Growing stronger together

Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech’s speech on the budget was brilliant and it was delivered without theatrics and anger.

He said what he had to say without beating about the bush. His speech shows that he believes in Malta and all the Maltese. He is a leader who loses no time; in fact, in a short time, he has managed to reach out to all the Maltese. He is enthusiastic and honest, as all wise leaders should be. 

His words and arguments convince people. In his speech, he made concrete proposals with regard to youths, the elderly, workers, the environment and the digital world, among other things.

Despite all the challenges facing Malta in times past, the Maltese always came out victorious because they worked together. Even today, we can become stronger and win if we work together.

Grech ended his speech with the golden words: “Tomorrow our country can be better and is going to be better!”

Well done to Grech. It feels as though he has been leader of the opposition for many years.  His speech was that of an experienced politician notwithstanding the fact that he has been PN leader for just over one month.

Grech already has the status of a statesman and I had no doubt at all that we would have a leader who we could be proud of.

He should keep going on like this . We will be behind him, so that, under his leadership, we will be a credible party and offer an alternative government. What finally matters is that we will grow stronger together.

Doris Zammit – Birkirkara

And if the Church were not there?

In the daily visit to His garden, the Lord has chosen Jesuit roses to pick over recent days.

Two prominent Maltese Jesuits and a world famous Italian left this vale of tears after leading lives of example, hard work and Christian fortitude.

Fr Lino Cardona’s contributions to St Aloysius College and to the Church’s Id-Dar tal-Providenza were the highlights of a life of dedication to students and to residents at the Siggiewi home. He was always full of smiles for everyone and was kindness personified.

Fr Eddie Mercieca was older and his sacerdotal mission included many long years in the Jesuits’ missions in Chile where he was first sent in 1963. He returned permanently to Malta in 2013 but still continued to be active at Mount Saint Joseph, running retreats and providing profound counselling.

Perhaps less known to many Maltese was Fr Bartolmeo Sorge,  whose death was announced on November 2. He was a great philosopher and writer and a great exponent of the belief that the role of Catholics in politics is a sine qua non for any society that really wants social justice. In Palermo, at one stage, he even ran a school for Catholic politicians. 

Like Vittore Cathrein and other famous Jesuits before him, Sorge strongly held that, irrespective of Socialist or Christian Democratic beliefs, the untrained politician will, even over a supposedly or reputedly ‘successful’ political career, effectively cause more damage than good to a people.

Sorge visited Malta on at least two occasions. In one of those visits, he gave an AZAD-sponsored lecture at the Dragonara Hotel to a very large audience and, standing out in that speech, was his exposition of what would have been the real worrying situation in his own country, Italy, had the Church not been prominent in the life of that country. 

“Se la Chiesa non ci fosse”… if the Church wasn’t there, I distinctly recall him elucidating... “then 60 per cent of all care for drug addiction, 50 per cent of all the tertiary education in the country, 70 per cent of all hospital care (and he went on listing many other important statistics of such nature) in the whole of the country, would not be there”.

Indeed, Italy too, like many countries would, even now, be much poorer were all that the Church does there be absent.

 We probably can say the same in Malta. If the Church wasn’t part of the tessuto, the inherent skin, of this country, what would the Maltese nation really be like? Now that is possibly a big project for our University Faculty of Theology to undertake!   

Thankfully, Church and state in Malta collaborate a lot. On the state side, many live and work hard for the people’s welfare and their hard work constantly makes the news.

But where would Malta be without the Church? I am sure that our own statistics are full testament of the wonderful work that, often silently, is being constantly done by people like Cardona, Mercieca,and Sorge. 

John Consiglio – Birkirkara

Assertions on solar farms

I refer to the article by Andreas Weitzer ‘Energy investments, gone with the wind’, (November 1).

I refer particularly to his assertion that Malta has no space for solar farms. Indeed, I agree that Malta has too little of open spaces and these are, sadly, getting fewer as a result of overdevelopment and neglect of the countryside.

In spite of this, there are still large areas that have been degraded over the last decades. Applications for the development of these areas are frequently approved by the Planning Authority even if they are ODZ. I believe this should never be allowed.

If it cannot be reversed into good agricultural land, other possible uses which are environment-friendly could be considered, one of which could indeed be solar farms.

Solar farms could also be used to cover and utilise the huge areas of the roofs of warehouses and workshops all over Malta, particularly in zones classified as ‘containment areas’ in the local plans of the Planning Authority. One clear example of this is the Burmarrad commercial and industrial area, below San Pawl tat-Tarġa.

These make up hundreds of tumoli of mainly flat,  ugly empty space that could be used to generate energy to the benefit of the property’s owners.

Otherwise, a private company or state enterprise could be set up to buy or rent these roof areas for a number of years to be used for solar farms. This would be optimising the use of our limited space and our sunshine for Malta’s benefit and for our environmental future.

Joseph Farrugia – Mellieħa

The passing of an era

Fr Robbie Wirth was the national promoter of the movement called LTS (Leadership Training Service) with its national office in Calcutta. This movement, mainly for non-Catholics, is run by the Jesuits and is run in many schools and colleges in South Asia.

St Xavier’s, in Calcutta was the nerve centre, with Fr Pillete during the initial years and, then, Fr Wirth until a few years back.

I owe a lot to my grooming to the Leadership Training Service.

The death of Fr Wirth means the passing of an era.

Rest in peace, Fr Wirth.

Sanjay Goel – India

True leadership

On November 2, while Robert Cremona was presiding over his programme on NET TV, we were shown a short video of Joe (Peppi) Azzopardi wherein he was asked for his opinion about the recent budget.

First, he said that, in his opinion, the budget was a very good one and continued by saying that leader of the opposition,  Bernard Grech seemed like a priest when delivering his reply to the government’s budget speech.

I would like to point out that when Eddie Fenech Adami was elected leader of the Nationalist Party in 1977 he too spoke with a Christian conscience and was initially thought to be no good for the post. However, Fenech Adami turned out to be a great statesman who brought democracy, freedom of speech and love for one another. And that is what Grech will do.

Karl Flores – San Ġwann

Death of Sean Connery

The recent death of Sean Connery reminded me of what Terence Young, who directed him twice in James Bond films, once said of him: “With the exception of Lassie, he is the only person I know who’s never been spoilt by success or fame.”

Carmel Bonnici – Lija

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