In praise of this beautiful but quaint Island

This week was a very tiring one. The participation in Bondi+ last Monday, over and above the usual heavy schedule, exerted its toll. Usually I participate in TV programmes where arguments are debated. That takes time to prepare. Last Monday was a different kind of programme. It was a programme laden with emotions. Preparing for it burns times and a lot of energy. At the end of the programme I was tired but happy.

A friend of mine spoke to me several times before the programme telling me his life story. I never knew that he passed a number of years in a Church home. "They stole away my childhood and adolescence" he told me. I was shocked. Today he is active in church structures but he still feels crushed by the pain. "It will never go away", he told me. His testimony weighed like a ton on bricks on me during the days before the programme.

I was impressed by those who were abused and participated in Bondi+. A number of them not only publicly said that they accepted the Bishop's plea for forgiveness. More than that, they said that they are ready to forgive those who abused them. I was struck by their powerful Christian testimony.

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I had to write something about this programme experience but now I need to write a piece on a different tone. Now please bear with me while I change the tone for the rest of this blog.

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On returning home I made a cup of tea and put on the TV. There was a recording of Gorg Abela, the contender for the post of leader of the MLP, addressing a rally he organised in Cospcua. Was he on One TV? No it was Net TV. Where in the world would you find a TV station owned by one political party transmitting the meeting of an aspirant for the leadership of the other party? Only in beautiful but quaint Malta, is the answer. Have the management of Net TV been suddenly become the missionaries of pluralism in Malta?

The first time I met Gorg Abela was before the election of 1996. We had quite an argument in the office of Archbishop Mercieca. A few years later when both of us were occupying different posts than those we occupied in 1996 I approached him through a mutual friend asking him whether he would like to present, together with me, a radio programme. He accepted. We worked together for a number of months. I immensely enjoyed the experience. We kept contact and occasionally we meet for coffee and a long tete a tete.

A friend of mine who is a Labour Party delegate told me that Gorg is picking up a lot of ground with the Labour grass roots as well as delegates. I wish him well. (I hope this will not be held against him!)

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Where in the world would you find a Socialist firebrand protesting in Church for the restoration of the privileges of the local chapter of canons? You guessed it. Such things happen only in beautiful but quaint Malta.

I was still a seminarian. Don't ask me when. It must have been slightly after the departure of Bonaparte from Malta I guess. The Vatican had decided that pastoral insignia such as the pectoral cross (I hope I got the terms correctly) could not be worn by canons. My friend Fr Censu Demicoli was going to be the first canon to be installed but not given this cross - though he is endowed with plenty of space where to put it. During the celebration I still vividly remember Joe Debono Grech (the founder of the Brigata, Labour MP and Minister) shouting during the celebration: "Where is the cross? Where is the cross?"

Mr Debono Grech is a great lover of Birkirkara and everything Karkariza. He was also (perhaps still is) the president of the ultra-conservative Socjeta Borgia.

There is a lighter side to Mr Debono Grech. He was one of the guests during the programme I co-presented with Georg Sapiano on RTK. He is a practical joker and recounted several such pranks he played on his fellow parliamentarians.

But that can be another subject for some future blog.

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Where would you find a Green MP trying to rape the environment and a pro-life one contesting with a pro-abortion party? In Malta and in Italy but the politician is Maltese.

Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was chosen as the Green Politician of the Year. I don't remember the year but it was not so long ago. His doings re the pristine land in Mistra are too well known to repeat. With defenders like these the environment really has to worry. Now Dr Pullicino Orlando has become a pro-life politician. His foray on the subject in the Council of Europe is current news. I hope that pro-lifers are not holding their breath.

While on the pro-life subject I cannot not mention Dr Arnold Cassola, the Alternattiva politician who became an MP in Italy. He contested the recent Italian election with Sinistra Arcobaleno - a party which wanted to radically liberalise abortion laws in Italy. I do not for a second doubt the pro-life credentials of Dr Cassola but his behaviour deserves to be recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. I'm sure you will not find a similar pro-lifer in the whole wide world who would contest on a ticket of a pro-abortion party.

PS. After Arcobaleno received a bashing in the elections, Cassola, quite rightly, said that his future is with AD.

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Politicians never learn, not even from the mistakes of other politicians.

Following their defeat at the polls in 1996 the Nationalists looked at TV as their saviour. Net TV was their baby then and now a young teenager.

Alternattiva Demokratika - what shall I say - did not meet their target of electing 4 MPs in the last election. Harry Vassallo told The Times that Alternattiva would soon open their own TV station. We all wait in expectation. Overseas networks are not really worried by the threat. I don't know about Maltese stations!

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Give me some time to distance my tongue from my cheek before you comment on this piece or add new similar anecdotes or experiences.