Women at the altar

A daring and refreshing prospect for the future from Fr Julian Cassar (February 27) makes a lot of sense and our bishops must surely consider the idea. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the best of our Church leaders by bringing the sacraments into our homes but the lack of priests in our parishes cannot last forever. I am sure there are many women ready to offer their services at the altar.

Visiting our son in Austria some years back, it was uplifting to see a woman delivering the homily for an elderly priest – probably the only one in that small parish – to a sizable congregation.

Anthony Girard – Sliema

Are humans worse than animals?

We read about how badly we treat foreign workers. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Recently, this paper reported stories of cruelty against animals. Cruelty against animals is a sign that there is something very wrong with the person perpetrating these crimes.

These actions are by no means acceptable! Nature, with all its beauty and wonder, is there to be enjoyed, to help us live healthily, guarantee our well-being and happiness.

Hence, individuals and organisations which care for nature deserve our praise.

Yet, I ask myself: what about human beings? Do they always receive the care that is rightly shown for animals?

We do not save fellow human beings like us in distress at sea, even when it is our international and moral duty to do so. In public places, there are comfortable shelters for cats but there are still homeless people on our streets. We also read reports about how badly we treat foreign workers. These are instances of injustice which we need to address to qualify as being truly human and Christian.

Paul Zammit – Birkirkara

Gozitan publication

The Gozo Observer is published twice a year by the University of Malta - Gozo Campus. It contains articles relating to all aspects of life in Gozo, including culture, education, business, arts and literature.

It is distributed without charge, upon request, to interested readers and I happen to be one of them. Although it is small in size, the content and articles are various and most interesting.

In the last issue, I was regaled with an interesting article by George Azzopardi, namely ‘Late Mediaeval Anchoritism in Europe and the Mediterranean and its Surviving Elements in Gozo’, especially the part which concerns San Kerrew who, according to tradition, lived in a cave at Wied il-Għasel in the limits of Mosta and then crossed over to Gozo and settled in a cave by the church of the Immaculate Conception, in Qala. Being a native of Mosta, a story about this hermit, and there are quite a few, is always interesting.

In every issue, one can also find book reviews about books which are published by renowned Gozitan authors. The book Dies Irae, Dies Illa (Jum ta’ Għadab, Dak il-Jum), which is reviewed by Geoffrey G. Attard, instantly caught my attention.

The author of the book is Xagħra historian and researcher Aaron Attard-Hili, who sought the help of many collaborators and consulted a number of archives in Malta and Gozo.

The book was published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of June 7, 1919. Ġużeppi Bajada was one of the victims on that day and, since he hailed from Xagħra, the author was inspired to delve deeper into the subject. Many publications in both Maltese and English, focusing on the events of the Sette Giugno, have appeared over the last century.

This valuable publication of such an important incident in Maltese history is a first since it is written from a purely Gozitan perspective and contains ‘unusual sources’, thus emphasising the originality of the author’s work.

The book contains only 86 pages but photographs of documents, events and personalities make the publication a very informative one.

Francis Falzon – St Paul’s Bay

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