Mgr Kalċidon Vassallo will today be keeping his 30-year tradition of offering a free New Year Day’s lunch for the lonely, saying the initiative had nowadays assumed even more importance than in the past.

“Unfortunately, over the years, solitude among people has increased. The lunch had started with just four or five guests but this year I am expecting about 20 diners,” the 70-year-old Mġarr parish priest told The Sunday Times of Malta.

“It all started when I was the Floriana archpriest and had floated the idea of organising a lunch for lonely people who dread this time of the year,” he said.

Apart from the organisational head­ache, back then the Djakonija Commission – whose role is to serve as the Church’s social arm within the community – had raised other doubts, not least the fact that some members were not so keen to stay away from their loved ones on such a special day, he recalled.

Though the New Year’s Day lunch was discontinued for a while when he was in charge of the Żabbar parish in the early 1990s, the tradition was revived at the turn of the millennium when Mgr Vassallo was transferred to Balzan.

The lunch started with just four or five guests but this year I am expecting about 20 diners

“Nowadays, it is a totally different story. Volunteers are very enthusiastic to get involved, and the Mġarr business community is going out of its way to sponsor the food according to the menu, which we set in advance. After being professionally cooked at a Żebbiegħ restaurant it is delivered straight away,” he said.

Though the event has expanded, Mgr Vassallo is adamant on continuing to host the lunch at his parish house, saying this made his guests feel at home.

“No restaurant or hall can convey the typical warmth and joyful atmosphere enjoyed by extended families who convene in their own homes during this time of year,” he insisted.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Mġarr parish priest lauded the annual Christmas lunch being organised by Caritas for the past two years. Nevertheless, he urged other parishes to follow in his footsteps, in line with the appeal made by Pope Francis during the 2015 Easter Celebrations.

On that occasion, the Pontiff had cautioned bishops and priests not to hide behind their ceremonial rituals and “funeral-like” faces, but to follow the model of Jesus as a shepherd who was willing to live among his sheep and to offer his life in service of them.

Borrowing a phrase that the Pope had used in his Maundy Thursday function, Mgr Vassallo said that members of the clergy had to be “shepherds who smelled like their sheep”.

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