There is nobody, absent all sense of decency, who has not been shocked and scandalised by the clerical abuse that gained gaol terms of five and six years for the two priests involved; and by the procrastination that kept their case dragging through the courts for eight years.
In parenthesis it is reasonable to remark about a certain imprudence on the part of Mgr Charles Scicluna, a senior Vatican official. Was it within his remit, given this seniority and his diplomatic nous, to make a public declaration, a trifle pompously, that he “had no choice but to give the local Church investigative bodies a necessary prod”?
Was it within same remit to contact the victims’ lawyer and to “encourage (him) to ask for damages in the civil courts”? To make the condescending remark that the Maltese Church’s apology was an important first step, especially because the Curia is not used to apologies? And to declare that he never doubted the victims’ version “because I met them and I have developed a sense of someone who is telling the truth or trying to express himself in a difficult situation”? What need, then, for a Response Team, or the courts for that matter? End of parenthesis.
A recent statement issued by the Attorney-General pointed out that the police took action soon after the allegations against the priests were made in 2003. The case came before the courts on October 13, 2003; by May 2004, the prosecution had rested its case. From then on the ball was in the court of the defence. It was on March 9 that the defence declared it had no more proof to submit on the part of its clients. The questions ask themselves. Why did the civil court also take eight years to bring the case to a conclusion? Response Team procrastination, bad. Foot-dragging by courts – not bad? That, to judge by justified criticism of the former but none of the latter, seems to be the media verdict.
Be all that as it may, last Sunday I expressed the wish “that some members of the Fourth Estate would avoid prurience in their reportage. “There is no need for this...”; unsavoury details, the words used by last Sunday’s leader writer, of what took place “need not, should not, be paraded” before the public in an orgy of “salacious journalism’.
Alas, it was a pious hope, impiously shot down. Even this newspaper, which carried an excellent editorial on the matter, allocated six or seven pages to the affair. Reporters felt it necessary to regale readers with details that should not have found space in a family newspaper. I do not recall anything like the same coverage given to cases that do not involve priests.
Nor were puzzling elements missing; one reporter’s piece had as its headline, printed across five columns, ‘Inside we’re falling to bits’. The opening paragraph described two of the victims “laugh(ing) as they leaf through the album of their time at St Joseph Home, and teas(ing) each other over who was Fr Pulis’s favourite”. Was it such a laughing matter?
Some will argue that the fight for circulation demands the inclusion of titillation and things; if a newspaper does not print them, another will. This utilitarian argument brushes standards aside.
T’other side of coin
Is one being a tad too optimistic to think that if the bad can receive such abundant coverage the good may one day receive similar treatment? The two priests, if found guilty by the Court of Appeal, made a travesty of their vocation and of their life by indulging in what, unhesitatingly, Pope Benedict has called “filth”.
A large swathe of the press in Malta was prepared to convey a sense of shock and dismay over these awesome happenings, as well it should; but it displays extraordinary reticence when it is given the opportunity to present the shining side of priests and priesthood.
I wonder, without holding my breath, whether our Fourth Estate will get down to the less dramatic task of giving four-page spreads to 1,000 Maltese missionaries who have left the comforts of this country to serve in places all over the world, from Sri Lanka to Brazil, New York to Sydney, Kenya to Santiago; and quite a few of whom have been appointed bishops or archbishops. These unsung heroes deserve to have their story sung.
I wish our Fourth Estate will provide its readers with a four-page spread to the wounded order of these priests, the Missionary Order of St Paul, an order that has otherwise given boundless service to the Maltese for 100 years even if it failed so lamentably in this case.
I wish, as a matter of fairness, our Fourth Estate would belt out the song of so many persecuted, sometimes executed, priests whose unspeakable crime was an unquestionable, loving service to others, even unto death.
I wish the religious correspondents of our newspapers (do they exist at all? Or does every totally unqualified Tom, Dick and Harry assume he is one?) would dig out the myriad, selfless acts of heroic priests, modern witnesses of faith every bit as fearless as the first martyrs of the Church, and bring them to the notice of their readers:
Vasil Semenyuk (Ukraine); Rich-ard Ho Lung ((Jamaican – a convert); Ragheed Ganni (Iraq) – gunned down; Michael Shields (American; working in Magadan, once a notorious camp for victims of the Soviet Union); Andrea Santorio (Italian) – gunned down in Turkey; Banigno Beltran (Philippines). For more names, religious correspondents may wish to order copies of Heroic Witnesses of Faith in the 21st century, an Aid to the Church in Need publication (www.acnuk.org).
