German priest leads group on 'religious' Malta holiday on 12th year running

"IF we wanted sun, sea and sand we would probably go to Spain, but we are interested in your unique religious and historical heritage - that is why we have come to Malta year after year."

This is what a German Catholic priest, Fr Paul Hackethal, who was ordained 45 years ago, told me when I asked him what made him come to Malta every year for the past 12 years, leading a group of around 45 parishioners for a week's stay.

In fact this made me ask myself why religious tourism in Malta - given the number of churches, religious celebrations and feasts we have here - is not promoted more widely.

Fr Hackethal is from the district of Eichsfeld, a small area in the eastern part of Thuringia straddling the former divide between East and West Germany, with its main town of Heiligenstadt.

The area has a population of around 200,000, half of whom are Catholic - the largest concentration of Catholics in the former East Germany, in fact, where the total Catholic population is about 800,000.

Fr Hackethal first made contact with Malta after Fr John Sammut, of Mosta, a German speaker, spent some time as a supply priest in Heiligenstadt (in the area, each priest is in charge of three parishes, and there is only one Catholic seminary for the whole of the former East Germany).

For the past two years, Fr Sammut, who was rector of the Old Church of the Assumption in Birkirkara, has been chaplain of the German-speaking Catholic community in Malta, which numbers some 200 families.

Twelve years ago Fr Hackethal brought his first group of parishioners to Malta for the feast of St Paul Shipwrecked. The week-long visit is a mix of cultural and religious activities, such as tours of the prehistoric temples, Mdina, Mosta Dome, Valletta and Gozo, and visits to places connected with St Paul, such as St Paul's Grotto in Rabat and St Paul's Islands.

The group attend Masses in German at Ta' Pinu and other churches, and the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass in German at St Barbara's church in Republic Street, Valletta.

To come to Malta they take a 300-km road trip to Frankfurt, from where they catch a direct flight to the island.

The first visit was so successful that it was repeated the following year, and has been repeated ever since. Some visitors have already been here once or twice before. The members of the group range from 25-year-olds to 70-year-olds.

Fr Hackethal said there were strong parallels between the Heiligenstadt area and Malta: their strong Catholic faith, for example, which has survived 12 years of Nazi rule and 44 years of Communist government, during which the Church underwent var-ious degrees of persecution (his own uncle, a priest, was put to death by the Nazis).

They hold processions with statues, too. For example, the Good Friday procession - which is not as spectacular as the ones in Malta, admittedly - attracts something like 20,000 people, he said.

Unfortunately, however, young people today seem to be distancing themselves from the Catholic faith, something which Fr Hackethal has also noticed in Malta. However, in Heiligenstadt young people participate in Church-run youth clubs and choirs.

In the course of these 12 years Fr Hackethal has noticed much progress in Malta, "but prices have definitely gone up". However, he was full of praise for the service at the Tower Palace Hotel in Sliema, where they stay regularly, and was especially appreciative of their coach driver, Joseph Saliba from Zurrieq, who gives them exceptionally good service.

Naturally, Fr Hackethal, who left Malta with the group last Monday, plans to bring another group of parishioners next year, and the year after that...