Once again, problems Malta faces with immigrants from Africa were in the media spotlight. Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano pointed out that the increasing presence of immigrants may give rise to "peculiar family law issues" in the future. This statement was made during a plenary session of the third Malta Judicial Conference on Cross-Frontier Family Law Issues.

With EU accession, greatly increased mobility has brought about complexities in terms of family law as parents who were no longer together had to sort out issues such as child custody and maintenance when they lived in different countries.

Malta has already been handling such cross-border family issues that by their very nature are complicated and demand humanity as much as legal expertise. Undoubtedly, African immigrants facing the consequences of family breakdown are at an even greater disadvantage. Many of them have entered the country in a clandestine way and are often without the necessary documents. As a consequence they are usually separated from their families.

These circumstances and their conditions are not conducive to upholding the integrity of the family unit.

Also addressing the conference mentioned above, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici explained that family law was one of those aspects of the legislative framework that had a very real and direct impact on citizens, adding that failings in this sphere invariably and inevitably adversely affect the quality of life of persons, including children, who are the most vulnerable party in family disputes.

This has prompted the government to take action by sustaining mediation procedures in relation to family law and set up a specialised Family Court. Dr Mifsud Bonnici stressed that legal processes concerning parental disputes over children were structured so as to encourage parental agreement and mediation while trying to achieve this without delaying the relevant legal processes.

The social complications of broken families and child custody in Malta are now further compounded by the increasing number of people from different countries residing here. Black Africans are conspicuous by their colour but many other races of different cultures and religions have become part of the country's social landscape.

This situation can be seen to be challenging Malta's Catholic identity that is always brought into sharp focus at this time of the year, on the eve of Easter Sunday, the most defining Christian event. The recent sharp rebuke of Gozo Bishop Mario Grech on forced detention of African immigrants sharpens the issues at stake.

Once again, the unconditional love of Christ is an effrontery to the logic and pragmatism of so many of us who, despite claiming to adhere to the Faith, are conditioned by the arguments of a society that is increasingly alien, if not outright antagonistic, to the values we should profess and, more importantly, put into practice.

It is true that many decisions in the public sphere are the responsibility of politicians and the legal establishment. Yet, if the Easter message is to have any significance, we all have our share in shaping public opinion and influence public policies.

The manner, in which we tackle the particular problems of African immigrants, probably more than any other of the social challenges we face, will determine whether Easter is more than just an annual celebration.

It will be the litmus test of our Christian credentials.