“Sin – a very useful human activity.”

I remember being shocked to the core when I read these words all those years ago. They are to be found in one of Iris Murdoch’s books, either The Bell or Under the Net, if I remember correctly.

To this young man brought up on MUSEUM and theology, as I was studying then, these words undermined all that I had been brought up on.

Later perusals of Ms Murdoch’s other novels and also her philosophical works rounded and removed the shock impression of those early years. Contrary to initial impressions she was not advocating any moral free-for-all orgies or any relativistic morality we were all the time being warned against. There is, on the contrary, a far higher morality in her writings than in so many other writers.

Even then, as the fresh wind of Aggiornamento and Vatican Council II swept away what we considered to be the cobwebs of the past and as the church struggled to come to terms with the modern world, we learnt there were more ethical systems than contained in our, admittedly adjourned, theology books.

Later years were to bring about all those exaggerations that made formerly progressive Joszef Ratzinger rethink the entire basis of ‘Aggiornamento’ but they also brought a certain ‘riflusso’ to the rank and file of Catholics.

This is where, broadly, the present Catholic Church stands, both internationally and nationally.

Of course, I am hugely skimming over things. There have been four pontificates since then, the world has seen the demise of Communism as inspiring half the world, we have seen the emergence of terrorism on a scale we never imagined, with religious undertones as well.

Locally, the church has changed and changed again, but it still is close to people’s lives, from cradle to grave. Its place as a national institution is still very strong.

However, it’s not just the outside world that has changed but also the way most Maltese look at the church. And modern life has caught up with Malta – communication and alternative life styles have become the order of the day for many people. Increasingly, people have slacked from what used to be obsessive and compulsive observance of religious duties, mainly reduced to Mass at funerals and weddings for many people, and at Christmas and possibly Easter.

And marriage as an institution has taken huge knocks. It used to be a phenomenon reserved mainly for the Sliema environs, while what went on in the rest of Malta was never really studied (not that the family was as strong as some make it out to be, with so many children, with such a paternalistic approach to life, etc).

The church that has soldiered on has gathered back on the high shores of tradition and still intends to be there, a beacon of hope and strength for those who are drowning.

But the current crisis shows how much Maltese society has changed, how much Maltese society has NOT changed, and also how much the church finds itself increasingly unable to be ‘all kinds to all men’ since it cannot bend over backwards and forget what makes it what it is. And, being structured on a theology of sin and redemption, that being one thing that the Aggiornamento did not remove, at the end the church can only speak about sin, however it sugars the pill.

My friend Anton Gouder is an exemplary priest who has dedicated his life to God and the church. His pastoral experience in parishes such as Senglea and Paola have shown him to be a priest who is gentle with people but also, a rarity in the post-Vatican II lovey-dovey, happy-clappy church, also strong on principles.

Now he has become the national ogre for daring to mention the word ‘sin’ on a radio programme regarding the possible introduction of divorce.

Among others, the Labour grass-roots have been up in arms. Fifty years after the imposition by Archbishop Gonzi’s church of mortal sin on all those who voted Labour in the 1962 election, after the imposition of church sanctions, the Interdict, on the Labour leaders, the Labour rank and file show how the pain still rankles, how lives were rent asunder and how they felt they were being made to choose between the political affiliation and their religious belief.

Everyone, including Mgr Gouder, have been saying that they all hope and pray that the 1960s politico-religious conflict does not happen again, and at all levels it would seem there is no hope of this.

However, this is Malta, where politics and religion are inextricably intertwined. This is Malta where only a handful of votes make the difference between winning and losing an election. This is Malta, where spin is everything. It is so easy, so damnably easy, to find ourselves drowning in a whispering campaign against those who are perceived, or made to be perceived, as being in favour of divorce and the breakdown of the family as an institution.

The people who have been writing in anguish may have been exaggerating things, but this can still happen. After all, the last time we were all taken up in this madness was not in the Middle Ages, but as recently as 50 years ago, actually in the same years that Vatican II was meeting.

At the same time, and on the other hand, I also note that while Mgr Gouder has been steadfast over the past years in the defence of the family and in opposition to the introduction of divorce, at the end he could only say that those who favour and bring about the introduction of divorce, whether they are MPs in Parliament or voters in a referendum, would be ‘sinning’.

It would seem, and I hope the good Monsignor sees this as objective as one can possibly be, that at the end he had to use the Sin word and the Sin argument. Other priests – in what has become another symptom of a church in disarray – have been denying the Sin aspect and arguing it away to their hearts’ content. Yet the church stands or falls by its take on sin. And while people have been trying to water down Christ’s words all through the centuries, there they stand, uncompromisingly clear as a bell.

So yes, for all that MPs of all hues may dislike it, this is a division we are facing – between a religion that cannot contradict itself and its Founder and the reality of life as we live it today. In other words, we are back at Iris Murdoch and her post-religious morality, sin or no sin.

There need not be any politico-religious tension, nor sleazy use of religion to boost up political parties short of arguments. In such cases, major importance will be played by those in favour of divorce on the PN side so that those in favour of divorce on the Labour side do not feel they will be scapegoated by the population.

It will not be easy – nobody says it will. There is so much to be discussed regarding the modality of the discussion – referendum or vote in Parliament, before or after the coming election, how will the decision be taken and will it stick? Yet we must all see that it is through such a national, hopefully objective and non-partisan, debate we will all grow as a nation.

Yes, in the eyes of Catholics, perhaps even of Christians, it may well be a sin – but it may also be that this is what the national interest demands.

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