Thursday, 1st May 2008
How disgusting, I am a Catholic
Sinner that I am, on more then one occasion I earned the
wrath of God through my actions. Thanks to Her infinite mercy I was forgiven.
Emboldened by these experiences let me be much more daring and this time risk a
rougher kind of wrath, the wrath of Daphne.
The lady needs no introduction. A gross understatement would be one stating that her pen is sharp. Guts to match and mastery in the use of the English language are two other characteristics. She possesses good analytical tools though her analysis does not always come true. Remember how she described - years back it's true - Eddie Fenech Adami as nothing more than a village lawyer or something to that effect? History proved otherwise.
Dr Alfred Sant is not her favourite politician but he will qualify as her favourite whipping boy ... though it seems that Dr Joseph Muscat is on the way to take Sant's place. (I don't think that her manner of attacking Muscat is helping one iota to raise the level of political debate in Malta.)
Neither is she terribly enamoured of all things Catholic. It is true that excesses are committed by a good number in the name of the faith and in what they (falsely) believe to be in its defence. But as many of our hunters shoot at anything that flies independent of the season or its species, Daphne gives the impression that she shoots at anything Catholic in sight. "Don't blame her" a friend of mine told me while adding half jokingly: "She was educated in a nuns' school."
I do not get particularly hot under the collar when people destructively criticise the Church as though belonging to it is some kind of disgusting perversion. I don't even understand those who become so agitated. On the other hand my blood boils whenever I read the stupidities that some Church people write. They show crass ignorance of basic contemporary Catholic teaching and average intelligence. The chain SMSs about Muslims taking over Malta are an example.
Attacks on the Church and Catholics do not trouble me so much as, after all, we were here about 2000 years ago and will be here 2000 years from now. Therefore, taking pot shots at Catholicism can be beneficial as we - its members - will perhaps keep our feet more firmly on the ground unless we panic and seek refuge in a siege mentality.
What compels me to write is her very unjust jibe at the Muzew people. She was writing about an ex-Muzew socju who was found guilty of sexually propositioning children. He was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for four years. The Court slapped a ban on the publication of his name. Daphne defied that ban and published the name and photo of the gentleman. I think she was right to do so. If she is taken to court I will be ready to give witness in her favour as I once did when she was taken to court by Manwel Cuschieri. (Does anyone know the result of that case?)
What was unjust and uncalled for was the following extract from her blog of April 23, 2008:
"Call me prejudiced, but I would never trust a man who actively seeks to spend his afternoons and evenings in the company of young children, to teach them ‘religion', especially when it is not his job and he is not getting paid for it. Why would a mentally healthy man want to spend his free time doing that, instead of running around with women or taking up some normal hobby or interest? How many men do you know who find other people's young children in sizeable groups (and even their own) anything other than exhausting and irritating after anything longer than 10 minutes? "
I was a member of il-Muzew before I entered the Seminary. I was educated by these men whom Daphne is now unjustly denigrating. I owe them a lot. Tens of thousands in Malta owe then a lot. She has no one to blame but herself for her inability to understand the generosity and the spirit of self giving of these men. She belongs to a different kind of culture and mentality where, perhaps, generosity and self-giving in pursuit of giving Christian instruction are foreign concepts. For the Muzew people this is their daily way of life. Such values are, after all, intrinsic to Christianity as all Christians know.
It is true that this particular individual betrayed these values. Maybe there were others. But such lapses are not just their prerogative. One can find doctors, nurses, teachers, youth leaders, fathers, uncles and, of course, priests who have behaved in this vile manner. Should we then attack all these groups because a tiny minority behaves shamefully? Why pick on the Muzew people who are among the greatest benefactors in our society?
It's a pity that Daphne decided to stoop so low in her piece.
Who is the drug addict in
your family
From time to time I discuss TV and what is happening on or in the box. Last week I said that I would say something about the April 18 and 25 of Xarabank editions, which in my opinion were two very good programmes.. I will henceforth not give notice of what I will write about. Every time I have done so far, I have ended up writing something different the following week. This posting is another example. But I will just add two paragraphs to honour my promise.
The Xarabank team have been giving us good editions for quite some time now. Their edition about the Naxxar tragedy was a good piece of journalism. Their edition about the Internet was a good mix of entertainment and information. Among other things, it addressed very well those aspects of the Internet that most worry parents.
The drug problem was the subject of April edition I am referring too. Xarabank managed to make each and every one of us face the problem as it really is: it is not somebody else's problem but it is my problem. If the present trend continues, in a few years time every family will have someone with a drug problem. This strong slogan was drummed into the psyche of all the viewers.
These editions featured exclusive interviews with several victims of the problem. We witnessed their struggles, pains and finally successes. The message of hope came out loud and clear. Perhaps that was the best thing about these programmes.
Comments
Now here is where you're wrong, dear Kyle. It is true that hunters were promised that spring hunting would never be illegal. However, you should understand that the government had no right to make that promise, since it is the EU that decides on such matters. It's like me promising to give you something that is not mine.
So, whether we like it or not, spring hunting should be illegal since now that we are EU members, we are bound by EU regulations.
There's too much doom and gloom around
smc
Now, abortion, which is certainly a much more important issue, was based on a very biased report, was ready and done with in under a day (contrary to the hunting trial) and as if that was not enough, each speaker was allocated a pathetic amount of time (for such an important issue; the Irish speaker was forced to stop and sit down during his speech).
As you can see, under the flag of "liberalism", Europe (EU and CoE) exerted authority on the Maltese nations rather unfairly. Not to mention that forcing others to break a promise and allowing the killing of human beings is totally contrary to what liberty is all about anyway.
I would like to answer your statement, ( how much countryside do we have to spare ) . Is it by any chance that you woke up from a long COMA ? or perhaps you lived abroad for a very long time. I never saw any written complaints by yourself on any Blog, alerting the Government to stop our countryside from being butchered by contractors. So please. lets be grown ups and call a spade a spade, as the more random statements anti - hunters are inventing, the more damage is being done to our country.
You are ignoring the fact that hunters do not just shoot (kill) birds - (whether protected or not is another issue) - they also take over the countryside - and not just their own land - all through Autumn and until this year, also throughout Spring.
How much countryside (let alone birds) do we have to spare?
What I was saying is that abortion is legal in most EU countries and not the CoE issue of decriminalization of abortion.
My point was that banning spring hunting and legal abortion are coming from the same source, namely the EU.
