The past few weeks should have been the moment when the Church re-groups and in a way celebratesits most important message, ‘that of Jesus turning up to help sort us out’. 

However, even though this is a matchless opportunity for the Church to convey freshness, sparkle and newness this Institution stilllabours to position itself.  Another Christmas goes by and the Church is not an inch finer. 

Whatbothers me is that the Church does not realise it is going dry and drab.  It has become irrelevant to many, especially the younger generationand more so as time goes by. It seems to have fallen in a comatose state believing that the large number ofChurches and shrines that exist are enough to prevail.  In fact, someare starting to question whether the Church would be better-offpassing on its convents, chapels and Churches for better use whether to actas cultural, social or leisure centers.  

But, what has brought about this ‘I can do away with the Church mentality’ even in ‘Catholic’ Malta?

Some might argue that it is the natural progression of things, a changing World is one where the spirituality and cult dissolve in thin air!  Wrong.  I think that for most of us, the need for the ‘encounter’ is ever present.  People want to live on, they somehow believe that there is something which is way bigger than them and which has a directimpact on how things pan out in their life. 

I think that the Church has lost its footing because it has distanced its concentration.  The focus, at least the way I see it, should be Jesus and his clear-cut teachings.  Christ, and I am no theologian, does not speak about a life of sacrifice and thenceforwardyou find the ultimate price the moment you die.  No, Jesus talks about life, wealth, about improving oneself, about ambitions, love, sexuality, music, and about having life projects.  The Church preaches the opposite of all this.

Let’s try to zoom in. 

The Church is in dire straits for many reasons.

First of all, it has so many of these grumpy priests talking rubbish during sermons.  I am pretty sure they hardly understand themselves let alone believe in what they are saying.  And if that is not enough, they elevate themselves on a podium that is only intended to look down on people, to tell us what and how to do it.  As if these people can ever understand what it means to struggle with the daily family choices and economy, what it means to raise kids, how to negotiate a work-life balance (which more often than not is not possible to have anyway).  They are completely detached, disconnected and removed.

It is a Church that keeps excluding women. 

It doesn’t come more patriarchal than that.  Women are relegated to abbitinietti (tokenism at its best) and the women that clean the Church, cook for their Kappillan and run the choir.  Anignominy from A to Z.

Then you have the few and far between decent priests that talk their mind and unless part of the privileged group are usually pushed aside, threatened, gagged and asked to be obedientbecause if not they might disturb the status quo and might end up in South America.We’ve also heard of endless tittle-tattle of priests who had been involved in hanky-panky and were given a one-way ticket to Down Under or some other distant far-far-away-land.

The Curia as a building that hosts such a weighty institution is nothing to shout about.  

It is anedifice that reminds me of melancholy.  It islacklustre, uninteresting, colourless, dowdy and dreary. Hardly welcoming, in other words, and it just promotes this tacky, tired and worn-out Catholic Church.

The Bishops worry me as well.

They go from one extreme to another. They are silent and inaudible at one point and all of a sudden they shoot from the hip.  Mind you, it is not an enviable role.  If I was a Bishop, I would have been equally jumbled on what strategy to use.  What does the Church want from her Bishops, tospeak or be silent?  To sermonise or to talk their minds?To write encyclicals to the converted or to Tweet virtues?

What adds to my concern is the up-to-the-minute priests, another debaclein the making?

Obviously not all of them.  But how come the Church is stillattractingyoung men who seem to have nothing better in life to do, seem to have failed relationships, are struggling with their sexuality ortheir puzzled social life.  The few good ones are lost in all of this obnoxiousness.

The parish priests are another nail in the coffin. 

Some are trying, I admit, and some of those are succeeding.  But most do not participate with the community.  Most parish priests are no-where to be seen during the village festa, do not share their time with the people, are not around in the Piazza and people’s houses and hardly have communication skills.  They think they are ‘deity’and someeven expect reverence.

The Mass is another matter that has turned into a faux pas.

Now,you don’t go telling me that if I want a nice Mass I go to look for one. It’s either a Mass or it isn’t, an Agape, a feast of love or not.  More often than not it becomes the equivalent feeling of going to the dentist waiting to get your tooth pulled out.  There is no feast and no love in the masses I used to go to.  The liturgy is absolutely late, old and unenviable. It is old fashioned and boring to death. You sit, you stand, you sit, you kneel, you stand – the best thing you can get from a Mass is the workout, other than thatit’s not worth the 40 minutes it takes.  How can we even remotely try to convince young people that it is worth one’s time when it feels like you need to slash your wrists a 100 times during the homily?  Most people go to Mass becausethey thinkit’s an insurance, that it’s a way of guaranteeing a place in the realm.  I think a Mass should provide pointers, give direction, afford a shoulder on how to live life together, how to connect with those in need and how to shoulder responsibility.

Then you have the organisations and movements. 

They are the ones who are trying to create Churchwithin Church.  They are the ‘homeless Catholics’ in my opinion, the ones who love the Church but cannot bear the way it is unravelling.  Even though most of these groups are endorsed by the Church it’s the only way for the Curia to survive this onslaught by allowing the movements to travel the journey the way they feel best.

The Church media is another conundrum. 

Where has it gone?  Newsbook and RTK are trying hard to return on the media-map but if you had to ask me, the Church’s message is still in short supply.  There is no collective voice, no social teaching, no discourses around principles of solidarity andreconciliation, inclusion and social justice. What is making RTK and Newsbook more popular is that they are taking on-board political issues much more than they did before (and maybe in the process peeving people). 

The Church and social services, yet another riddle.

The Church might be happy to argue that its missions like Dar tal-Providenza, Caritas, JRS and the rest are part of the Church.  Incorrect.  These organisations are practically run by lay professionals who are getting paid wages and the only ‘Church-ish’ element they have is their history – the present is all irreligious.

It is very true that this country in a short period of time has been secularised and I do understand that this has pulled the carpet from under the Church’s feet.  But I’veseen no renewal, no restitution, no revitalisation.  It is a boat that is not weathering the storm but trying to hang on to the oars hoping against all hope that when the wind subsides they will paddle back to their comfort zone. 

It is a Church that has no clear enterprise and the calling has gone coarse.  Itstill hurtsminorities, for example the gay community (even though it is a known fact that there are people amongst its main exponents who are gay), single parents and women.  It is a Church that has abandoned its sense of justice for example when it practically left young people, who were abused in Churchinstitutions, to their plight, albeit offering them peripheral support. 

Now I do know that people will think I’m anti-clericalbut the simple fact that I am spending a Sunday night writing this article only challenges this supposition. 

This is about me believing, not only on the important role of spiritual healing and accompanimentfor people to live happily, but of a Church that has anotherdecisive role.  The Catholic Church has a deep seated duty of being the voice in this highly secularised society that measures human beings solely on individual pursuits.  The role of the Church is fundamentally to challenge this mentality. 

On the 20 January I will be dealing with these and many other matters with the Archbishop during a scheduled interview on my radio show on Radju Malta.