The Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Mario Grech, has been officially appointed an Honorary Life Member of the Association of Lyceum Past Students (ALPS). The certificate of appointment was presented to him by ALPS President George Stagno Navarra during the association’s annual spiritual retreat at Manresa House in Gozo.

Mgr Grech, who attended The Lyceum in Victoria in his youth, was probably the last to know of his appointment, because it had been a closely-guarded “secret” between the organisers of the retreat and his personal secretary Fr Eddie Zammit.

Mr Stagno Navarra said that renewed congratulations for Mgr Grech’s appointment as Bishop of Gozo could only make sense if they were accompanied by the best wishes for success in his pastoral duties, aided with God’s blessing. The appointment was another feather in the well-adorned cap of The Lyceum, both in Malta and in Gozo, as a producer of great men who had done their school and their country proud over the centuries.

Bishop Grech graciously accepted the honour, which was only the second to have been bestowed by the ALPS Council of Administration, and heartily encouraged the Council to keep up its efforts to unite Lyceum Past Students of all ages and from all walks of life.

He then imparted his blessing to all those present.

All ALPS members and friends who attended the three-day retreat, marked as usual by the all-round efforts of Fr Paul Zammit SJ, Director of Manresa House, came away saying that not only had it been a breath of spiritual fresh air in their very busy lives, but the material prepared by Biblical scholar Mgr Lawrence Sciberras had been highly enlightening and informative.