Priests preaching politics

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce portrays a Christmas dinner ruined by a heated discussion on religion and politics in Ireland.

The argument starts when Mr Dedalus, the father of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus, quotes a friend telling a priest: “I’ll pay you your dues, father, when you cease turning the house of God into a pollingbooth.”

He says that priests should “confine their attention to religion, and describes the Irish people as an “unfortunate, priestridden race”.

Mrs Riordan, Stephen’s governess and a devout Catholic, strongly objects to his remark, and insists that “the priests were always the true friends of Ireland”.

A dinner guest named M. Casey says to her: “Didn’t the bishops and priests sell the aspirations of their country in 1829 in return for catholic emancipation? Didn’t they denounce the fenian movement from the pulpit and in the confession box?”

Archbishop Michael Gonzi denounced the Malta Labour Party in the 1960s, imposing an interdict on its leaders.

It’s all reminiscent of priest-ridden Malta in the 1960s, when archbishop Michael Gonzi, “preaching politics from the altar”, denounced the Malta Labour Party, imposed an interdict on its leaders and declared that anyone who supported the Labour Party by attending its rallies would commit a “mortal sin”.

NB Please note Joyce’s orthography in the quoted passages: “father, pollingbooth, priestridden, catholic, fenian”.

John Guillaumier – St Julian’s

Healthcare for all

Isabel Stabile’s definition of ‘healthcare’ is discriminatory. It only applies to pregnant women. It doesn’t apply to the innocent, vulnerable human lives growing in their wombs.

Carmel Sciberras – Naxxar

Bad road markings

Allow me, please, to raise a very important matter that is being ignored. Travelling abroad, one observes that road markings are impeccably kept for kilometres and kilometres, as if they had just been painted on the same day.

Here in Malta, markings are faint or completely missing.

This week, I read that, in France, experiments are being carried out to introduce fluorescent markings to better assist drivers in their travels or commuters in crossing streets. A zebra crossing at the bottom of Rabat Road, Marsalforn remains faded, just to mention a case in point.

Unfortunately, in Malta, we seem to be indulging in transparent markings. I do not know where the problem lies or which ministry or department is responsible for this issue. I only know that lack of or bad road markings can be the cause of serious injuries or car accidents.

I appeal to the relevant authorities to take the matter in hand and bring our roads up to European standards and avoid any serious casualties.

Godfrey Muscat – Santa Venera