I was trying to illustrate what I consider as being the height of hypocrisy. The EU objects to our hunting in spring as we are shooting at birds on their way to breed and finds no objection to illegalize the sending thousands of fetuses down the drain.
I hope this clarifies your misunderstanding and thank you for your comments.
Mark
Thank you for showing how intolerant the anti hunting lobby is. I hope you keep on writing such comments, as you are only doing hunters a great service by showing the public the true picture of things. The anti hunting lobby can only come up with nonsense when it comes to contradict the legal hunter.
Keep up the nonsense it certainly helps.
There are the following types of anti-spring hunting people:
1. Oppose hunting for animal rights reasons and oppose abortion because pro-life.
2. Oppose hunting for animal rights reasons but pro-abortion because they believe that for one to have rights, one should be conscious (this type has no problem with aborting animals neither).
3. Oppose hunting for environmental reasons (protection of "endangered species" only) and oppose abortion.
4. Oppose hunting for environmental reasons and pro-abortion (these would be anti-abortion if humans become an "endangered species".
So as you see, mixing both issues together only serves to confuse. Each case should be treated on its own merits.
In his excellent but now dated “Guide to Malta” Christopher Kininmonth writing on the road south-east from Ricasioli says
“..is one of those suddenly unfrequented, rural parts which, in sight of cities none the less seems even the lonelier for it”.
Written in 1967 this was true at the time and evocative to such as myself who has known that road for eighty years and lived on it for four but it was not always that way and is now the site of SmartCity.
All my life I have been accustomed to stand on the glacis of Fort Rinella and contemplate the great 100 ton gun. Some dozen or so years back I found my way from the Ricasoli-Zonkor road reduced to a narrow path by enlargement of a permanent trapping site and a year or so later it was completely barred by a fence and I was denied passage.
Now seventy years ago trappers used to set their nets on the barren slopes of the glacis of Fort Ricasoli -barren because the herds of goats ate everything that emerged from the ground. The trappers gave no offence and no-one bothered them. Today those slopes are forested but there are clearings where the trappers have their nets and woe betide any hapless student of military architecture who ventures near them
Now this is one area where in a few metres the selfishness of trappers is evident. I can no longer stand and mourn at the foundation platform on which stood our Married Quarters that were bombed in the war for someone has wired the site off for their exclusive use.
Need I go on?
I also noticed he does not make the distinction between EU and CoE.
For clarity's sake, I would like to point out that these are two different bodies.
Whilst almost everyone knows what the European Union is, the Council of Europe is made up of 47 member states and its main aim is to achieve greater unity between its members based (ironically enough!) on the European Convention on Human Rights.
So the issue of the decriminalization of abortion and that of hunting were treated by two different bodies (although they do have some member states in common).
From a different point of view (and a more general one), I cannot understand people who are pro-abortion and anti-hunting. So its OK to kill a human being but when it comes to shooting birds, we make an almighty racket!
Sorry to hear that you will not be visiting our lovely island due to meeting our boys in Camo, and our thieving bus drivers. I would like to point out ,that ,it is standard practice, and you should know , that during the Hunting season, you should respect the land were hunting is in full swing and refrain from entering private property. I would have invited you to have a very tasty plate of pasta with Quail or Turtle dove, but due to interim measures imposed by the ECJ and passed down the BUCK onto the Malta Government. I am sorry to inform you that I am unable to send you an invite.
Mr. Mark Mifsud Bonnici are you suggesting that it is all ok now to shoot at everything that moves, including human beings, because of the EU stand on abortion.
I rest my case
I am an Englishman brought up and educated in Malta between the wars and who served with the RAF on a Spitfire squadron at Ta’Qali. Since retiring from the service forty years ago I visited Malta at least annually until a year or so ago and have walked the length and breadth of the island and have covered the coast on foot.
In recent years I have been obliged to remain in towns because I was harassed and intimidated by men with shotguns in the country side. Like many others I suspect that the vandalism at Mnajdra, Porte des Bombes and other places was down to the hunters.
I no longer visit Malta and am aware of the complaints in such as nature and bird watching magazines in this and other European countries.
.Tourism is a fickle trade but it is the lifeblood of Malta. The shooters and thieving ‘bus drivers are amongst the most frequent complaints of visitors. Consider a woman tourist with no knowledge of Maltese or English who is confronted by a man in camouflage with a gun who rises from behind a rubble wall.
I make no moral judgment but wish to see Malta prosper..
Yawn.
All readers, my apologies -
My input down below - para. starting "Miss one detail and it changes everything" has a missing last sentence that should read as follows.
"Never noticed that the e-mail of Mr. X ended with .com.usa. We live in different worlds."
Before delving any further into whether spring is the breeding season. As previously mentioned in my comment, the Birds directive allows derogations where no other "satisfactory solutions to hunting in autumn exist. This is what the whole ECJ court case is all about.
One thing before you go about condemning the killing of birds in their breeding season. Please bear in mind that the same EU that is trying to ban hunting in spring, finds is perfectly acceptable and totally legal to terminate pregnancies. Probably they would argue that mankind is not a threatened species.
Please consider this point before commenting, unless you consider the well being of birds as being more important than that of man. Which incidentally is what the EU did when it enforced its interim measures, - ignoring the hunters justified arguments as a precautionary measure to safeguard birds.
The behaviour of some shooters in Malta, where the pastime is very popular, is offensive to many tourists-and indeed many non-shootring Maltese. Shooters might well say that it is their country and they may do what they like within the law but many obviously flout the law.
It is no excuse to state that shooting takes place in other countries. legally or illegally, for two wrongs do not make a right and so it is pointless to mention people who live in glass houses.
Tourism is fickle whilst Malta's economy is largely dependent upon it.
Peter, who loves guns and once represented Bomber Command of the RAF at the famous Bisley rifle ranges as a marksman having learnt to shoot , mostly small-bore, as a boy at Rinella Rifle Range (now the Film Facilities of Malta) where we lived 1934-1938.
Perhaps Daphne should use her brain (I'm sure she has one) more before she leaps in with her pen! The fact that she went to a nun's school is no excuse :-)
Sweeping statements, putting everything in one basket, often arises out of anger of your experience with subject. To one that has knowledge and experience with Understanding People & Processes, it is amazing how much information there is in any Sweeping Statement including this one. Is she right ?
