Anthony Zarb Dimech interviews Joe C. Aquilina
Anthony Zarb Dimech interviews Joe C. Aquilina
Mr Joe C. Aquilina works as a Senior Manager at the Central Bank of Malta. He is currently co-ordinating Couples for Christ (CFC) in Malta and acts as Senior Regional Coordinator for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. CFC is a Catholic Community which originated in the Philippines and has the approval of the Vatican and follows a Charismatic Spirituality. Mr Aquilina’s major contribution to the Body of Christ is his song-writing, having written some 3,000 hymns. 90 per cent of the songs are inter-denominational and ecumenical in nature and can be sung by Evangelical, Catholics and Protestant alike as they are very Christ-centred. Most of his songs touch areas common both to a Catholic and Evangelical framework. He sees Catholicism and Pentecostalism as overlapping but the degree of overlap varies according to one’s individual opinion. Some say 1 per cent whilst others, like Joe say 80 per cent. Three particularly popular songs are Ikun Imfaħħar Gesu` Kristu, (Praise be to Jesus Christ), Xmara (River) which has recently been given Italian and English lyrics, as well as the popular hymn Tiġi Saltnatek (Thy Kingdom Come). Mr Aquilina is one of the pioneers of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Malta and one of the first members of Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI) in Malta. He was President of the FGBMFI between 1986 and 2002. The FGBMFI is the only forum in the Maltese islands which, on a consistent basis, has the potential of establishing and maintaining healthy contacts between Pentecostals and Catholics.
I interviewed Mr Joe C. Aquilina on the origins, development and growth of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Malta, its relationship to Pentecostal/Evangelical Churches and other aspects of Christianity in Malta.
“The Balzan Bible Group was the means for the introduction of the Catholic Charismatic movement in Malta and a write-up was published in the newspapers as a Press Release for the first talk given by Mr Brian Smith who was an Australian and who was invited to Malta to give a talk about the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR). This was before I went to Rome.
“There was a certain Mr David Tucker who gave me a magazine about the Catholic Charismatics in 1974. At that time, I had never seen things that usually happen in Charismatic circles such as prophesying or giving a message in tongues in a ‘normal’ catholic environment or Parish. My first encounter with Charismatic phenomena was within the Pentecostal setting of David Wulff Wintersborg and the Christian Evangelical Fellowship (as it was called at that time). I first thought that, ‘this is Pentecostalism and the other is Catholicism’ and I considered them as two different genres and at that time I thought a fusion between the two was not quite possible.”
How did you meet Pastor David Wulff Wintersborg?
“Up to my early twenties I was a member (socju) of the M.U.S.E.U.M religious society. I left the M.U.S.E.U.M sometime in 1971. Earlier I started work at the Central Bank of Malta (March 1970). There was an inter-denominational Bible study group in Lija led by Mr Christopher West, who was a member of the British Forces and the meetings were advertised every week on the Sunday Times of Malta. This study group was something unique for Malta at the time. I always liked ecumenism and when I went there I found that the majority of people were English-speaking who were employed with or families of the British Forces stationed in the island. There was also a Catholic monk in the group, Fr Dominic Borg (a Theresian) and I enjoyed going week after week to this meeting which consisted of hymns, Bible Reading, sharing and Fellowship. .
“The majority were of a Baptist type – believing in the Born Again experience, conversion and receiving justification by faith. Pentecostals, on the other hand, such as River of Love Fellowship, walk in a second experience after the Born Again experience by receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“In this inter-denominational prayer group there was a lovely openness to me, Fr Domenic and to others who were Catholics. There I learnt some very lively worship songs like, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives in me, He Walks with me and talks with me… These were revival songs, similar to the Methodist Hymns and to hymns which were used in the Welsh Revival.
“At a certain point in time, a Norwegian came to this Group and he was Pastor David Wulff Wintersborg and this is how I met him. He invited me to his prayer group and there I heard about mass healing services and such matters as people praying in tongues and interpretation of tongues. This was my first experience and I admired what they were doing but my roots were deeply Catholic, so I cannot say that at any moment in my life I drifted away completely from Catholicism and joined an evangelical Church. It was, so to speak, as if I was saying that I like Maltese pastizzi but then I go to eat Chinese spring rolls, only to go back to my Maltese milieu.
“Basically, I was seeing something beautiful, deep and fascinating but on Sunday I still attended Catholic Mass, and in the evening enjoyed the lively Praise session of this newly-born Pentecostal group. Still I was searching and read the literature of many denominations and even other religions like Islam and Buddhism. I knocked on many doors such as 7th Day Adventists, the World Wide Church of God (Herbert W. Armstrong), Christadelphians and a large array of Evangelical ministries.
“My second cousin, Mr Charles Borg (who is blind) came to this inter-denominational prayer group to play songs on his guitar and at this point I discovered my musical gift of writing songs. Together with Charles Borg we formed the ‘Evanjerichos’ and we started writing songs and the first song that I wrote was Jekk tinsab bil-għatx għal Ħajja ejja wara Gesu (If you are thirsting for life, follow Jesus). This song is today sung in Catholic Churches today within the context of Holy Communion. When I wrote this song I wrote it within the context of an evangelistic outreach for people who were enthusiastically seeking to present Christ to the tune of a lively waltz.