How many four-page spreads will cover next week’s World Youth Day?
Beautiful Malta
Many are familiar with the outstanding coffee-table productions that Miranda Publishers has placed on the market over the years and its breathtaking visuals of Malta’s heritage in stone, art and culture. Some of these have been lifted from the printed page of those handsome books and displayed on billboards that dot our main roads. This commendable initiative to share the beauty of those visuals with the general public and visitors to our country was taken by Eddie and Tony Aquilina.
Love your Country, the header in the billboard reads. Keep it clean. Beneath, a panoramic take of a landmark ranging from a wayside chapel to an interior visual of St John’s to the bay at Ghajn Tuffieha to a streetscape, the Grand Harbour, the stunningly lit Wignacourt Aqueduct and... 24 others, to date.
Beneath each visual, the text identifies the location and proclaims Our Beautiful Islands Our Future! Each billboard has been generously sponsored by a company, also identified in the text. I understand there are more on the way. Can’t wait.
It may be impertinent to suggest to the Aquilinas, for whom this project is a labour of love, that they keep a close eye on these billboards. These need to remain visually accessible, no obstruction allowed between them and passing motorists. I assume the campaign will be taken to the beaches where a captive audience waits to be captivated. Meanwhile, well done to both and to the sponsors that many others will wish to convey.
Not bad; not bad at all
In a world caught up in what is starting to seem like an endless economic and financial tsunami, this visionless, incompetent, inert government continues to be remarkably successful in keeping unemployment down to 6.2 per cent. The figure compares very favourably with double-digit numbers ranging from 16 per cent to 21 per cent and higher in some EU countries. Malta enjoys the fifth lowest rate in the European Union during the first half of 2011.
Sightless, indolent, ineffective Nationalist administrations since 1987 decreased employment in the public sector from over 53,484 to 40,000 plus – saving taxpayers scores of millions of euros. At the same time employment in the private sector rose from 68,000 plus to 106,000 plus –evidence of confidence by the private sector in the economic stability created by a worthless government. Between March 2010 and March 2011, employment rose by 2,600.
Dumb policies initiated by same myopic, lifeless, ineffective government attracted €250 million more, in foreign direct investment in 2010, than it had done in the previous year. Total foreign investment at the end of 2010 amounted to €12.4 billion.
One last example of this government’s innovative weariness – there are plenty of others – work has started on a €120 million project that will become, when finished, the new campus for MCAST where 6,000 students attend full-time course, 4,000 others, part-time. With roughly 14,000 students at the University at Tal-Qroqq, the tertiary student population now stands in the region of 24,000. Compare and contrast with a total figure of 800 students after Labour’s 16 year stint in government ended in 1987. (My secondary source for all these figures is Joe Zahra citing NSO statistics).
Yet the government is failing to win the PR battle; it needs to find a formula to project a substantial image of an organisation aware of its status as a leading, mature and sure-footed contender for government.
There is a serious amount of jacking up to be done; like a sprucing up of the party’s communications department to make this the formidable weapon that at the moment it is not.
Editor’s note: Roamer is entitled to his opinion, but certain facts require clarification. The ‘finer’ details of the abuse were omitted from the interviews we carried out last week with the victims.
Moreover, whereas the courts invariably issue blanket publication bans in practically all child sex abuse cases, there was no such restriction in this instance.
That, coupled with the level of public interest, made it incumbent upon us to cover this issue extensively especially as the victims wanted to tell their stories.
Roamer may have missed it, but this newspaper also criticised the courts in at least one of its leaders over their handling of this case.
Perhaps more surprising, however, are his remarks with respect to positive stories about the Church. Papal visits have had many pages (as well as entire supplements) dedicated to them in this newspaper and its sister, as did the Archbishop’s installation and several other events such as the canonisation of San Ġorġ Preca (as well as separate books).
We regularly report on work in the missions and there are people in this organisation who have been to far flung countries at their own expense and published “spreads” on them. We also regularly carry letters appealing for donations to the Mission Fund and our main interview today (pages 10 – 11) gives ample space to the MSSP.