Being brought up in a strong Roman Catholic family, attending a Roman Catholic school and in Maltese society, I was taught to be against divorce. I believe the whole idea of avoiding divorce among married couples as a valid one in Catholic ideology. A very brave one in today’s day and age, and I truly admire people like my parents and grandparents, who despite family disputes always worked things out and avoided separating from one another. If only everyone could be this way! But let’s be practical – things don’t always work out this way.

I have had the opportunity to be involved in social events (through the Girl Guides when I was younger) such as visiting battered wives and orphanages. Recently, I have also had the amazing experience of teaching children history at a local school. All these experiences have shown me how much divorce in certain cases could make a world of difference for the better for wives, husbands and children in families with problems of abuse and other matters.

Real examples I have encountered include women who came to realise some time into their marriage, that their husband was an abuser. Such women, if lucky, can get an annulment, and thus re-marry. But in the majority of cases they will get a separation, and thus never have the opportunity to marry another man and build a family with him.

Normally what happens today is that such women, or men for that matter, cohabit with their new partner. Children in such circumstance are put in situations that can lead to them being bullied by their peers, and of course being confused because their mummy or daddy is living with someone else who is not married to their mummy or daddy.

But let’s see the issue of divorce in another light. This perspective I discovered just lately, when listening to AD’s leader Harry Vassallo talking about the issue of divorce. So let’s imagine I am not a Catholic, but I am Maltese – the State does not force me to be a Catholic and practice my religion. But this is a mistake - the State is imposing its religion on me because it doesn’t allow me to divorce due to its Catholic beliefs. Who are we, as Catholics, to impose our beliefs on others who do not choose the Catholic way of life? Is this the tolerance of other people with other beliefs, we proclaim?

Yes I believe divorce should be made available for separated persons in Malta... so many abuses on children and adults would stop with this introduction. I admire Alternattiva Demokratika for being consistent about its divorce policy. The Nationalist Party and the Labour Party are afraid of supporting this issue, not because many of them don’t believe that it is just but because they would lose a number of votes.

In reality, the majority of Maltese feel that it is the right time to introduce divorce in Malta. They just need to realise that they need to stand up and actually make themselves heard through the Green Party.

Bernardette Mercieca (Espresso.com.mt)