“Anton had impressed one and all with his dedicated life here in our midst for he was a real missionary, exhorting the laity to participate actively in the community.”
This is Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns’s comment on Fr Anton Sammut, who was run over and killed by a car during a procession.
Cardinal Emeritus José Freire Falcaõ, archbishop emeritus of Brasilia enthusiastically describes Fr José Galea’s magnificent social work.
The secretary of the Church Commission for Land Reform in Brazil speaks of the fantastic pastoral work carried out by Fr John Mary Cauchi where he risked his life over and over again in the defence of the poor and exploited.
These are just three short and random testimonies about the excellent service given by Maltese missionaries in different parts of Latin America. The breath and length of this missionary service is enormous. It is as large as the world, covering over 70 countries from all continents.
Their stories sometimes hit the international headlines. BBC has recently broadcast a feature about the sterling work of Fr Alberto Gauci in Honduras, one of whose bishops is a Franciscan from Xagħra.
Local media feature marathon fundraising programmes for the work of these missionaries. During such programmes viewers are presented with stories, projects and initiatives originated and managed by priests, male and female religious and lay people from this tiny island in the Mediterranean.
Emphasis is placed on half-dressed black children and pitiful people in pain or in some other kind of distress. These programmes do a lot of good as they raise huge sums of money but they exacerbate the stereotype of the missionary as the white guy in the midst of the little poor but smiling black children.
The missionary activity of the Church is much more than that. Don’t just look at Africa and other undeveloped areas of the world to understand the missions.
A Maltese couple evangelising in Holland mentioned Jesus to some Dutch youths. They were met with blank faces until one piped up: “Grandma used to mention a guy named Jesus.”
Europe and North America are in need of re-evangelisation.
The published or broadcast witness given to all this rich service has so far been quite patchy and random. It need not be like that any longer. Last Sunday, Maltese missionary Fr John Caruana uploaded on the website of the diocese of Maringa, Brazil, a 430-or-so page e-book titled The Maltese Missionary Experience. One can browse or download it free of charge.
This is not an academic book discussing in depth the reasons why Malta produced so many missionaries or comprehensively analysing the contribution they gave to the educational structures of the Third World.
This is not a theology book. It does not look at the diff-erent theological models that give rise to different types of missionaries.
Neither is it a history book minutely chronicling the different waves of missionaries to different countries.
This is a book coming from the heart of Caruana, who gave his life to missionary apostolate. John is a fine priest, a lovable person and a dear friend. The book is addressed to the hearts of those who love the Church.
Archbishop Paul Cremona rightly wrote in the introduction of the book that this is a record of a “story of generosity and heroism… a collection of personal experiences of those who had answered the call to go to the missions”.
This is a book borne by love and recounts love; the love shown by many Maltese missionaries to so many people in need around the world, people who would have remained forgotten and unloved had these generous missionaries not given their life for them.
These missionaries recount their stories communicating their joys, desires, sadness, successes and failures. The book takes us all over the world. Suffice it to say that the ‘contents’ section takes 10 pages. We meet real people telling us real stories.
Quite naturally, not all the story is recounted in this book. As the evangelist John writes at the conclusion of the fourth gospel, one would fill the whole world if one were to write the whole story!
Some stalwarts of the Maltese missionary history were perhaps given less importance than they deserved while others who were more forthcoming with information had their service documented at greater length.
No problem here, as others can come forward now and fill in these gaps. This is not a book to end all books about Maltese missionaries. This is a book that should whet the appetite for more books on the subject.
It is very unfortunate that those who want to know more about the Maltese missionary experience can do so only thanks to a foreign diocese while the Archdiocese of Malta just looks impotently on
Some may ask why is a book that sings the praises of Maltese missionaries available on the website of the diocese of Maringa and not prominently feted on the website of the Archdiocese of Malta.
The author would have loved to have the book printed in Malta but the ecclesiastical publisher (who agreed to do this job) was taking ages to register progress. The author tried to get the help of all sort of ecclesiastical big cheeses to get the book published but it was all in vain.
It was a pity that Church authorities were not able to solve the problem thus forcing Fr Caruana to take the courageous decision to go it alone and in the process giving the ecclesial community this sterling service.
Within three months (minus the couple of weeks he was so unwell that he had to be cared for by the staff of the ITU department in a Maringa hospital), and with the help of a single Brazilian graphic artist, Caruana managed to produce a well presented e-book.
Up to the point of writing, the book is still not available for download from the website of the Archdiocese. One cannot but ask why. The Archdiocese should leave no stone unturned to see to it that a printed version of the book is published soonest. Whatever difficulties there can be, a solution can and must be found.
It is very unfortunate that those who want to know more about the Maltese missionary experience can do so only thanks to a foreign diocese while the Archdiocese of Malta just looks impotently on.
Fr Caruana’s book can be accessed and downloaded for free from www.arquidiocesedemaringa.org.br.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt