Do the Apostles Peter and Paul have any light to shed on the relationship between Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech?

St Peter and St Paul were the product of two different cultural mentalities and theological formations; consequently, they presented different theological outlooks, pastoral strategies and leadership styles. Both had strong personalities and assertively defended their positions. They quarrelled publicly, and St Paul wrote about it almost braggingly.

Their presence enhanced and marked the Church that grew and evolved after the Resurrection of Our Lord. They showed that this was a Church built on diverse charismas, personalities and theologies.

The Church is like a body with different organs, fulfilling different roles and having different needs, not like a monotonous monolith. This gave us the method that we should use to move forward in our deeper understanding and love of the Lord.

That method is based on the search for a synthesis, following a dialectical contrast between theses and antithesis. This marked the history of theological development and enriched the evolution of the Church throughout different centuries and cultures.

Last Tuesday, in the light of the feast of St Peter and St Paul, I re-read the interesting interview Kurt Sansone had with the Archbishop in last Sunday's edition of The Sunday Times. I got the feeling that the interviewer tried to analyse the relationship between Mgr Cremona and Mgr Grech from the binary perspective I wrote about recently (positive/negative; right/wrong), instead of the dialectics/diversity mentality I write about today.

Bishop Grech featured twice during the interview. The interviewer tried to bring out a contrast between the position of Mgr Grech and that of Fr Brendan Gatt and Fr René Camilleri on the question of giving Holy Communion to cohabitating couples. The interviewer thought that the latter held a 'softer position', and consequently Mgr Grech is un duro.

This perception of Mgr Grech was presented further on during the interview when Sansone asked whether the Bishop of Gozo is "possibly speaking out of turn", presumably from the softer approach already mentioned, and possibly from the more moderate view - in the interviewer's perception - of Archbishop Cremona.

Mgr Cremona answered: "We are two different dioceses and both of us proclaim the teachings of the Church - but obviously in different bishops there are different styles of leadership. Really, this is what divides us. Otherwise, on the main issues of the Church we are together because both of us proclaim the teachings of the Church."

There is no doubt that our bishops have different styles of leadership and a fortiori different pastoral strategies. Mgr Cremona is more people-centred while Mgr Grech is more content-centred.

While there is also no doubt that both "proclaim the teaching of the Church", I feel that due to their different academic formation they present different models of the role of the Church in a pluralistic society. These differences in style and content, however, are not a weakness but a strength which places the Church in Malta in line with the Pauline/Petrine dialectic of the first century.

One would, however, hope for a more coordinated and strategic management of these diversities. One would also hope that both would communicate better their (at least) nuanced positions to the Catholic community, especially to the priests of their dioceses, who are progressively becoming more critical.

Diversity can be more positive when it is accompanied - from all sides - by constant dialogue, a non-judgemental attitude and absolute respect for persons with different, albeit seemingly unorthodox positions.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt