Mgr Charles Vella (1928-2018) was an influential, progressive factor in the 1960s and 1970s among youths and families in Malta. In broadcasting he will be remembered mostly for the programme Djalogu on MTV in conjunction with Charles Xuereb and others. This dealt critically with contemporary issues generally in a Christian direction; it was not sensationalist or vulgar.
Partly at his behest, and together with Louis Galea, Colin Apap and others, I helped organise the national housing campaign ‘Djar għall-Maltin’, which collected 74,000 signatures on a door-to-door basis. His Cana Movement at that time was worried because engaged couples could not afford homes to get married. That was during the housing boom and its aftermath.
Mgr Vella was a bubbly, bouncy character who loved families, friends and food. His Irish friend Mgr Eamon Casey could transform his ground floor Amery Street apartment into a sing-along folk club. I visited him once in Milan, where he was much involved with the San Raffaele Hospital and became a spokesman on ethics.
I then largely lost touch with him as we went our separate ways in different parts of the world. His autobiography Sinjali Maltin ta’ Żmienna was published in 2000 and is a seminal source of reference on his times.