I often wonder how I ended up in Albania. And also how I ‘survived’ that long.  Albania is a country of contrasts, both enchanting and infuriating by turns, it has been said. Its mountains, cliffs, lakes, rivers, and beaches are spectacular, its traditions unique, its history, as of all Balkan countries, turbulent. The country is still recovering from the dark, cruel days of the Communist regime. The atrocities perpetrated by the regime were devastating and dehumanizing.

It’s the passion of meeting ordinary people

The Catholic Church was systematically persecuted. Slowly but surely, the Albanians are picking themselves up. They are incredibly resilient and stoically resigned to their fate in the face of innumerable sacrifices. The authorities face numerous challenges, namely bureaucracy, corruption, lack of foreign investments, unemployment, amongst others. It is no wonder that many Albanians have lost faith in their institutions and more than a million have gone abroad seeking a better future for themselves and for their families.  

I cannot think of any other reason why I continuously and willingly keep coming back to my missionary work in Albania, except that of its people. The people are affable and hospitable.  Their way of living, disarmingly simple.  It’s the passion of meeting ordinary people, as one CNN journalist put it, whilst referring to the love of her work! I think this is it! Here, I can hear the children play down in the street below! There are no inhibitions at all for the elder altar boys to serve  during the Sunday mass or to carry the statue of Our Lady shoulder-high during the May procession.

Indeed, they take great pride in wearing the appropriate vestments and vie for a prominent place on the altar. My parishioners still hold hands together whilst they recite the Our Father during mass. They always have time for a chat and drop all their activity to show you the address of somebody you are looking for. In the Torovice valley, reclaimed from swamps, very few farmers own tractors to help them in their harvests, mainly maize and corn.

Indeed, very few own cars or can afford to keep them. Donkeys are still used as a means of transport, especially to carry wood down from the surrounding, rather steep, mountains.  Herds of sheep and goats graze on the sides of the mountains, under the watchful eye of the shepherds. Wolves are always at a striking distance. The place is full of butterflies and birds, including the nightingales, ever so rare on the European continent.  In this rural environment, I feel as if I am living, all over again, my boyhood years back in the fifties and sixties in Gozo.

Striking a balance: evangelisation and solidarity

In such an environment, the pastoral endeavours of the Church has been two-pronged: on one side providing the Catholic Community with the religious services they were so blatantly denied of and finally suppressed during the time of the regime; and on the other hand, with the help of Caritas and other charitable organizations, doing its little bit to help out those who are economically distressed.

A big role in the running of the Catholic Church is thankfully played by the various female religious congregations present especially in the North of the country. Besides teaching Catechism and helping out the clergy in the ordinary running of the parish, they are very much involved in voluntary work. Consequently, the people are particularly fond of the nuns, whom they easily connect to the Albanian icon, Saint Mother Teresa. Nuns run clinics and hospitals, kindergartens and schools. They provide lodging for female students attending Universities in the big towns.  A case in point is provided by the Sisters of Charity (Sisters of Mother Theresa). These sisters run two old people’s homes in Tirana, a home for disabled children in Shkoder, a refuge-home for girls with problems in Durres and Elbasan. The Social Services of the country are more than thankful to the sisters who gladly take up all those who are the most destitute.

The Catholic Church also boasts of one of the best Medical Schools in the country annexed to the Our Lady of Good Counsel University. The Church has set up technical schools, where students learn trades such as plumbing, electrical installation and mechanical engineering. The Don Bosco Social Centre of Tirana, for example, provides a primary and secondary school, a technical school, a vocational training centre and a youth centre. It is committed to train and educate youths, enabling them to gain a variety of skills. These youths, thereby, can more easily find work and break the cycle of poverty they were born into.

My little bit towards my community: a glass of fresh water

Masses on Sundays are well attended, especially by young people, in all four small villages along the Torovice valley that make up my parish. I am particularly busy during the Christmas season and Easter festivities.  The Franciscan Sisters, working in the parish,  provide  Catechism classes to children and adolescents who are preparing to receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion. The parishioners come to seek advice on just about everything.  Thankfully, I rely on the Sisters, who are Albanian, to deal with conflicts, especially when these degenerate into blood feuds. In the North of Albania, these feuds are becoming rare, but are not uncommon.

Besides, I also strive to do my little bit to help those in dire need of help. With the help of Maltese benefactors, a sponsorship scheme has been launched to cater for the expenses of the lodging of our University students who study in Tirana and Shkoder, and also pay for the transport of Secondary School students who travel daily to the nearby small towns. Three times a year, 150 families are given food hampers and clothes. Very often, I am asked to help out the poor families to cope with the electricity bills, medical treatment, not least dental care, so badly lacking in this part of the country. A drop in the ocean, but it helps. And the people appreciate it. Mother Teresa once said: ‘If you cannot help a hundred families, at least help one family’. This is so true! It is also one way of showing our solidarity with those in dire need. Of course, it is to be said the church cannot substitute the social services provided by the state, but it helps.

A word of thanks to the mission fund

Sponsoring so many diverse projects where Maltese missionary priests operate, the Mission Fund of Mosta has kindly contributed €2,000 towards the above mentioned charitable work in Albania.

The Mission Fund can be supported by donations on-line, or by bank transfers on one of these accounts:  061 197 448 050 (HSBS), 163 007 980 19 (BOV), 200 008 207 62 (APS), JEW 000 879 631 01 (BANIF). More information can be obtained from the website www.missionfund.org.mt