I refer to the Talking Point by Sandro Spiteri (August 22) and the report the following day in which it was stated that I encouraged Islamophobia during the Sunday homily of August 17 at the Marsascala parish where I serve.

The fact that I was abroad should not have discouraged Times of Malta from reaching me by e-mail or phone to have my side of the story before going to press on two separate occasions.

Six years ago, I had the wonderful experience of working together with members of the Maltese Dominican Community among the Christians and Muslims in Albania.

My stay there enriched my knowledge of Islam and the different denominations which exist within it that live harmoniously alongside Orthodox and Catholic Christians. A year later, during my formation years at the Seminary, I was assigned by my superiors to work at the Emigrants Commission, which serves immigrants having any religious conviction. Therefore, my view of the world is not blinkered and I am certainly not ruled by phobias of any kind.

I am mentioning this now because I had not been given the opportunity to do so by Spiteri to explain myself just after the 9:15am Sunday Mass when he burst into the sacristy and accused me of encouraging Islamophobia.

According to him, I preached that, to be Maltese is to be Christian and that ‘they’, the Muslims, must be stopped by ‘we’, Maltese becoming better Christians. This is not what I said.

Our culture is, in essence, Christian, thus, when one separates the Maltese culture from the traditional Christian values and customs, one ends up having something else. This applies also to Islamic culture or any other culture.

Spiteri also mentioned that, in my homily, I asserted that “the Muslims are telling Christians to be afraid for a great battle is coming during which Muslims will take over Europe.”

Here, again, he misinterpreted me as others who were present at Mass that morning can attest.

I did not generalize but mentioned the atrocities happening in Iraq and Syria where hundreds of our Christian brothers and sisters and other minorities are escaping, being hunted down and killed for their faith by members of the fundamentalist movement ISIS.

This is not a figment of my imagination but it is being relentlessly reported in the media.

Pope Francis himself denounced this systematic persecution of Christians and other minorities in the region.

Does this make the Holy Father an Islamophobe too?

When confronted with such a situation, I asserted and still do that, as committed Christians, we ought to rediscover the beauty of our faith and live the values of the Gospel and adhere more convincingly to the Church’s teachings.

I also said that it is our duty as Christians to transmit these values to our children.

It is a known fact that the Church always cherished the value of procreation and the nurturing of our young ones in the faith and I am astonished that Spiteri was shocked that I mentioned this fact during my homily held in a religious context.

As a priest, am I not allowed to preach the Gospel from the pulpit?

I tried to promote an authenticChristian life in the midst ofstrife and prayers for those sufferingand dying for their faith

This was the thrust of my homily that I delivered, which was grossly misinterpreted by Spiteri. Though I am very glad that he pointed out that I “calmly” tried to explain to him what I preached about, the same cannot be said for him because he was very hostile towards me, raising his voice even when I tried to reason with him.

I would like to refresh his memory and remind him that I, “the young priest”, “reacted in horror” not when he described the Old Testament as “full of anachronisms” but as full of stupidities “ħmerijiet”. I took exception to this and I tried to help him see that the Old Testament, as all the ancient text, should be understood and interpreted in the historical context in which they were written.

Unfortunately, he did not permit me to explain myself because he was busy accusing me of having a blinkered perception of the truth.

Spiteri rightfully mentioned that we are to read the signs of the times as Vatican Council II encourages us to do.

This is what I tried to do two Sundays ago: encouraging the congregation to live an authentic Christian life in the midst of strife and pray for our brethren who are suffering and dying for their faith.

Making the Gospel message relevant in today’s world by taking examples from it and challenging the congregation to inspect their own lives is as old as the Church itself and certainly enshrined in the Council.

I extend a friendly invitation to Spiteri: any time he would like to discuss things calmly over a coffee my door is always open. Hurling unfounded accusations in a newspaper is not the right way to do it.

• Editorial note: This newspaper obtained Fr Attard’s mobile number from the parish priest, who was informed of the reason why it was needed. Despite being told that Fr Attard was on a cruise and so difficult to get through, this newspaper twice tried calling his number to no avail.

Fr Stephen Attard is vice parish priest of Marsascala.