Gozo Bishop Mario Grech has called on the Church in Malta to address changes in society that went against values, insisting a shift in its direction is needed.

In a message marking the feast of Christ the King, on Sunday, Mgr Grech said there had to be a paradigm shift in the Church’s approach, which was the only way it could become more relevant.

Churchgoers were telling him they were concerned that rapid changes in society did not reflect the Church’s values. These people, he went on, were also alarmed that the Church was failing to speak up on the changes.

“What’s not working in our pastoral programmes? Have the tools at our disposal become dated? Do we not have a pastoral programme that makes sense,” the Bishop asked.

Many, he continued, still thought they were dealing with day-to-day realities of the past, adding that the “Church’s clock had long ceased to measure the rhythm of people’s lives”.

“We are still putting a lot of our energy on showing off the teaching we received in the past. If we remain stuck in this stage, we are only looking at the short term and there will come a time when we will not only lose what we gained in the past but we will find ourselves without a future,” Mgr Grech warned.

Speaking at Santa Venera parish church on Sunday, the Archbishop too insisted the Church had to ascertain that a culture that promoted life was embodied by society.

Mgr Scicluna spoke on assisted reproduction, pointing out that the value of life was about more than simply “buying a seed from here and an egg from there”.

Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that the Gozo Bishop made reference to the Archbishop in his speech. The error is regretted.