“My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves,” echoed all across the internet this week, and for a moment I thought I had stumbled into a college of Theologians, with all the Bible-quoting and fire and brimstone, I found myself hiding from!

It was all sparked by an application for a coffee shop by the Paola parish priest, as part of a larger complex of services intended to put the church on the touristic map of the island. It’s true, the news caught everyone by surprise, and it was easy to raise an eyebrow or two, especially in light of the recent ravage of anything holy or decent of the past years.

So, when news of a parish priest wanting to open a restaurant atop his church, broke on a lazy Sunday afternoon, it went absolutely viral and everyone and their dog had something to say about it.

Then it turned out that it wasn’t actually a restaurant, but a small cafeteria. And that it wasn’t actually atop the church, but over the portico which is the front part of the church with columns. Later, Dun Marc Andre, the parish priest in question, took us all on a tour of the enormous church and showed everyone what his ambition was, how he wanted to make the best use of the resources he has at his disposal, and how all would be in keeping with the values and respect of the sacred edifice.

Suddenly, and thankfully, many people started to see reason and understand that this was not yet another hideous application, for the glory of god money, quite the contrary in fact. It was a creative attempt to bolster the pastoral operation of the church and support its outreach into the community.

Perhaps we should take heed of this episode and pause to think a bit about this subject. Unlike the case of Paola, where I am told that a sort of revival has been witnessed in the past years, also thanks to this priest, many of our churches are shadows of their past glories, monumental museums which are struggling to keep their doors open. As attendance dwindles and financial pressures mount, clergy members are compelled to explore alternative sources of revenue to sustain their ministries and maintain their physical infrastructure.

In this light, the proposal put forth by the Paola Parish Priest can be seen as a pragmatic response to the economic realities at hand. By leveraging the underutilized space atop the church to establish a coffee shop, he aims to generate additional income while simultaneously fostering community engagement.

I feel that we need to have a conversation about the evolving role of churches, and the church in our contemporary society. One gift shop and a cafeteria will not solve all the problems, but they are certainly a move in the right direction. After all, a quick google search reveals how common this practice has become, and I don’t trust the Lord will be paying the Paola parish church a visit anytime soon, sending tables and chairs flying into the pjazza below, any time soon.  If he had to go to Valletta on the other hand, that would be a different story!

 

Alexander Mangion is Deputy Mayor of Attard