Sunday, 29 September marks the 50th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of the late Archbishop Mgr Joseph Mercieca, who returned to the heavenly House of the Father, on 21 March 2016.
Fr Mercieca was serving the Church as a Rota Romana Tribunal Judge in Rome when, in July 1974, he was chosen by the Holy See to be the new Auxiliary Bishop of Malta.
His choice surprised many people because in Malta only a few clergymen knew him personally and this was back from the period when, during his university years, the young Joseph spent some time with Maltese seminarians.
I remember Archbishop Michael Gonzi himself seeking information about Mgr Mercieca immediately after he received the official notification, from the Holy See, about Mgr Mercieca's appointment. Indeed, the first time the two pastors met was on 27 July 1974, the day after Mgr Mercieca's appointment was officially announced. On that day, the new bishop crossed from Gozo precisely to visit Mgr Gonzi at the Archbishop's Palace in Valletta.
Mgr Mercieca was soon widely recognised as a humble and gentle pastor and, on 12 December 1976, just over two years after being consecrated bishop, he succeeded Mgr Gonzi as Archbishop of Malta.
As head of the Church in Malta, Archbishop Mercieca piloted, among other initiatives, the setting up of the Archdiocese's various secretariats and commissions, the publication for the first time of the Church's aggregated financial accounts and the signing of the Church-State agreements on Church schools and Church property.
The highlight of Archbishop Mercieca's final years as head of the Archdiocese, however, was and remains the unprecedented exercise of the 1999-2003 Diocesan Synod, which he envisaged as a time of renewal for the Church in Malta.
Announcing the findings of the Synod and the plans for their implementation, way back in 2003, Archbishop Mercieca indicated what may be considered as the pastoral roadmap he wished to propose for the future of the Church in Malta.
Archbishop Mercieca saw the Synod as an inspired encouragement to God's people in Malta "to be a Church that always works with a spirit of service, which means that we must also work for a just society. It encourages us to work with a spirit of solidarity, giving special attention to those who have moved away from the Church or who feel they are not accepted fully".
Love for the family
Mgr Mercieca consistently sought to preach the Gospel and the teachings of the Church according to the signs of the times. His priorities included marriage and the family. His love for the family was a hallmark of his episcopate and marked it till the very end of his pastoral mission. Fully convinced that the family is a priceless asset for society, time and again he encouraged social legislation and policy to support the durability of marriage and to protect the family and its unity.
His line of thought was that the family needs to invariably be kept at the top of the ladder in the nation's values as it is intrinsic to the nature of both women and men. He knew very well that, in this sense, marriage and the family are not purely human institutions, despite the many changes they have undergone over the centuries and the cultural and spiritual differences among various peoples.
He also knew that, beyond all the differences, there are common and permanent traits that reveal the greatness and value of marriage and the family, but if this value is lived out in an individualistic and private way, the family can end up being isolated and fragmented in the context of society.
Mgr Mercieca feared that the social functions that the family performs among individuals and in the community, especially in relation to the weakest, such as children, people with disabilities and the dependent elderly, might thus be lost.
The family was also at the heart of Mgr Mercieca's 18 January 2007 Thanksgiving Mass. He called upon society to understand and value the deep mystery of marriage between a man and a woman. He also appealed to promote marriages that endure and strive for steadfast families.
Mgr Mercieca strongly held that although many things change in cultural and social evolution, it remains a fact that it is women who conceive, carry and deliver the children of men.
He believed that this is not merely a biological fact, but entails a wealth of implications both for a woman herself, her way of being, and for her relationships, her relation to human life and to life in general.
He further believed that in calling women to motherhood, God entrusted the human being to her in an entirely special way. This led him to repeatedly solicit the recognition of motherhood as giving the right to financial benefits while also pioneering the local discussion on the promotion of a sufficient income for the family and an appropriate balance between work and family.
Certain pronouncements of Mgr Mercieca in his constant emphasis about the complementary natural role and responsibilities of both parents, particularly the mother, in the care of their children, especially in their first years, may have led to a certain amount of debate and, occasionally, even very unfair interpretations. Still, his teachings about marriage and the family were invariably in line with the Church's social teaching, also driven by his convictions about the best benefit of marriage, the family and society.
Wise, prudent, humble
Throughout the three decades at the helm of the Church in Malta, Archbishop Mercieca was an excellent example of a wise, prudent and humble pastor who primarily sought to communicate and give witness to Christ, promote evangelical values and the Church's social teaching, strive for the common good, and consistently be an instrument of fraternity and unity.
Inspired by his motto, "We are all brethren in Christ", Mgr Mercieca constantly advocated love and unity. He invariably preached, by word and deed, against division and all sorts of violence. Although incitement and violence were repeatedly used against him during the Church schools and Church property arguments of the 1980s, he remained calm and used to suffer everything in silence. He continued to preach forgiveness and condemning every form of retaliation to provocation and violence. His ultimate aim was to strive for just and durable solutions for the good of all, through civil dialogue.
"All along during my Episcopal ministry, whatever happened, I continued to always pray to God to keep helping me to continue to love, to be a voice striving for the best for the common good, to be an instrument that brings and sustains unity among our people, no matter what the personal sacrifice this would require of me," said Mgr Mercieca on 18 January 2007, during his Thanksgiving Mass at the end of his service as Archbishop of Malta.
Close to the afflicted
After 2007, when his service as head of the Archdiocese came to an end, Mgr Mercieca had the opportunity to concentrate better on the pastoral work that was very close to his heart, primarily being close as much as possible to the sick and the afflicted, who were always very dear to him.
For many, many years he used to make it a point to regularly visit quietly hospitalised or home-bound people. Moreover, one of the experiences cherished by him was accompanying the sick in their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.
In his own unassuming way, Mgr Mercieca continued to give true witness to his profound belief that whoever one may be, and whatever one may have gone through in one's life, God and Christ's Church remain with their arms wide open to embrace one anew.