mgr. Mercieca,
Today the Church in Malta celebrates the 40th anniversary of your episcopal ordination. This must be a great day for you but it is also a great a day for the whole archdiocese which you served so generously and so well for a number of decades.
I can personally attest this as I was a close collaborator of yours for over 20 years. Between 1980 and 2000, under your direction and inspiration, I was responsible for the setting up and management of the media structures of the Archdiocese. The 1980s were particularly difficult years. This was a period during which you showed your fortitude, love for the Church, wisdom and love for our country and its people. You served generously. Your choices were always and solely inspired by the good of others.
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Those who do not know you so well and depended for their knowledge on the different stereotypes that the media used to spin – sometimes very unkindly - will do well if they read your biography penned by Charles Buttigieg and published by Klabb Kotba Maltin. I leafed through it during the weekend and I learned several new things about you. Those who never knew you personally will find a goldmine in it.
In the book you speak quite frankly but very prudently (sometime perhaps too much) about the Church-state hot issues that were the cross that you had to carry during your episcopate. You carried the cross without grumbling. The chalice that came with it you drank till the last drop. The narrative of those difficult years is long enough to cover the essential elements but short enough to be readable. It is short enough to let others add on to it other details that were left out but which can help a better understanding of what happened. I will contribute my bit in my commentaries to The Sunday Times of Malta.
But there is a lot to say about you beyond the Church-state issues. The book says enough to make people understand you more and love you more.
I always admired you because people were very important to you. Once I introduced you to a Maltese journalist who was working with a foreign media organisation. The interview went quite well. During the interview the journalist made a passing remark on some family problem he had. I thought it went by unnoticed. However at the end of the interview you asked to speak to the journalist alone. The journalist told me later that you asked him whether you could be of any help to solve the problems hinted to. Your action touched him so much.
I also admired the fact that you harboured no bitterness and no antipathy for those who maligned you so much. Even at the worst of times you always remained calm but determined. You preferred to serve others that to have others serve you.
You were not a man of many words but you could be very good company. Your way of speaking continuously punctured by myriad metaphors was not always very direct (or totally clear) but it challenged one to engage more and thus continue the dialogue and the conversation.
I always admired your deep spirituality. This more than your wisdom was the basis of your strength.
It was a great honour for me and a great learning experience to work so closely to you. There were times when we did not agree. There were one or two times when I felt your judgement in my regard was grossly mistaken. However I never doubted that your decisions were well intentioned. You only took those decisions which you felt were the best for the Church and for the individual concerned.
I don’t know whether you remember or not that after you resignation from Archbishop I had written to you thanking you for your service to the Church and for the many valid experiences we had shared together during the years. We met in your office for quite a long father-son type of chat which we concluded with the kiss of peace.
Dearest Mgr Mercieca thank you for so many blessings the Lord rained on our Archdiocese through you.