Mgr Kalċidon Vassallo’s dining room yesterday hummed with cheerful chatter as 15 people who would have otherwise been eating alone joined their parish priest for New Year’s Day lunch at his home in Mġarr.

One of the guests, a teary 78-year-old widow, admitted that solitude was “unbearable” and, every passing year, she was finding it harder to handle it.

The woman, whose mobility has been made more difficult because of an injured leg, would have spent the day alone at home.

She appealed for more compassion, which, she said, would echo the Church’s appeals during this year’s Jubilee of Mercy.

Fellow diner John-Mary Bezzina, 10 years her junior, would have spent the day hanging around the village, whiling the time away in shops.

He urged others, who also live on their own, to take up Mgr Vassallo’s invitation next year.

Noting there were some who declined the offer, Mgr Vassallo said he hoped he would need a larger dining room next year.

“I think this is an example that the Church gives, to open our houses to those who are on their own,” he said, adding that being alone was especially harder on New Year’s Day.

Mgr Vassallo had, for the past five years, been opening the doors of his home at his former parish of Balzan to those who would have dined alone on January 1.

He decided to continue with the tradition at his new parish and was yesterday assisted by members of the locality’s Diakonia Commission.

One of the volunteers, Giovanna Bugeja, said the commission helped out those living on their own, most of whom were elderly, throughout the year.

Apart from a monthly meeting, which includes an informative talk and tombola, the eight members of the commission also visit some 52 former Mġarr parishioners residing in homes for the elderly spread across the island.