We store our THOUGHTS in priority order. These build a PICTURE in our mind. It is what we BELIEF anything to be. 1st priority thoughts in the middle, less important to the sides, non-important at the edges, some not noticed/not even recorded. So I could be attracted, possibly addicted to keeping detailed thoughts of sexy cars / my friend keeping those of every sexy women. He say – many sexy ladies passed did you notice? I would say, I have seen none. *(1) One reason why, as I understand it is not like it is.
Miss one detail and it changes everything. We only store what we see or hear that we consider important or attracts us. More so in todays busy world. Mr. said: “Joe be careful, before you proceed, all mentally healthy men have guns today too!” I recall the Thoughts of all the men in my Picture in my Mind to test/understand what I Belief. *(2) Mr. X will never comprehend that as I understand it, the men in my pic have NO guns.
The more we grow, what we Belief about anything becomes much more evident. We each create our OWN WORLD. We selected friends, business associates, the books, the hobbies, political party, religion, etc.. We are even selective about the location / town of our home. We have effectively selected our own world, which has a big influence on how we Belief things are. Since to our mind, everything is Relative, we tend to compare with Our World. So if most of your social friends, drink to some small or large degree alcohol, or ecstasy weekends - “ U ejja come on, all people drink.” Same for ecstasy - “u ejja come on, we all take ecstasy weekends only.” So sweeping statements could hurt, and they could be dangerous too.
And, you are effectively giving a lot more information than you think if as you belief it is, is as it really is, in your world.
DCG Said: “Why would a mentally healthy man want to spend his free time doing that, instead of (Thought 1) running around with women or (Thought 2) taking up some normal hobby or (Thought 3) interest? How many men do you know who find other people's young children in sizeable groups (AND EVEN THEIR OWN) anything other than (T 4) exhausting and (T5) irritating after (T6) anything longer than 10 minutes? "
So what this sweeping statement means is obvious. This is true of the Picture of All the Thoughts of all the Men that DCG can think off. This could be true of Her World and the majority of those that surround her. It is not true of all of us, men.
The same thing was said about cod - Do not worry there are great numbers, They will not be destroyed, What happened - No Governmnet action and indeed the cod industry was almost made instinct.
Correct me if I am wrong; Is it spring the BREEDING season?
Just to let you know. Andrew Borg Cardona started his crusade against hunting after an unfortunate incident in Valletta following the Hunter's protest in which his son was roughed-up by some thugs which he assumed were hunters. St Hubert hunters had condemned this incident which he rudely refused.
Another similar incident involving his son occurred during the Valletta Juventus match at Ta' Qali. This time it was not the alleged hunters that were to blame but the match security personnel. Apart from writing a few lines condemning this act he seems to have decided not to adopt the same attitude as he did towards hunting. Probably because he feared that if any more such incidents occurred he might end up arguing with all sectors of society.
The point I am trying to make is that, anything stated by Andrew Borg Cardona regarding hunting, one has to take lightly. Apart from his efforts earning him free tee- shirts from Birdlife he seems to have launched a campaign as his own personal vendetta against a subject he is totally ignorant about. His sole intention is to ridicule the hunter irrespective of whether he is law abiding or not.
He actually once wrote a whole section in his blog condemning the out of season shots in Gozo which as I personally explained to him after mass at Marsalforn were in fact, gas operated bird scarers used in vineyards to scare away sparrows. Indeed in the subject of hunting this "learned" man is to be ignored.
Your stating that you are "no fisher(wo)man (nor fishwife!) myself " has been totally discredited by the fact that you seem to have been fishing for answers.If you principals in life have conditioned your rationality there is no need to publish this fact in public.
After reading your description of a fishing expedition I nearly nodded off ... But then to each his or her own.
You assumed I eat meat. I don't.
Besides, the last time I looked in the mirror, I didn't look like a turtle dove. So please, don't shoot me down. I just wanted to understand what makes the hunters tick. Apparently it's open season on anyone who doesn't agree with you.
Anyone's character is not judged by his or her belief in superficial things.
I'm pointedly ignoring the jibes about my anti-hunting stance (and most other things I'm lambasted with regularly) as I don't think it's fair for someone else's blog to be hi-jacked.
How does he reach this conclusion. Sustainability in hunting is attained when the harvesting of any species does not endanger the continuance of such species. Any responsible hunter would agree that should any species be endangered its protection would be paramount.
What Mr. Vella might not know is that our principal game bird the Turtle dove is no way near extinction. It's European population is calculated at over 14,000,000, The resident population in Africa has never been calculated but estimates run into tens of millions. The Turkish and Russian population has also not been calculated but together estimates also run into millions. These figures are not fictious but are taken from a report commissioned by the EU entitled MANAGEMENT PLAN for TURTLE DOVE (Streptopelia turtur)2007 –2009,
The turtle dove was considered as abundant and as being of least concern in the latest
ornithological data. However due to wrong farming practices, destruction of nesting sites, hunting etc. the status of this species is now being considered as having an unfavourable status.
The estimated total of hunted birds in Europe runs at around 3 million birds. These can only be hunted in autumn in all European countries with the exception of Malta where hunting can be carried out also in spring.
Malta is contesting the banning of spring hunting of this bird since autumn can never be considered as an alternative. The conditions of the EU bird directive allow spring hunting if no "satisfactory solution exists in autumn." The EU is not accepting Malta's arguments as it is stating that we are hunting during the breeding period and autumn offers an alternative. if you have any hunters as friends asked them about the alternative in autumn.
if indeed there is any sense in the EU's arguments why should it consider Malta's annual bag of 100,000 birds shot throughout autumn and spring as being a threat to the species when in autumn only European countries total 3 million birds.
Indeed sustainability is the main issue. But common sense should prevail especially when banning spring hunting would mean the end of the main hunting season in Malta. Believe me Mr. Vella we know what we are stating is correct whether the EU accepts it is another matter.
Your comment "watching them fall from the sky in midflight, maimed by a pellet that you have fired?" indicates that you consider hunting as a cruel thing to do. If you are not vegeterian can you explain why this same sentiment is not felt when eating meat.
As for my reply to your question about the joys of hunting:
It's the same joy you get when you've been on a boat for hours, and you suddenly hook your first fish. You haul it in, and club it, place it in the cool-box, and look forward to the next one, with visions of freshly-caught fish being cooked and enjoyed by yourself and your loved ones over a glass or two of cool white wine. Actually fishing is more complicated than that, but for someone who admits she has no idea of the subject, it's fishing made simple for beginners, so to speak. The same applies to game-bird shooting, but instead of plucking fish from water, one 'plucks' birds from the air. I assure Ms Grech there is absolutely nothing sadistic in hunting. We do not wake up in the morning with a vengeful hatred for turtle-doves or any other game bird for that matter.
