Bishop Mario Grech said he feels it is not his place to attend State dinners. Photo: Marlon George Grech

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech will be turning down invitations to State dinners, as he distances himself from circles of power.

Addressing seminarists in Victoria, Mgr Grech said that in Malta, the Church was still identified with civil power, so much so that “we are still seated on red chairs at the front rows”.

The Bishop suggested renouncing certain worldly privileges bestowed to the Church years ago in different times.

“I feel that nowadays it is not my place to attend State dinners. I’m not saying this with disrespect towards the highest civil authorities, but so that the Bishop ministry does not continue to be associated with particular circles of power,” he said.

The Bishop admitted that such choices will not go down well by all, even within ecclesiastical settings. However, these were not political or social choices, but rather evangelical. Such choices were needed for the renewal of the Church, he added.

“This reflection comes from the heart. It is the weight of the responsibility that I carry as a Bishop of this Church that prompts me to speak this way,” he said, urging the seminarists to share his vision for the local Church. But Mgr Grech seems to be alone in this initiative.

Asked whether Archbishop Charles Scicluna would be joining Mgr Grech and decline invitations to state dinners, a spokesman said the Archbishop had “no intention of declining State invitations a priori”.

In his address to the future priests, Mgr Grech said that presbyters were not free from the temptation of aiming at occupying some particular ‘seat’. Careerism, he said, was a common disease among many priests and bishops.

At times, a person was so determined to achieve some particular position, that they found themselves in a crisis if they did not manage to achieve their aspirations. Within this context, a person could remain delusional pastorally and spiritually, the Bishop noted.

Worse still, if someone was assigned work that did not ‘complement’ their pastoral scheme or ambitions, they might not be able to fit in, to the detriment of the same community they would have been entrusted with.

This was dangerous behaviour and priests should always be available to fulfil the Church’s needs.

“It is not the Church that is here for us, but we are here for the Church,” Mgr Grech added.