“So at that time (1974), Mr David Tucker gave me an address of someone from Australia. I remember writing to this person who was a Maltese evangelical and he put me in contact with Mr Brian Smith of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal with whom I started corresponding. In December 1974 he wrote on the lines of, ‘look if you do not get the signature of the Archbishop, we will not even touch your island.’ At the time the Archbishop was Mgr. Gonzi. He gave us a written permission which was sent to Mr Brian Smith.
“In order to save on the expenses on Mr Smith’s trip to Malta, we asked Mr Smith whether he was attending the Conference for Catholic Charismatics that was to be held in Rome and suggested to him to make a stopover to Malta on his way back to Australia. The activity regarding Mr Brian Smith’s visit to Malta was organised by the Balzan Bible Group. Mr Smith suggested that I should also go to Rome for the Conference but I naively replied that I would not want to be captivated by the emotion of a conference but suggested to him that he first comes over and say what he has to say and see if we can start the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Malta or not. Some weeks later I went to Rome to see for myself how Catholic Charismatic groups are usually run.”
The Balzan Bible Group
“While attending the Pentecostal Evangelical Group we simultaneously formed a tiny group that met every Saturday at Balzan, at the Good Shepherd Convent which was made up of a small group of Catholics and the aim was simple… to read and discuss the Scripture Readings of each Sunday’s Mass. It was not Charismatic at all but at one point, I said, ‘look guys. In the Catholic Church, there is something going on which is definitely something we need, can we decide and pray over it?’ So, basically Mr Charles Borg and the other members of the Balzan Bible Group (including Mr Amabile Galea) were those who invited Mr Brian Smith to come over and give this introductory talk in Malta. As far as exposure is concerned, today Charismatics in Malta are quite known but at that time the word ‘Karizmatici’ did not mean anything to anyone. So imagine me going to the Catholic Institute booking for a hall for a talk about Charismatic Renewal. The guy there was quite cynical about this. The hall was eventually packed with people including nuns, monsignors and lay people and out of that one talk by Mr Brian Smith, was born the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Malta in May 1975. We reasoned that if people would show no interest, we would say, ‘we have tried’, but we said to ourselves ‘let us test and see what would happen’.
“When I had seen people being baptised in the Spirit, praying in tongues for the first time in Pentecostal circles, I was just being a spectator. At these meetings I recall seeing a certain Mr Gallagher who had a special gift of giving a message in tongues. I was fascinated but I was just observing without really participating. At one point, Mr Charles Borg and I prayed to the Lord asking Him if he wants us to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“During the summer of 1974, before the Catholic Charismatic Renewal started in Malta, Mr Charles Borg and I went for a three-day retreat in Gozo at Manresa house and on Saturday evening we received he Baptism of the Holy Spirit and started praying in tongues.
“We had become first class Pentecostals! A week after we returned to Malta from the retreat, Mr Wulff Wintersborg in spite of not knowing of our Gozo experience, received a Word of Knowledge from the Holy Spirit that we had received ourselves the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was a confirmation of what we had experienced and also that it was not a fake! This encouraged us further to send for Mr Brian Smith.
“So the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Malta started in May 1975. Dr John Bonnici-Mallia had prayed the Lord would make it possible to meet the first Charismatics in Malta and through Fr Charles Vella got in touch with me. He was present for Brian Smith’s talk but joined the Renewal some time later since he was then very active in Moral Rearmament .
“We were meeting at the Balzan Parish Hall with the full backing of the Parish Priest Fr Carmelo Sciberras and for a number of months remained a very small group with about 15-20 people. There was a Franciscan Priest, Fr Max Mizzi who arrived from Assisi for his summer holidays. He was very Charismatic and bubbling with the Holy Spirit. He went to the Paola Pageant Group and he got all the youths he could find to our group. In that group were Mario and Henry Cappello who today are leading the International Catholic Programme for Evangelism and Youth Arise respectively and Thomas Calleja who is now a Franciscan Priest. They came and stayed on.
“Although we passed through ups and downs, the Charismatic Renewal touched the lives of thousands with its simple yet profound invitation to accept the Lord Jesus as the Lord and Saviour and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI)
“From the point of view of ecumenical contact between Catholics and Evangelicals, FGBMFI started to knock on the door of the Pentecostals in Malta (at the time of Mr Joseph Fenech-Laudi) and contacting the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office. FGBMFI was very much open to Catholics, Pentecostals, Lutheran and Anglicans praying and coming together and so, most people were only vaguely interested in sticking their neck out to start the FGBMFI in Malta.
“The Pentecostals were not quite interested in having ecumenical contact with Catholics and on the Catholic side there was not much enthusiasm either.