Now that I have explained in more detail please also answer whether you see any problem with understanding and accepting the joys of fishing.
When it comes to defending or denouncing sundry pet hates/peeves/loves, be it religion, atheism, hunting, metallurgy (yep, this one is for you Peter) we are all potential torch-wielding villagers. Just a cursory glance at this blog will prove this. No one has put the FUN in fundamentalism yet.
Thank you for your reply. Alas, I am no fisher(wo)man (nor fishwife!) myself so I wouldn't know the joys of fishing. I appreciate the distinction that you have made. Based on this I would like to ask the following one: what joy and relaxation is derived from shooting at birds? Of watching them fall from the sky in midflight, maimed by a pellet that you have fired? This is what I want you to explain.
Unfortunately, for a lot of Maltese people, being Maltese requires being a Church-loving roman catholic. A lot of young people don't go to church, don't pray, don't believe in Christ and Co. but say they are "catholic", to avoid bad looks from those who'll make them feel "less Maltese" than they already do. Saying you're not catholic in Malta is like very much like booing at a mass meeting.
In the late 1970s the cod fishing industry in Eastern Canada was almost wiped out. There was a moratorium on cod fishing for over 25 years; and only recently fishing for cod was allowed once again. The irony in all this it was that it wasn't Canadian fisherman that was doing the overfishing and using illegal fishing net, it was the Europeans fisherman, mainly the Portugese and the Spanish fisherman.
Sustainability in this whole matter is of outmost importance. When the Canadian Government reluctantly imposed the moratorium on the Cod Industry a lot of Newfoundland families lost thier only source of income and had to do with hand out from the Government for their survival.
Fr. Joe, on the other hand, sees the gentler face of the Maltese hunter, and would like it to make its presence felt more. Amen to that.
But I also think it is people’s perception of hunters that needs change as well. What are Maltese hunters in the first place? They are no different from Maltese motorists, Maltese workers, Maltese persons living in a social community. If they are decent, they drive carefully, love their family, do their job efficiently, pay their taxes, and so on. They also hunt, and if they are decent, they hunt in the proper manner. Until recently the Maltese motorist had a very bad image overseas and with tourists. But now if a motorist drives badly, he is very likely to be caught by speed-cameras, traffic police or wardens, and penalized. The Maltese motorist’s image is still not good with foreigners, and it will take long to improve, because the Mediterranean temperament is not something that is going to disappear. Fr Joe knows very well that the Church is made up of sinners, because the vast majority of the faithful are sinners. But there are sinners and sinners. And the same goes for the Maltese hunters. Now imagine if the enemies of the Church would devote entire opinion pieces, letters, editorials, front-page pictures of priest pedophiles, magnifying scandals committed by Catholic citizens, and so on, constantly and daily to fever pitch i.e. to the point that not one day goes by without the negative element being hammered in. What do you think would people start thinking? I rest my case.
As wrongly depicted hunting is not about killing birds for fun. All birds hunted are eaten. Dove, quail, duck, woodcock all these birds are classed as game birds and make excellent eating.
Don't confuse the issue of illegal shooting of protected birds with game hunting. this is to be condemned and punished in the severest way possible.
ou say that there are only 500 naughty hunters. Is there anyone out there who can support or contest this figure?
I have read your spirited post regarding hunting. I would like to ask you a question. It is a genuine, sincere question devoid of any wit.
Could you please tell us what joy is derived from hunting? I repeat, this is not a provocative question. I just want to understand.
I think that the whole point of this quote is that we sometimes hide behind what others think without making the effort to think for ourselves. Those that choose to be like the proverbial 'naghag ta' Bendu' and just go with the flow because they don't want to make that extra effort to think outside the box and stretch their mind a little and take risks, fall in the first slot; those who don't want to make the extra effort and go that extra mile, shrug their shoulders and say that since they're in the minority, their voice wouldn't count anyway so they let things be. The last group of people are free spirits - they feel the pull of the majority, and feel the attraction of the minority for the above reason, but choose to think for themselves. With apologies to A A Milne.
Let’s be blunt. On 10 May 2007 hunting was suspended, allegedly because rogue hunters shot at honey buzzards. So the majority suffered the first injustice. On 15 September 2007 we suffered the next. Hunting after 3 p.m. was suspended daily for a fortnight to prevent rogue hunters from shooting at birds of prey migrating in the afternoons. On 10 April 2008 all the Maltese hunters together silently suffered the greatest injustice of all. On that day the Maltese government failed to declare the spring-hunting season open, thereby giving the European Court of Justice to understand that it (the government) did not really believe in its right to open the hunting season, pending the court’s decision. The ECJ took the ‘hint’ and decided formally to order the Maltese government to refrain from opening the 2008 spring season. In the meantime for the rogue hunters it’s business as usual, though they have to be a bit more alert than usual to avoid getting caught.
The end result is that decent law-abiding hunters like Mark, myself and many others have been deprived of their way of life in spring-time not through any personal fault, but through the inability and inefficiency of the authorities to do things right. If the same people keep breaking the law and getting away with it, what is preventing the upholders of the law to conduct an enquiry? For example, a recent statement of Birdlife Malta pinpointed three localities where illegal hunting takes place. Assuming BirdLife are correct, should not the police concentrate on those localities? Why do the courts, as has sometimes happened, let the guilty off lightly? Why should the many suffer because of the misdeeds of the few? For serious offences, such as shooting of rare protected birds, vandalism of trees, violation of nature reserves and sacred places such as the Addolorata Cemetery, the penalty should be harsh: forfeit of the hunting licence for good, confiscation of all firearms and ammunition, and a hefty fiscal fine, to say the least. But what is definitely not on is the easy way out (favoured by mediocre politicians) of blanket measures castigating also the innocent.
I liked your line of KEJK TAL-PASSOLINA but then again I never heard anyone call cakes with names like
Kejk tal-Butir
Kejk tal-Margerine
Kejk tal-Bajd
Kejk tad-Dqiq
And these are the basic ingredients which make up the cakes and without them some cakes cannot take form.
