From Dr A. Grech

Happy to see the smiling face of Charles Flores carried in The Malta Independent on Sunday of 30 September. Gozitans were made happier still by the scientific and saintly aspect of his contribution.

An exalted mind

Apparently Flores is well versed in natural history, particularly where dinosaurs and their fossils are concerned. He seems to be no less up-to-date in the sphere of “mediaeval thinking”, even if it is not clear how deep his real knowledge of history is. Much more striking is the fact that, apparently, he poses as a staunch defender of Catholic orthodoxy – a view, which, honestly, one absolutely fails to pick up from his writings in other local papers.

This may lead one to think that he was not to be enlisted in the circle of the uppermost ranks of those he styles “practicing Catholics” and “Church genuinely interested in the spiritual well-being of those who want to be involved in the process”. One must admit though that it is a mistake to make such an assumption, and I should be the first to ask good Charles his forgiveness for having gotten the wrong impression of him.

His validity and expertise in the sphere of the judicature invites one’s admiration. Charles felt he could authoritatively pass diverse judgments on Gozitans, even if he, in all humility, declared that he “dare not speak for the Gozitans” – which phrase has not the smallest shadow of a contradiction-in-terms.

For Flores “ a small crowd of Gozitan dinosaurs are up in arms” against a “perhaps the first forward-looking ever such spiritual leader to grace our sister island”. Obviously, nothing bombastic in all this! For this historically staunch defender of human rights, approximately half of Rabat’s parishioners have thrown “a parochial tantrum”. For him “the normal tempo of a Gozitan town or village hardly exists”, a section of the Rabat population is “particularly fastidious”, their thinking “mediaeval” and has culminated in “a not-so-Christian boycott”, and they are part of an “idea of perpetrating an old and infantile rivalry”.

Flores is no less wise and modern enough as to be able to tell us what a parish priest should be “in this day and age”. He even draws a comparison between the Gozitan scene and that of “Most Maltese...able to distinguish between civil authorities and their ecclesiastical counterparts”, which, even if we know not how this comes into the context, reminds us of Christ’s “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matt. 22, 21; Luke 20, 25 and Rom. 13,7). Yes, one absolutely fails to understand how the part of the “civil authorities” in this particular question of Victoria’s troubles came in. But then, of course, we are not on the same wavelength as that of Flores, and we may not share his exalted vision!

Girl’s eyes

Staunch Catholic Flores reminds us that the parish priest “rules the roost in matters of soul”. The behaviour of parishioners is no more than “tactics and methods that belong to the Dark Ages”, those ages very different from the spiritual ones Flores breathes in. He is so spiritual that, contrary to the general advice of saints and perhaps also of Sacred Scripture, he wants to dictate behaviour when “looking into a girl’s eyes” comes in. For him we should register in history that “it is this innate mentality that has forced so many Gozitan men and women to leave their towns and villages” for an existence elsewhere. Most of us “erroneously” used to think it was the possibility of earning a living, which we could not do in Gozo! Again, for wise Flores the “dinosaurs” here come in!

Judge Flores has styled this particular Gozitan behaviour as “little crusades and their stupid social boycott”, little realising that one should sympathise with Gozitan minds since they do not have that level of intellectual faculties with which God has gifted Charles Flores. This wise man authoritatively condemns the Gozitans’ “silly situation”. He even refers to the honour bestowed on Malta by a “European compliment” declaring it “among the leaders in IT adoption”, only to emphatically condemn “a small crowd of angry villagers” (of course, he does not come from a “village”!). And, in his spiritual experience and progress, Flores gives the “angry villagers” the advice of “barracking their spiritual leaders” and shed “their humdrum steam on a non-issue”. Otherwise they will “certainly” become a “laughing stock”. Obviously Charles Flores himself is in no danger of becoming a “laughing stock”, let alone a supreme one!

This wise gentleman of Maltese blood is ready to “acknowledge the fact that another at least as big section of the Rabat community is not participating in this mediaeval farce”. Unfortunately he shows himself wholly bereft of the real issue in the present “farce”, which is absolutely not with the other “big section of the Rabat community”. Not in the very least does this section of the “Rabat community” come in – evidently proof of profound knowledge in procedure of judgments in court which characterizes the arguments of wise Flores!

This gentleman’s astonishing mental faculties even go as far as to inquire, whether there “IS anyone in his right mind out there?” Naturally this prophet should be so Christian as to cross over to Gozo and give us the light we so awfully lack. Come on Charles, pluck up more courage than what is needed to scribble in your page!

And Malta?

One understands that, long before the Church managed to do so, super “dinosaur” Flores has already managed to “release himself from the cobwebs” that have “held it (the Church), like superglue, to the tentacles of the parochial dinosaurs”. He praises the case of Gozo’s sister island, noting that “such mentalities have slowly but surely lost ground”. Of course, such comments do not betray any lack of knowledge about the situation obtaining in some parishes in Malta. Was it in Malta or in Comino or indeed in our collective imagination that the Ecclesiastical Authorities only very recently intervened to even prohibit the holding of festas?

Oh! Most Clever Charles, we find it absolutely impossible to compete with your wisdom and “genuine interest in the spiritual well-being” of souls, including, of course, yours! Unlike the case of Gozo, where “things seem to have been frozen somewhere between the first Ice Age and the Great Siege of Malta of 1565”, the smile on the nice face of Flores unmistakably indicates that he is already living in post-2007 mentality! An examination of his DNA will bear this out. In this way there would be a re-enactment of what happened when Charles Flores, the saviour, the world so badly expects, wrote of “fossils that have just had their DNA re-defined in Rabat, Gozo.” Nor should anyone be surprised if “the famous missing link” will then come out most clearly!

We may meet again, dear Charles, if you so desire! But keep in mind, Flores dear, that, on our part, the present question has absolutely nothing to do with rivalry between local parties. You have mixed up things completely. It is purely a matter of defending God’s precepts in Sacred Scripture and Christ’s in the Gospel – which have been most selfishly thrown to the dogs. Not a waste of time, if you were but to give a glance at Anna Falzon’s letter on the next page of The Malta Independent on Sunday. Thank you!

Alfred Grech

VICTORIA