On the same day as Malta Today published its fascinating survey – ‘We are not Charlie’ – about changing attitudes to religious and moral matters in ‘Catholic Malta’, there was a strangulated letter in The Sunday Times of Malta which expressed the anguish some people feel about the direction Malta has taken over the last 10 to 20 years.
The letter-writer, an educated woman, deplored “the greed” and “the trend away from our values” which “started in the last years of the previous government with the introduction of divorce, which opened the floodgates to such things as embryo freezing and surrogacy”. “I have nothing against gays… but I draw the line at children being adopted by gays or lesbians or surrogacy,” she said.
She blames this apocalyptic situation on politicians: “It’s all about votes, and here we are bending backwards trying to please everybody in case we don’t get their vote”. As a declared “pro-lifer”, she then inevitably turned to sex and abortion: “When an abortion takes place the child is never considered but the convenience of the mother is. When one plays with sex there are bound to be more mistakes, and who suffers? It is the child in the womb… Children in school must be made to understand how to respect the other sex, and yes – wait for marriage before having sex.”
She ends: “Please Malta, watch where you are going – downhill at the moment and at a precipitous rate. There is still time to turn back if only politicians showed some courage.” Interestingly, there is no mention of the part that the Catholic Church might play, and no recognition of why the huge social and ethical changes which the Malta Today survey exposed had occurred. Nor any recognition that the changes are probably unstoppable.
This woman is my age and harks back to a 1950s Malta which no longer exists. And, on the whole, thank goodness for that. A society cannot remain preserved in moral aspic. It changes and, I dare say, advances, by demonstrating a greater sense of social justice, a more charitable, compassionate, civilising, tolerant, enlightened and broader acceptance of the marvellous diversity that makes up the human condition. Those who yearn for some imagined golden age are destined to be disappointed.
What was so exciting about the Malta Today survey was the rapid changes in attitude in the space of just six years since the last such survey. And, moreover, the way the younger generation – those between the ages of 18 and 34 years – responded.
A total 88 per cent did not agree with the Catholic Church’s stance on contraception. 65 per cent considered the state should allow people suffering pain from terminal illness the right to end their lives. 30 per cent favoured abortion for women who became pregnant as a result of rape (this figure increased to 36 per cent for those aged 35 to 54). All these figures increased significantly – as one would expect – the more educated the respondent was.
Although almost 90 per cent of Maltese defined themselves as Catholics, 65 per cent in this age group did not attend Sunday Mass. It was interesting to note that 48 per cent still believed in hell, but then Maltese guilt has always been deep-seated, reflecting the way our Catholic teaching, laced with a solid dose of superstition, is propounded.
Hidden in the small print of the survey was another clue to the future. The number of respondents who declared that they were atheists or agnostics rose to 4.5 per cent, the second largest religious group in Malta, nearly double the number just six years ago. But as leading philosopher Joe Friggieri questioned: “Does a society increasingly – albeit slowly – turning away from God imply the future moral wasteland that has sometimes been claimed?”
Too many in the Maltese Church have claimed the role of moral gatekeeper, judge and jury
While religious values can and often do serve as a basis for morality, if the Maltese Church is to join in debate on any social issue – whether for example involving contraception or, as it did so disastrously, on divorce – it must also accept that it does not hold a monopoly on establishing the moral foundations in society, as it sometimes claims, far less the right to condemn those with whom it disagrees.
A survey of this nature provides no more than a snapshot of an evolving society. There are lessons for the Maltese Church. One theologian, whose views I greatly respect, called the results “a wake-up call for the Church”, concluding “that the Church is disconnected from many people’s lives, the language, tools and methods are simply inadequate”. He is, of course, absolutely right as Pope Francis (who scored a spectacular 94 per cent approval rating for the way he is leading the Catholic Church) would attest.
There is a haemorrhage from the Catholic Church in Malta, which is greater with each succeeding generation. Young people are quitting the Church, and often the faith, entirely. It is a trend which reflects the seismic changes in Maltese society over the last two decades. The Catholic Church in Malta, and especially those of my generation, have not adapted well to the rapid shifts in our culture, including the move towards support for civil unions and same-sex marriage. Their beliefs are in conflict with mainstream culture. The secret to reaching some sort of accommodation may lie not so much in the Church changing ancient doctrines to the currents of the day – although God knows that some are still medieval – as to changing the way those beliefs are held, with grace and humility, instead of superior, sanctimonious hostility. Rather than offering a way through the moral maze of modern life, too many in the Maltese Church have claimed the role of moral gatekeeper, judge and jury.
The cultural backlash against the Church has less to do with its views on homosexual sex, abortion and euthanasia and more to do with its posture. The proper response to what the Church perceives as our increasingly sexualised and hedonistic culture is not to chastise, but to re-emphasise the free forgiveness available to all who believe in Christ.
This, I believe, is why Pope Francis enjoys such rock-star popularity. He speaks that language and would act that way. Those who read his marvellous recent apostolic exhortation – Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) – will be uplifted by his call for the Catholic Church to adopt a more compassionate stance towards couples traditionally viewed as “living in sin”. They should be embraced and not shunned. In certain cases remarried divorcees should be allowed to take Communion.
The more than one billion Catholics around the world should consider their Church as mother, rather than inquisitor. The confessional should not be a torture chamber where sins are extracted, but a haven for reflection and repentance. Bishops and priests must avoid a tendency to adopt a “cold bureaucratic morality” and move away from regarding people’s moral status based on rigid canonical regulations.
Francis pleads for “individual conscience to be better incorporated into the Church’s praxis in certain situations… Conscience can do more than recognise that a given situation does not correspond objectively to the overall demands of the Gospel”. He even – rightly – puts the choice to use contraception in the realm of decisions informed by one’s conscience.
Through Pope Francis, the Church is finally more open to imperfect Catholics.
Halleluia!