Should we then call the church a club of perverts because some religious people chose to ignore their chastity. They too could be the essence giving the taste to the cake. This using your same reasoning mind you.
Your reply to David Borg Cardona's comment on hunting makes anyone wonder where the stereotype image "of the local hunters depicted as rude, vulgar and violent." originates from.
If such a claim originates from people who expect to have a right to trespass onto private property stating that the countryside is theirs. Those that show no respect for hunters patiently awaiting game or the bird lover who makes it a point to disturb the hunter or even to label him as being a criminal. Then I believe this claim is unfounded. The sheer intolerance of these people has made them resort to calling hunters any name under the sun. Unfortunately people like yourself who base their opinion on what they read or hear reach the wrong conclusion and accept these attributes as fact and relate them to the majority of hunters.
As stated by David the irresponsible hunters do not number more than 500 and yet you consider this as being "many". Considering that hunters in Malta total around 16,000, I tend to disagree with your statement. Using your same argument am I to state that the wrongdoers within the Catholic church, the confirmed reports of child abuse carried out by some of the clergy are "giving the taste and brand to all" the clergy. Indeed not, far from that.
Each sector of society has a minority of black sheep yet one does not judge or label the whole sector on the shortcomings of a few.
If one had to consider what eleven apostles and a fair amount of time did in order to convert the millions to Christianity. It might be worth waiting to see what 15,500 hunters can do for the 500 unconverted. This of course would not require any Crusades or Holy Inquisitions in order to be achieved. A bit of support from opinion makers like yourself would however help.
David refers to 500 or so hunters who are irresponsible. In my blog I referred to the MANY HUNTERS who act irresponsible. I guess that since - in David's words - there are 500 such hunters than I was justified to refer to "many hunters" acting irresponsibly.
Second point. We refer to kejk tal-passolina. If one were to take all the ingredients of this cake one would conclude that the passolina makes up a small percentage, certainly not the main item. But it is called kejk tal-passolina because it gives it a particular distinctive taste. I think that the 500 hunters you mentioned are, unfortunately for us all, those who are giving the taste and brand to all hunters.
I like your quotation too - I believe its by pitcher Satchel Paige (I know because American baseball interests me). He's the one who also said "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"
To go back to the subject of religion, Mahatma Gandhi once said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ".
as quoted by Victoria
I will reproduce hoping that some one will comment:
"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. A.A.Milne."
I have given thought to the matter and find the quotation a little glib.
Being in the minority does not mean that one is in error.
Another quotation comes to mind
"Sometimes I sit s and thinks but at other times I just sits"
I have nine grand children and live in fear that one of them will get hooked.
For myself I have never dabbled with drugs though I was a heavy smoker.
In my varied life I was once a housemaster in a boys' remand home in London
and saw the effects of drugs. It was very sad.
I have also travelled widely and am aware of the draconian attitude to drugs i n Singapore
where dealers are strung up and as a result there is relatively little drug problem there.
Now I am strongly against capital punishment but so serious is the problem that I would make an exception in such as Malta.
It would be very complicated to explain that attitude but my mind dwells on the fact that the strip of land that extends beyond Fort Ricasoli where I once lived is k nown as Gallows Point for there the Order used to hang malefactors and leave the bodies to rot as an example.
Now if a gallows was erected there it might serve as a warning to prospective drug dealers and if one still indulged in the business then he could be executed in a humane method and his body wrapped in a bag and displayed. I do not think there would be a second one in a hurry.
If you think this is too brutal then you will simply have to accept the drug culture.
On a more serious note, Fr Joe's blog is in two parts. We have all written about the first part but none of us have contributed anything on part two - I wonder, is it a symptom of our society...we ignore the drug problem because no one in our family apparently has it.
I have come into contact many times with people who have a drug problem. I make no distinction between the persons who actually take it and their family members for the its effects is devastating for all.. and long-term. The drug becomes another member of the family that eats the family out of their house and home, not mentioning the emotional and mental toll.
I will reproduce hoping that some one will comment:
"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. A.A.Milne."
More Anglican churches are dedicated to St Mary than any other saint whilst the Church itself has no saints apart from the Catholic ones that it inherited at the Reformation.
For an Anglican like myself that asprired to becone a left-footer, the question of the Virgin Mary presented a problem. It is a common Protestant accusation that Catholics worship the Virgin Mary rather than Jesus Himself.
Since Victoria is giving me a hard time I stress that what follows is A JOKE.
Down at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul, in what used to be the seamier side of Valletta before the city died, a service was taking place conducted by a Low Church preacher.
At the end of the service the minister stood at the doorway of the cathedral greeting each parishioner as they left-a common practice in many Protestant places of worship.
An old lady emerged and said,
"You know vicar that we find it odd that whilst our Blessed Lord was a good Protestant, his mother was one of those dreadful Roman Catholics same as the Maltese."
I’m sorry to see, from your reference to hunting, that you have been taken in by all the anti-hunting propaganda. If you were to talk privately to the less fanatic and more honest among the bird-protectionists, you might learn that there is a die-hard core of so-called “gunners”, estimated to be about 500, who do not care two hoots about the law, the police, the EU, and even their own Hunting Federation. I correct myself. They care only inasmuch as they break the law, defy the police, spit at the EU, and ignore the federation, and some of them always seem to get away with it. Why they do get away it should stimulate some intrepid investigative journalism, but it seems this kind of journalism has still to reach these shores.
You say one can find doctors, nurses, teachers, youth leaders, and, of course, priests who have behaved in a vile manner; and you ask: should we then attack all these groups because a tiny minority behaves shamefully? Indeed not. Should the Catholic Church in America be reviled because of the scandals caused by some priests and given such prominence by the media that one would be forgiven for thinking that the whole US Catholic Church is corrupt? Indeed not. Therefore, are opinion-makers like yourself justified in making sweeping statements about “many hunters shooting anything that flies independent of the season or its species” when this is definitely not the case? Allow me to give you one recent example played up to the grandest scale by the anti-hunting lobby with the help of a sensation-seeking media. In September 2007 one wounded Lesser Spotted Eagle was picked up locally. The German anti-hunting society CABS arranged a free Air Malta flight to Germany for treatment, designated the bird ‘rare’, gave it a name ‘Sigmar’, featured the event on a major German TV station, and did all they could to show all Maltese hunters, and indirectly Malta, in a bad light.
