Charles Scicluna is not naive. He knows just what he’s up against. In a statement today the curia said “of course, in a society as politically polarised as ours, there is always the risk – not to say the certainty – that anything we say, no matter how balanced, will be perceived as partisan or manipulated to serve partisan interests; that the messengers will be demonised and their credibility undermined on account of their real or perceived political allegiances. Yet this cannot, and should not, be an excuse for us to renounce to our obligation to speak truth to politics and to
work unceasingly for the common good.”
The Maltese Church is not intimidated by the ongoing campaign of demonisation and vilification of anyone with a view which is different from that of Joseph Muscat’s government. It may have led to a journalist being blown up a month ago today. But Christians, we are reminded, are in the business of speaking the truth, no matter the consequences.
Everyone who knows me, knows I have no religion. But I do know that it is never easy for an organisation of any size, especially one with so much at stake as the Maltese church, to take onto itself the risks that come with challenging and confronting the current orchestrated polarisation and hate campaign perpetrated and led by the party in power.
The Maltese Catholic Church is doing more than that. It reminds us the words of Martin Luther King Jr, a Baptist Minister, that “we will need to repent in this generation not just for the evil deeds of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people”.
The Catholic Church in Malta will not stand idly by as evil looks set to triumph over good propped up by the complicity of the neutral and the indifferent.
But the Church calls for those demonised and threatened, intimidated and attacked to have hope. That hope alone is reason to fight for what is right.
This is indeed an example to behold. It is inspirational to those committed to the cause of cleaning up our politics. It is damning for those who convince themselves nothing is untoward.
Take the time to read the document published by the Church today.
We will be few marching in Valletta this evening still wanting to keep alive the mission that started a month ago today. But just because we are few, it does not mean we are alone.