“In this sense, the Catholic Charismatics did not want risk to be categorised as being something Protestant. So there was this lack of interest between Pentecostals and Catholics coming to FGBMFI. But the FGBMFI had one good quality which is called perseverance because they kept sending letter after letter and would not take ‘no’ for an answer. At that time I was the only Catholic Charismatic person in the national service team that was not leading a community. Dr John Vella-Bonnici had his “Marana-tha’” community, Mr Nikol Baldacchino had his “Alabare” community and the Capellos had the “Glory of God” community. I had only my song composition and giving talks so the other members of the service team suggested that since I have some experience in dealing with Pentecostals, I should go for it.
“From that point I started to organise the first dinners for FGBMFI. That was sometime in 1986. At that time there was a Dominican priest, Fr Ugo Cremona who was the Ecumenical Officer of the Catholic Church in Malta. The FGBMFI wrote to him and emphasised that it wanted good relations with the Catholic Church in a truly ecumenical spirit. The first time we organised the dinner at St Paul’s Bay, on the top table were Fr Ugo and myself, people from FGBMFI and Pentecostal Ministers. But the Vesuvius erupted even on day one. One of the fears of the Catholic Church is that when people attend these meetings with Pentecostals they say ‘Ah! This is a nice experience’, and leave the Catholic Church to join them. The FGBMFI does not teach or preach but bases itself on the testimony of people who go up and say that I was this and that and now I got healed and delivered. Participants are then asked to come forward to be prayed upon and experience the same liberating touch of Jesus. This is basically the anointing of FGBMFI.
“It was during our first “altar call” that one woman came to this Pentecostal Minister and he prayed with her but she needed a follow-up, so as any professional person would do, he gave her his visiting card to come to him for the next session to continue to pray. This woman took his card and went to Fr Cremona and asked him if this is OK. Fr Cremona suddenly saw that the whole idea of FGBMFI was crumbling before his eyes, confirming his worst fears that Pentecostals were going to use FGBMFI as a springboard to woo Catholics to their churches. So FGBMFI started off with a lot of tears and commotion.
“It was subsequently launched as an all Catholic organisation because the FGBMFI officials could see that Pentecostals and Catholics could not work together at this point of history. Today, it is still a Catholic ensemble except that, thank God, now there are Pastor Raphael Spiteri and two others from his group who are attending FGBMFI. It is as it should be: a place where Catholics and Pentecostals meet and although not agreeing about everything, one needs to keep in mind that contact does not mean compromise and ‘love covers a multitude of sins’.
“People should not think that because I meet with a Pentecostal or attend his activities I am compromising my Catholic faith and. in the same manner, when a Pentecostal meets with Catholics he is not condoning everything he does not agree with. Polemics should be avoided in our phraseology and we should edify each other without compromising love. After all our common view is to appreciate our life in Christ. This is common between us. This should be the basis of our encounters, not to debate doctrinal differences.
“We should emphasise that which unites us, which to my mind is overwhelmingly similar. To be Evangelical or Pentecostal does not mean being anti-Catholic and vice versa. Our emphasis should be on praying not fighting, on dialogue not debate. FGBMFI consists of busy business people and have two hours at their disposal and those two hours should be dedicated to worship, praying in the Spirit and sharing what God is doing in people’s lives.
“I remained President of the FGBMFI up till 2002. I maintain that the FGBMFI is the only forum on this island which, on a consistent basis, has the potential of establishing and maintaining healthy contacts between Pentecostals and Catholics.”
Christianity in Malta
“The Catholic Church is a gold mine rich in its heritage, teaching and history. In its 2,000 years experience, I believe that the Holy Spirit never left the Church. So basically, it is Jesus who is the Head of the Church forming His Body. The Holy Spirit is the animator of the people of God.
I have worked all my life for the re-evangelisation of the Maltese Catholic. What I mean by “Catholic” is not only priests and nuns but basically the man in the street. We see a lot of superficial adherence to cultural Christianity but the heart is still very materialistic and pagan. I believe with all my heart in a renewal of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Church. This is what I have been striving for and I hope to die working for.
“We are in need of a transformation and a profound inner change. There are many prodigal sons who need to come back to the Father’s house. People need to make their life worthy of the Gospel, as St Paul puts it. I think that a person can go through all the sacraments (baptism, Holy Communion, confirmation and attend Mass) but, fundamentally, the heart is still not centered on Christ. There are many points of divergence in the way Catholics and Pentecostals look at evangelism but what I have been working for and what the Pentecostals and Evangelicals are working for, at least converges precisely on this point (that each human being has to have that divine encounter with the Risen Christ).
“So, Christianity is not just a nice outward thing but people need to start living for Christ, giving up their hearts to Him and accepting what He did on the Cross and that He did it for them. It also means accepting the new Divine life of the Holy Spirit bubbling in them. This is what I would like to see. I dream that the average Sunday Mass in Malta would be attended by people who enthusiastically go to celebrate their joy in the Christ who redeemed them from darkness. When this happens, Malta will become the magnet of evangelism in the Mediterranean. So, we keep hoping against hope like Abraham, that a Revival may sweep this land and reinstate this Island as ‘the Island of St Paul’.”
This interview together with more interesting information is found in the new book titled, An Epistle to the Maltese: A History of the Evangelical/Pentecostal Movement in Malta by Mr Anthony Zarb-Dimech.
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