What CABS did not tell the German public was that all Maltese law-abiding hunters - the majority - condemn such illegalities, that the Lesser Spotted Eagle is not rare but is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) under the category “Least Concern”, that its population is between 80,000 and 110,000 individuals (2006 census), that one occurs on Malta about every 40 years, that in ornithology such a bird is termed a straggler with probable genetic defects, that its loss may actually be considered beneficial to the species. And what CABS never told the German public is that the fuss and publicity was necessary only for CABS to extract more money from a sympathetic and emotional public, unfortunately deficient in ornithological knowledge.
Now I would not go to the extreme of awarding a medal to the misguided gunner that shot that protected bird, but neither will I go to the other extreme of saying that Malta and its hunters are responsible for the destruction of Europe’s bio-diversity, which is exactly what some foreigners keep saying, aided by the local media as well as impressionable opinion makers. For every bird that passes our way, 10,000 or more go other ways; and nothing that Maltese hunters do on this rock has ever had, or can have, a significant effect on European bird migration. This is not to say that there is no room for improvement. But to control and improve upon is one thing, and to restrict and abolish is another; and the last is a step that hunters will never accept.
Hopefully we have another five years without hearing about DNA , sorry for reminding you about Notary Mangion's gaffe.
I really try hard to understand why sometimes Daphne makes sweeping statements especially when she deals with Catholic focus groups in an unchristian way.This does not mean that she is totally wrong about what she wrote , all I can say that with her bulldozing statements she hurts a lot of people in the process.
Undoubtedly, she has a good pen and her command of the language is superb.(you will not find this 'genie' mistake in her writings even if she gets drunk!)
Besides tolerance and non tolerance there are two another important dimensions to any discussion: the ability not to take one self too seriously and a sense of proportion. I don't know how the percentages would work for these two parameters.
Daphne wrote
"A British Catholic, raised in an environment that has been hostile to Catholicism for more than 500 years, and exposed to different strains of Christian thought, would not recognise the attitude of a Maltese Catholic".
Now I recognise what she is saying and I understand her attitude.
However I am a British Catholic brought up as a Protestant and familar with the Malta of today and yesterday.
Firstly, as regards England, we Catholics are the most numerous of practising Christians though there are still laws placing restrictions upon us.We are in general respected as for instance in a public house when someone wishes to tell a dirty joke he might well ask" Are there any Catholics amongst us here"?
In Malta, where I make no disguise of my left wing politics, many are surprised that I profess Catholicism for the Catholic church there is generally regarded as PN at prayer.
Yes I do find many Maltese Catholics as DCG describes but I also find many who have broken free of that attitude. I would charge Daphne with over simplification and generalisation from the particular in regard to religion. I tend to agree with her in other matters though my understanding of modern Malta is limited.
Let me leave it at that for the present.
One was on the seashore and found a corked old bottle , he opened it and out came a gene "make one wish , and it will be done for you".
"Well" replied the man " the safest way I feel I can travel is by car , and I have my relatives whom I have never seen , living in Ireland.Build me a bridge from New York to Ireland, and I will be very satisfied." "IMPOSSIBLE "was the gene's instant reply ," certain parts of the ocean are thousands of fathoms deep , there could be furious storms and strong underwater currents , give me a simpler task and I will do it for you." ." Well" answered the man after some thinking " I have been reading DCG's running commentary on the Web and her articles on the papers , and sometimes I cannot really understand quite clearly what she really wants and what she truly believes in. Make me understand her writings"
"How would you like the bridge ,two lane or four lane ?" was the gene's immediate reaction.
Vicky
You referred to DCG as your 'godself' in your post...was it a slip of the finger on the keyboard or is it a Freudian slip? Anyhoo, Fr Joe did allude to her divine status when he wrote about the 'wrath of Daphne' in the first paragraph of this blog.
Love her or hate her, one cannot remain indifferent when confronted with her writings... if only to make one long-held beliefs, prejudices and picket-fence (in our case 'hajt tas-sejjieh') mentality. what I find distressing though is that in her criticism of religion, she becomes as fundamentalist as some of her targets. Other than this, DCG most of the time right on the money.
No I am not Lakshni Nittal for I want to go to heaven (no matter what Daphne thinks) and he is a rich man.
I am impressed by your Biblical knowledge Vicky for being brought up as a Protestants in Catholic Malta we were told that Catholics do not read the Bible but rely upon clerical interpretation. Oddly enough I find the same understanding from my fellow British Catholics.
You say that jokes started with Genesis and I can quite believe you for surely God was only practising when She created man.
Did Sarah find being preggers funny as funny ha-ha or as funny peculiar?
Yes indeed, I find Catholicism in Malta somewhat different to what I was told in the long years before the Hound of God caught up with me and bit my bum. Malta is unique in this world and I try to understand it.
Oh how I love the place warts and all and am only sad that never again will I walk down Strada Reale or whatever name it has nowadays. Do you know that I have a very faint recollection of travelling to Shivery Wick on the little railway that closed in 1931 and being scared stiff when taken to the Chapel of Bones in Valletta.
Peter of Barnsley,I only live there for I am a Cornishman who looks upon Cottonera as my home town..
I disagree with you. I was taught at a Church school, went to the Muzew, went assiduously to Church and did other clerical things as well. :-) I also taught David at some point in time. Yet, I consider myself a free thinker. I am a free spirit, and I belong everywhere and nowhere. I do not live within the narrow confines of Catholic Malta - where that is to be found. I live in Malta, and I do what I want and do what I will.
I have always said it and will continue to say it: in general, you are right in your ideas, but you become as intolerant as those whom you aim to attack; and you put everyone in one basket, then. You become arrogant, aggressive, to the point that people who read you simply stop because they feel that they have had enough.
And the Muzew people are there to render a service - if parents don't want their children to be under their influence, they know what to do.
No DCG, again your judgments are far from the truth. Half truths are as bad as lies. The Catholic Church does NOT consider what you know is my private matter, as a mortal sin and perverse. It is the PRACTICE that is considered so, and not only by the Catholic Church, but by most, if not all, other monotehistic and other religions. But what is considered as evil and wicked by everyone, excluding of course, your godself , is to try and use one's private matter, (that has never ill-affected anyone and has always been within legal pararmeters), to cast a shadow on him/her, knowing that this private matter could emarginate the person. Since you speak so much about being avant-garde and modern and so much liberal and anti-conformist, you should at least have the decency to keep to your beliefs and DEFEND the so many people with similar private matters like mine, rather than, directly or indirectly. In my Catholic belief, LOVE wins everything, above all other beliefs, and that's the biggest and most important of all commandments. In Catholicism, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to amend our ill-doings. So, let her/him, without faults, including yourself, cast the first stone. I do not know what religion or belief you follow, if any. Maybe it is yourself who tailor your beliefs according to who you want to degrade. I you wish to go ahead and give out what my private matter is, go ahead and do so. By this time, very few people, if any, do not know! Just remember one thing......do not spit towards the sky because the spit can, one day, splash back on to your face.
