Malta’s bishops issued separate pastoral letters for Lent yesterday, with Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna saying that “we need to pray fervently” as Malta awaits its new Archbishop, while Gozo Bishop Mario Grech warned the Church risked isolation by retaining the certainties of the past and refusing to change.
A spokesman for the Curia told The Sunday Times of Malta that the reason two separate pastoral letters were issued instead of the usual joint message was because of the particular circumstances surrounding the Archdiocese of Malta, which is waiting for the appointment of a new Archbishop.
In his message Mgr Grech said that a Church that preferred to turn a blind eye to the signs of the times was a Church to weep over. Mgr Grech said there were those in the Church who “sought bread” but received “stone”.
“There are those who wish to celebrate the sacraments but cannot; there are those who yearn for a renewed Church but are finding strong resistance; there are those who have been confused by the bad example of some of us priests; there are those who trusted us but were deceived; there are those who were flabbergasted by the separations and piques among us; there were some who cracked and were shown the main door.”
Drawing parallels with the Biblical Jerusalem that did not recognise the son of God, Mgr Grech said Christ wept over the Holy City because it was so content with itself that it did not realise Jesus was at its door.
“Jerusalem did not feel the need to open for him and chose to isolate itself... This may happen also in the Church as it gravitates on its axis and fears adopting new ways,” he said.
With the theme of the pastoral letter drawing on the tears of the Madonna at the foot of the cross, Mgr Grech said many chose to be indifferent to those who wept out of suffering.
“Very few people give their time for someone who weeps. This behaviour exposes the fact that human poverty is increasing,” he said.
In his pastoral letter Mgr Scicluna said that without yet knowing who the new Archbishop will be, “we need to prepare ourselves to adopt a positive outlook towards him who will be called to be our shepherd”.
He added: “When we pray for the grace of a new Archbishop, we are in fact acknowledging in full faith that this is a gift which comes from the hands of God.”
Mgr Scicluna said the community needs to grow in a spirit of making everybody feel at home.
“It needs to welcome every person who knocks on the doors of our heart so that we may welcome everyone with a heart-warming love which leads to charity, where one can feel welcome, whoever he or she may be, from wherever he or she may hail.”
Mgr Scicluna said when a person asks for forgiveness he is committing himself to winning over evil by the good that is within him and around him.
“In life, we win over a bad habit by replacing it with better options; a bad habit is eliminated by a good one. We win over the bad by the good!”
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com