If you can forget the nationwide power cut last Tuesday, then the next top story of the past few days must have been the drama taking place at two Mgarrs – Mgarr in Malta with hardly a tinge of Monsarrat’s delightful “Kappillan of Malta” saga, and Mgarr ix-Xini in Gozo where Hollywood has taken over that unique spot, in fairness by way of injecting a massive dose into the local economy.

But while at Mgarr ix-Xini one is witnessing, sorry, visualising, the artistic pursuits and natural attributes of the two protagonists – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – the one at Mgarr, Malta has sent shock waves across these islands. It has long been accepted that the local Catholic Church is sadly still caught in a mediaeval stranglehold, but the drama concerning the kappillan unceremoniously booted out of the village parish has shown disunity and a lack of finesse that leave one dumbfounded.

The Dun Camilleri episode immediately followed the typically effective comments made recently by another Camilleri, Fr Rene’, whose highly-respected views on the need for the Maltese Church to shake itself out of the stalemate it has let itself into, are always precious in a journalist’s quest for a good story. More important, however, his views reflect those of the majority of people in Malta and Gozo who believe that most of the damage and harm to the local Church has been, all along, self-inflicted, and why consecutive surveys have shown a growing alienation from centuries-old customs and traditions, including church-going, and a trend towards non-practice and sensible relativism (you and God, God and you, or whatever, full-stop, no sanctimonious middlemen).

One would have thought that the – some say internally-controversial – appointment of Mgr Charles Scicluna, a relatively young prelate, to the post of auxiliary bishop would have been the start of a much-needed reform of the local Curia, beginning with the small circles of power-wielding individuals in many parishes all over Malta and Gozo where the members of the clergy somehow seem more inclined to indulge rather than confront.

As we watch Pope Francis going out of his way to liberate the Catholic Church from its gold-and-silver chains, here in Malta we still have people who think that bidding thousands of euro for the so-called privilege of carrying the statue of the village patron saint is a must and no liberal priest or kappillan can stop them. The same goes for holy processions that have either lost significance or been declared defunct by the Church itself. 

But other, less “spiritual” things are still occurring in the local Catholic Church and which certainly do not reflect the first-hand guidance and example being provided by the Argentine Pontiff.

For example, it has come to my knowledge that a young monsignor quite recently became the lucky owner of a beautiful villa in the southwestern part of Malta – kindly left for him in the will of an old, unrelated woman whose soul he used to keep ignited. Another benevolent lonely lady has left a huge sum, believed to be in the region of €100,000, to the Church. And to hell with Pope Francis’ daily accent on poverty.

Of course it is not all negative. There are other facets of the local Church that instil some hope. There is a particular branch of cloistered nuns who go as far as offering material help to those in need around them, as do some Franciscan convents where people are known to have even received small, but much-needed fiscal support. We are also all aware of the hard work and positive influence silently being achieved in the very heart of our entertainment capital, Paceville, by Fr Hilary Tagliaferro and his team.

One question that many Church observers have been asking concerns the appointment of the Bishop of Gozo, an avid traditionalist if there ever was one, as president of the Episcopal Conference. In the 71 years since Malta became an archdiocese, it has always been the Archbishop who fills that post. Is the change a result of the strong Gozitan representation at the Vatican or part of some locally-hatched plot?

Now let’s see what the Brangelinas are up to...

 

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They want to have the cake and eat it

I see that the Polish Agriculture Ministry has lodged a formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the Russian ban on exports of agricultural goods, including fruit and vegetables, from the European Union. Warsaw had asked the European Union for compensation for its farmers before Russia, retaliating to obsessive EU sanctions, imposed a ban on agricultural goods from countries that had imposed sanctions against it.

A worried Polish minister said Moscow’s response to Western sanctions could make it very difficult for Poland to get compensation from the European Union. Poland exported more than 804,000 tons of vegetables and fruit, worth about €336 million, to Russia in 2013. According to the Polish Ministry of Agriculture the country may lose more than €500 million due to the embargo. Well, of course it would.

A Finnish journalist friend of mine has also communicated to me the problems Finnair could face if Russia goes ahead, as has already been mooted, with a ban on civil aircraft flying across its airspace. Finland too is party to EU sanctions against Russia. The already ailing Finnish national airline could lose huge millions. Well, of course it would.

Each and every member of the EU, including our own blob of land, could face a similar dilemma in different spheres of the economy. But they can hardly expect Russia to play the martyr in the name of international peace while it is systematically hit with sanctions that obviously have a boomerang effect on those who impose them. Russia’s ban on agricultural food imports could cost the European Union about €12 billion and re-drag the continent into a crisis, the EU’s own officials have warned.

The EU countries and their US instigators cannot have the cake and eat it. No rocket science, this.

 

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Please spare us the misery

This idea of warning people about health hazards, such as smoking, is being taken too far by the well-intentioned. Yes, people need to be told of the dangers and gradually educated to acknowledge them throughout their lives, but shock-horror methods have been shown to fail as outright bans and sickening illustrations seem to produce an adverse result.

Now a UK parliamentary group has said that wine, beer and spirits should carry health warnings to combat alcohol abuse. They insist that while warnings already feature on tobacco and food products, consumer information on alcohol extends only to volume strength. So they want labels on products such as wine to explain the harmful effects of drinking and a mandatory minimum price per unit for alcohol, tougher regulations on advertising and a reduction of the drink-drive limit. All in good spirit, of course, if you don’t mind the pun.

I am all out for educational campaigns in schools and the media, but literally scaring people away from products that can only be harmful if absorbed in excess is no sane way to go about it.

Please spare us the misery of downing the plonk under such duress...