Call for Christian creative minorities

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech has called on Christians to enter into dialogue with people who have left the Church, including those scandalised by someone who should have given a good example.

Speaking during Easter Sunday Mass, Mgr Grech said it was "urgent" that Christians organise themselves into "creative minorities" and make Christ's message relevant and fresh to today's society.

This also included the "doubters, those who left the Church after being scandalised by someone who should have set an example and those who lost their faith and are sincerely seeking the truth".

The Bishop's words come as the Catholic Church is gripped by a crisis over its handling of child abuse by priests in the past.

Mgr Grech's comments echo those of Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, in which the Pontiff proposed a "path of healing, renewal and reparation". The Pontiff apologised heartily to Irish nationals who were abused by priests in thousands of cases that were suppressed by the Church there.

Lawrence Grech, an alleged victim of two priests in St Joseph Home, Sta Venera, has also called on the Pope and the Curia to apologise to local victims of child abuse. He has since lost his faith.

The Gozo Bishop seemed to engage just this sort of case in his homily in which he spoke about Christianity's role in modern society. Christ's resurrection had ignited a movement, which, over time, gave birth to Christian civilisation, thanks to which humankind made great achievements, he said.

This might not last forever, the Bishop warned, and Christians had to reorganise themselves into "creative minorities", similar to the early Church.

"In the same way as some yeast can change and raise the dough, as long as it is not bad yeast, a creative Christian minority has the power to help people to emerge from the culture of death into a culture of life inaugurated by the Risen Christ," Mgr Grech concluded.