What will remain of the teaching and good example that parents pass on to their children, when these go out into a society where sexual behaviour is deprived of any sense of responsibility; where the values of fidelity and loyalty in relationships are undermined; where there is a strong craving for money; where suspicions of corruption and many other damaging events, step by step, weaken the nation’s moral fibre.Next Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the demise of Archbishop Emeritus Mgr Joseph Mercieca, who led the Archdiocese of Malta for 30 years from 1976 to 2006. Remembrance of Mgr Mercieca automatically calls to mind his profound pastoral concern for the family, which was clearly a hallmark of his episcopate.
Mgr Mercieca used to have a special word of appreciation for couples that always strive, in word and deed, to give Christian witness in the way they conduct their marriage life and bring up their children. “The Church salutes those parents who give top priority to their life together as a married couple, as well as to the care of their children when it comes to deciding what is most important in their lives, and ensure that they never demote these priorities to a second place in relation to money, comfort, careers and lifestyles,” he said in his 2003 Santa Marija pastoral letter.
It was Mgr Mercieca’s conviction that a person who gets married to build a family would be making a choice that, in effect, imposes on him or her responsibilities that he or she cannot push aside or fail to shoulder properly. He used to strongly stress that for married couples, their solid love and unity, as well as their complete self-giving to the upbringing of their off-spring, at whatever sacrifice, have to be considered as the highest priorities.
For him, “courageous couples” that hold on to this form of married life and responsible parenthood were “a priceless treasure” that a wise and forward-looking society would cherish, encourage, help and protect from all kinds of risk.
Mgr Joseph Mercieca used to be deeply worried about what he used to describe as ‘certain false and misleading models of the family’
Mgr Mercieca was very concerned at the subtle infiltration of a culture that puts God aside and glorifies ways of life that may lead to at least three particular situations: First, a situation where the family would desist from truly living as a family and offspring lose their top place in the priority list. Second, a setting where a sense of sacrifice is depicted as no longer fashionable, while the urge for a way of life according to one’s whims and the drive for money are placed on a pedestal. Third, a state of affairs where faithfulness in marriage is shown as if it is something impossible in today’s world, while infidelity is presented as something normal.
Mgr Mercieca used to constantly warn about the consequences of such currents. Having the welfare of family life very much at heart, he used to be deeply worried about what he used to describe as “certain false and misleading models of the family”.
Points he used to raise for reflection in his pronouncements on the family included questions on what would remain of the teaching and good example that parents passed on and were still giving to their children, when these go out into society and meet an environment spoiled by a kind of sexual behaviour that is rotten and deprived of any sense of responsibility; where the values of fidelity and loyalty in relationships are undermined; where there is a strong craving for money; where suspicions of corruption and many other damaging events, step by step, weaken the nation’s moral fibre.
Encouraging all families to be vigilant, Mgr Mercieca also used to stress that families should strive and insist that laws, policies, institutions and everyone in the country must not only avoid doing anything contrary to the rights and duties of the family, but must also seek to sustain and defend these rights and duties to the utmost.
The much experienced and discerning pastor used to also urge families to strongly endeavour to change society for the better, and to ensure that this betterment of society guarantees the ability and the means to truly live as a family, especially in the upbringing of children, who are tomorrow’s citizens. He strongly maintained that families have to do this as of right, because society has an enormous duty to safeguard and help the family.
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