A fascinating accusation was levelled last week against the Jesuits by the president of the local shooting association, Stephen Petroni. He said this religious order was objecting to a shooting range right next to their retreat house in Mosta on religious grounds.

Petroni, on his part, said he was basing his arguments on facts. He was so sure of himself that he could have gone on to claim infallibility in his arguments, but that would have sounded too religious in this pseudo-liberal secular world where all is permitted, except religion of course.

Yes, there are strong religious reasons why the shooting range he wishes so much, and promised to his ilk by Labour, should not be built there.

The Mount St Joseph Retreat House, which ironically turns 50 this year, has welcomed many thousands of guests over the years providing them a rare commodity in this day and age – tranquillity.

And no, they were not just prayer meetings but secular events too, because people need peace and not the sounds of gunshot. There are very strong social and religious reasons why a shooting range should not be located next to a retreat house.

Christianity is the best thing that ever happened to Western civilisation. It is a positive force for good, because it brings sanity and meaning to society. Unlike guns, Christianity is a moral force for what is right. It makes good citizens with sound values and, dissimilar to ranges, it brings peace to people’s hearts, to people like those who go to retreat houses.

That is why there are strong religious reasons why Malta needs places like the Jesuits’ retreat house. Not that Labour would care of course, they just want the only currency they believe in – votes. But many people do care. They need that retreat house, because it serves the common good.

It is ironic that the shooting association president should turn his guns on the most socially conscious Catholic order, the Jesuits.

It is an order that speaks out against injustices the world over. It has an illustrious history.

That Petroni should think that he could just ride on the crest of the secular wave that Labour exploits, for gay votes and not much else, by incredibly accusing the Jesuits of religion, is pathetic.

Petroni got his answer last weekend when the Jesuits added their voice to the rising chorus of disapproval of giving virgin land in Marsascala to a Jordanian developer. Provincial Patrick Magro did not mince words: “It [the government] has its entire communications apparatus to convince the public to endorse the project at Żonqor Point… [but] we must ask who truly stands to benefit.”

Already smitten, the Jesuits have not fallen for Labour’s spin, for they accused the government of simply rolling out “the red carpet to accommodate the foreign business concern” behind the so-called American university.

Jesuits, Labour should remember, have a long history of fighting foreign business concerns exploiting people in South American banana republics. They know what is going on here in Malta and they also know they are not alone because they praise the “rising ecological consciousness that is capable of breathing new life into Malta’s social and political scene”.

Jesuits have a long history of fighting foreign business concerns exploiting people in South American banana republics. They know what is going on in Malta

And there lies the solution to the Prime Minister’s frenzy for, and obsession with, big, glitzy projects that he mistakes for progress. The solution to this irresponsible madness is political. On Sunday, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil assumed the environment mantle. He can read the signs of the times.

There is growing, and belated, awareness of the need for environment protection in Malta. Environment stands for the protection of the common good, the one true purpose of any political ideology. Since independence, this country has been plagued by the residues of colonialism, of selfishness, of making that quick buck, come what may.

The outcome of the spring hunting referendum has given people hope. There is a growing moral minority out there, and yes, much of it is the result of Catholic values many pretend to ignore.

This country still has hope and it is people like the Jesuits that it should thank.

Nevertheless, everyone pays lip service to the environment, even liberals, even the American ambassador to Malta, appointed by that insufferable but charming Barack Obama, whose only claim to fame will be that he was the first black US president and nothing more.

Somewhere lost inside the planning authority’s expan-sive website is a 2012 interview with US Ambassador Gina Abercrombie Winstanley, who claimed she was impressed by the interest of the Maltese in environmental issues.

“Although I have not been in Malta long enough to notice significant changes, I must say I am impressed by the evident interest of the Maltese people in environmental issues. I am sure this commitment will be an important contributing factor towards effective environmental lobbying,” she said.

Naturally, she goes on to praise Obama for his efforts back home to build the foundations for a clean energy economy, to tackle the issue of climate change and to protect the environment. All that remains to be seen.

Abercrombie Winstanley seems to have since integrated well in Malta under Labour. She likes attending events like fashion shows at the office of the Prime Minister, the Auberge de Castille, sitting next to the Prime Minister’s wife who was there in her capacity as, well, the Prime Minister’s wife.

She was there outside Parliament when the gay community celebrated the passing of the contentious Civil Unions Bill that came complete with adoption rights for gay couples, to the dismay of many. And she was there beaming her smile at the national LGBTI community awards, whatever those were.

Then suddenly she appeared in a photo on the DePaul University website, rubbing shoulders with that Jordanian investor behind the sham university at Marsascala, shaking hands with some big shot from the university that sold a curriculum to the Jordanian.

For a career diplomat she does not come across as very astute, considering the university project is located in ODZ land in a country where she claims to be impressed by people’s environmental awareness.

That is liberalism for you; you never know where you stand. Soon, hopefully, Americans will be rid of Obama’s liberalism, a decadent ideology that has gotten that wonderful country nowhere, and vote in a conservative president that would bring some order to world affairs with a new generation of ambassadors.

However, first prize for offensive spin goes to DePaul University’s GianMario Besana, associate provost for global en-gagement, who said when he met Abercrombie Winstanley that “Malta is a predominantly Catholic country, and DePaul’s Catholic mission and values resonate with many in the area”.

That he calls Malta an area is offensive enough, but let us igore that. Considering the students the so-called American university will mainly attract, the next piece of ODZ land to be taken over for development in Marsascala will probably be for a mosque and not a DePaul-funded Catholic church, or retreat house.

Originally, the development proposed next to the Jesuit retreat house in Mosta was a horse-riding school, something the priests there had approved of. But things changed along the way because that project turned into a Trojan horse and the Jesuits were suddenly faced with a shooting range outside their door.

It is always the same with pseudo-liberal Labour: backroom deals, government spin and you are left there standing with the short end of the stick. Ask the farming community at Żonqor in Marsascala how they feel now that Muscat said he’ll relocate them to St Luke’s Hospital. In between smirks, he likes to crack jokes, our dear Prime Minister, which could be hilarious if they weren’t so tragic.

That is Labour for you.

But they shoot horses, don’t they?

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