Re Christians and Catholics. It is correct to say that Christin is wider than Catholics. Under the tern Christan there are also Anglicans, Orthodox, Lutherans etc etc. It is also correct to state that Catholics are by far the largest Christian group. Hopefully in our lifetime we will see the formal union between Catholics and Orthodox. So much progress has been achieved in the inter-religious dialogue between these two groups that such a union will be possible.
Since when the explanation of the Bible, preparation for first Holy Communion, the sacrament of Pennance and readings from Saints' bios, are objectionable activities at Muzew centres?
No one is 'forced' to send their children to the Muzew, otherwise Daphne would have been forced to send her children there.
Would someone from the Muzew respond to these misconceptions being so freely force-fed by the likes of DCG to the public in general?
Unless something has drastically changed within the Muzew, I do not recollect being force-fed or brainwashed while attending the Muzew, albeit many years ago. Maybe I kept my faith and do not waiver in my beliefs because I attended the Muzew in my formative years!
Daphne has the freedom of choice and opinion and so does everyone else. Trying to impose her foibles on others is the worst form of 'indoctrination'.
You're wrong, Mr Prictoe, I am AMUSED. Keep it coming.
Don't you think that it is so amusing that the ones who are bickering in this blog are so called Christians? We are a barrel of laughs, aren't we?
So for your goodself, all catholics should refrain from "castigating (sorry! constructively criticizing)" the Pope or the Catholic church and should never applaud that with which they are in agreement or else they are labelled by you as " white knight in shining armour!" ? Well and good. I do not agree with you, whatever label you wish to pin on me; and I shall continue doing so and still remain within my Catholic faith. I am happy to be Catholic and even more happy to follow Jesus Christ, not in the way you follow Him, but in the way of my own UNIQUE relationship with HIm. Your comments make me even stronger in my convictions. Thank you.
While I'm not too keen on arguments which put ALL Muzew people/Mgarr FC fans/single men/Labour supporters or whoever in the same basket, as things stand Daphne's is an absolutely crucial voice in Malta's development into a more open society.
From another crusade between Drs Saliba & Grech-Attard deliver us O Lord :)
@Maria Gauci
I thought it is healthy to find points on which people agree. I thought it was something positive. But now I am not sure. Ms Gauci has taught me that this is something that worries her.....and I do not wish to cause her stress. So humans cannot even agree to disagree. Well, dialogue has no place any more then. Is this a trait fhat is again taking roots in Malta? I thought we had rid of it post-war.....but it seems to be again surfacing. God forbid.
@Amanda Mallia:
Where on earth did I even suggest that DCG is a hypocrite? Please do no attribute me things which I did not say or hinted or even believe or ever believed. i mentioned as hypocrites those Catholics who, according to Maria Gauci, " If Daphne is not the most perfect ambassador of atheism, most Catholics are probably her equivalent to their faith!" to which I agreed and which, I think, worried Maria Gauci. Yes, I agree also with you, people in glasshouses should not throw stones. I hope this does not worry YOU as well.
As an admirer of much that you write in your column I am smewhat nonplussed by your lapses into wild generalisations such as when you consign the entire MUSEUM movement and most of the locals engaged in unpaid voluntary work among the young to the dunghill after one rotten member was sentenced for unacceptable sexual behaviour.
Perhaps unwittingly you create the impression that the words "Maltese Catholic" act on you like a red rag to a bull and your reaction recalls that of a bull in a china shop. Please have pity on those admirers who find themselves tossed uncomforatably into the same boat as Dr Joseph Grech Attard who emerges today as some white knight in shining armour, breaking a lance in the defence of the Catholic faith. Only last week he was castigating (sorry! constructively criticising) the Pope and the Church because, according to him, they were not egalitarian enough in condemning sins of sexual abuse with the same vigour as sins against the other nine commandments.
I will not go into detail, but will just say one thing: "People in glass houses should not throw stones."
Some months back Daphne chose to criticise me (without mentioning my name) because I expressed my admiration of Malta as a Catholic country. I forget the details because at my age memory is dubious.
I enjoy reading Daphne for her wonderful command of the English language whilst her vendetta against Catholicism just passes me by. She is by far the best columnist in Malta.
At the end of World War Two I stood in the ruins of St Lawrence church in Vittoriosa,where I once lived, and decided to become a Papist. It took me twelve years and a lot of argument before I was accepted but the practice of my faith has been my joy ever since.
Malta fascinates me and its relation to Catholicism is extremely interesting.
I am pleased that I have lived long enough to enjoy such blogs as this.
Peter of Barnsley, South Yorkshire
Since I tried to limit my bashing towards you I suggest you'll do likewise. However, I think we're square now since you gave me the wrong label too. I never claimed to be Catholic myself but you decided that ("people like you") Joe Borg, Joseph Grech-Attard and myself seem to have something in common. Whilst I take that as a compliment with regards to Fr Joe, I seriously consider that as an insult with regards to Mr Grech-Attard!
Also, I did use the words Christian and Catholic in my comment intentionally. It is the CHRISTIAN mission to evangelise, but I've hardly ever seen any CHRISTIANS going about it in the same manner CATHOLICS do - imposing their views on the rest of the world.
I fully agree with you that Catholic and Christian are not to be used interchangeably.
And of course, I also agree with you an that "gentleman" business. Creature is more appropriate since that is the only category he fits in - living organism.
I just noticed a comment in which Mr. Grech-Attard seems to be agreeing with me on something! I'm very worried....
The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. A.A.Milne.
I have been educated in a Jesuit's school where I witnessed priests and clergy who were truly devoted to their mission - from whom I learnt a lot, and others who brought out their anger and possibly their dissatisfaction of their mission on boys attending the college. I also learnt from those. If one who has offered his life to further the teachings of Christ succumbs to temptation, then this is so as that same person is a human like myself.
