Family values

After having avidly read an article published in The Times relating to Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech's homily while celebrating Mass at Sir Temi Zammit Boys' secondary school in Mtarfa, I found myself contemplating the issues he addressed during his homily. He said that society in Malta should decide what family it wanted to promote. He states that rising property prices and children being left alone for hours on end are two factors affecting Maltese families.

I think that these two issues are just part of an escalating social phenomenon which is meddling with what could be stereotyped as being the traditional Maltese family.

Why are youths today less involved in celebrating Mass on Sunday together with their family? Why are so many teenagers drawn to binge drinking on the weekend? More importantly, why are so many couples, both young and old, separating?

These are issues that the current Maltese society, together with the guidance of the Church, should tackle. Maltese families should stop blinding themselves by the phenomenon calling itself "modern society". "Modern" and "new" are not necessarily good or just. It is just an easier and more convenient way of living. We must learn to stop trying to twist and change traditional ideas and values just because it is more convenient for us, always using the excuse of having to adapt to change. Stop and think for a moment about the difference in family values over a time frame of 40 odd years.

More modern? Yes. Better quality of life? Definitely not.

Maltese society today should start questioning these "new and modern" ideas and listen more to what the Church has to say, or what we know as being the traditional Maltese family will quickly deteriorate into another romantically nostalgic memory.