I recall a story which I was told at school, where, in a nutshell, the devil threw a soul which corrupted tens of others in the deepest ends of hell, but rewarded that soul which corrupted only one soul - that of a leader, a priest, through which more souls are inevitabley eventually corrupted.
It is no surprise then that members of the Catholic Church are tempted and succumb to temptation. This has been so for the past 2000 years and will continue to be so.
We are all humans and we all do mistakes. By no means I am defending the actions of the person which Daphne is referring to - they are contrary to moral law. I am on her side on this point, but then I disagree with her generalistion. (where she also contradicts herself: "... to teach them ‘religion', especially when it is not his job and he is not getting paid for it. Why would a mentally healthy man want to spend his free time doing that, instead of running around with women or taking up some normal hobby or interest?" The interest of some mentally healthy men is to teach religion to children.)
A final point, even Jesus taught God's message to children. Was there something wrong with Him?
I frequently read Daphne. She is a mystery, to me. Her writing is excellent - true. Many times, she speaks what others don't have the courage (or the medium) to even whisper. Take, for example, today's (1 May) contribution in TMI. Isn't it what every level-headed person who has been around for at least 30 years is thinking about???
The woman is enigmatic. You either love her or hate her. I don't at all agree with her comments about the Catholic Church; her views on abortion, her views about tal-muzew - by the way, I LIVED with tal-muzew for many years and we never had anything to complain about - quite the contrary.
The woman oozes sweeping statements - that's her pitfall. She generally lacks logic, too.
I say this because, on the one hand, I am a Christian and I am proud of it; yet, I am no bible-hugging witch hunter.
That's Daphne for me.
You're right, I do come from a different cultural background. This is not one - as you suggest - that is alien to selfless giving, but one that dictates that all such selfless giving should be concealed even from those closest to us where possible. It is a cultural background in which all public displays of 'selfless giving' are regarded with great distaste, unless their express purpose is to encourage others to do the same. People from different cultural backgrounds may not understand this. I suggest you make some discreet enquiries before rushing to judgement.
That same cultural background regards tal-Muzew as tar-rahal, and this not to disparage religion in general (or people raised in villages) but because it is correctly perceived to be a movement that spread like wildfire originally in precisely that stratum of society, where those recruited had neither the education nor the arguments to counter what they were told. Neither did they have the social or religious confidence to resist being gathered into this particular fold.
At least three of my grandparents were great believers and defenders of the church, but I suspect that their views of tal-Muzew were similar to mine. Tal-Muzew do not stand in representation of the Catholic Church. The vast majority of Catholicism's millions of members do not even know what tal-Muzew ta' Malta is. No, I do not like or approve of tal-Muzew, and the reasons for my dislike are based on reason and not on prejudice. You know me well enough to understand that what sets me apart from many others is my capacity for rational thought. It is precisely this capacity for rational thought that led me, at an early age, into ceaseless battles with one religion teacher after another. Unable even to answer the questions of a schoolgirl, they instead chose to conduct lessons with me outside the classroom.
The reasons I dislike tal-Muzew are totally divorced from the reasons I am not a Catholic. The two matters are not connected. Perhaps because your own capacity for rational thought has been affected by prejudice in this matter, you have failed to distinguish between my opposition to the wish of local Catholics to interfere in secular life and legislation in Malta and my complete indifference to Catholicism in general. For yes, I am indifferent. I am as indifferent to Catholicism as I am to Buddhism. My approach to religion is to live and let live, and that is precisely why I object to the desire of Maltese Catholics to dictate the lives of other Maltese who are not Catholics. If Catholics here did not seek to impose their values and ideals on the country as a whole, they would no more bother me than the Buddhist up the road. They bother me because they interfere and they seek to impose.
I am also opposed to the wearing of Catholicism as a badge of identity, which it should never be. Religion is a way of life, and so I find Malta's Catholics-a-la-carte highly amusing at times, and highly disturbing at others - like the MP who opposes divorce on religious grounds while being married to one man and living with another one. Hypocrisy seems to be the defining characteristic of Maltese pick-and-choose Catholicism. I suspect that this is because it has never been challenged by the immediate and threatening presence of other strains of Christian thought in this fortress island. Anything that is not subject to constant challenge eventually atrophies and decays, and so it has been with religion in Malta, where we have large numbers of what are essentially pagans dressed up as Catholics.
A British Catholic, raised in an environment that has been hostile to Catholicism for more than 500 years, and exposed to different strains of Christian thought, would not recognise the attitude of a Maltese Catholic. Incidentally, I am entertained by the way you fall into the linguistic trap of using the words 'Catholic' and 'Christian' interchangeably, which suggests that this is a reflection of how you think. The two words are no more interchangeable than are the two realities. It is perfectly possible to be Christian without being Catholic, and that describes my own situation. On the other hand, I see about me many Catholics who are not even remotely Christian. As somebody who is well-versed in sociology, you will know that the defining characteristic of Maltese society is individual self-interest, which is considered to be paramount in all situations. That is about as far removed from the spirit of Christianity as you can get, but try explaining it to the local Catholics. People who come from the Protestant cultures of northern Europe or North America are struck by Maltese people's Individual self interest and lack of a civic or social conscience. Great and unwavering selfishness is the order of the day, relieved by the occasional bout of (very public) charity to salve the conscience.
@Joseph Grech Attard - when discussing the twin subjects of me and Catholicism, please remember that I know exactly who and what you are and have done so for very many years, but I have the good manners - because of that different cultural background that Joe Borg remarks upon - not to go into great or offensive detail. I will, however, reply to your point about the baptism of Sant's daughter. My objection was to his rude and ill-mannered behaviour at the ceremony, and to nothing else. The point I made in the paragraph you mention is that once his daughter was being baptised in accordance with his wife's wishes, he should have had the good grace to behave well and to stand at his wife's side during the ceremony, His inflexible and hostile approach spoke volumes about his personality, not about his religion. May I remind you that Catholicism has nothing to do with it: baptism is a Christian rite, and not a peculiarly Catholic rite. All Christians are baptised, whatever church they belong to.
Although I do not always agree with DCG, I choose not to be too quick to start the usual Daphne-bashing.
It is true that the Christian mission is to evangelise all nations, but evangelisation should be through teaching not by force. If Daphne is not the most perfect ambassador of atheism, most Catholics are probably her equivalent to their faith! Here I agree with Fr Joe when he said that "my blood boils whenever I read the stupidities that some Church people write".