As Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
On April 30, 1969, Pope Paul VI appointed Archbishop Luigi Ligutti as Apostolic Visitor to Malta “to put in order the administration of this archdiocese and all other pertinent matters”. The administration of Church property in both dioceses and religious orders was in an abysmal state due to fragmentation, considerable irregularities, and lack of administrative competence. The first thing he did was to stop any negotiation by Church entities on property. But his decree, though approved by the Congregation of the Clergy, was ignored by several administrators.
In October 1968, months before his appointment as an Apostolic Visitor, Ligutti was in Malta as the Holy See’s permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organisation for the FAO’s Sixth European Regional Conference for Europe. He ended his address with a razor-sharp question: “During the centuries of history, have Churches in the long run ever gained from ownership of property? My answer is yes! They gained the ‘odium plebis’– the hatred of the people.”
Immediately an inventory of Church property was undertaken. London-based McKinsey Company was commissioned to draw up a reform plan, which was accepted by the Maltese bishops on September 14, 1970. On December 16, Ligutti informed parish priests that the first part of the reform was given the go-ahead. But when his report was given to the stakeholders, all hell broke loose, to the extent that at its meeting on January 4, 1971, the Chapter wrote a long memorandum “alle competenti autorità ecclestiastiche”. But on the whole, the clergy supported the reform.
McKinsey suggested that Canon Thomas Mason be brought to Malta to work on the reform. He was doing an excellent job but was encountering such terrible obstructions that he decided to leave. Amid great controversy, in March 1971, the Vatican bizarrely ended Ligutti’s mission. McKinsey’s proposals and principles, which the bishops had approved, were suspended.
The clergy were up in arms. A petition was signed by 226 Maltese priests asked Pope Paul VI that the McKinsey report be implemented. The situation became very critical. To find a solution, the Vatican set up an Extraordinary Administrative Committee for the Maltese Ecclesiastical Province on April 15, 1971, under the chairmanship of Archbishop Marie-Joseph Lemieux to carry on the Ligutti-McKinsey reform, thus resuming and concluding Ligutti’s work. Mgr Lemieux’s Commission consisted of Luigi Righi-Schwammer, Fr Arthur Vella SJ, Fr Guido Calleja, Chev. Doublesin and Mgr Belisle. In May 1971, Paul VI made it clear that he did “not wish to do anything that will stop the reforms”.
The commission worked hard and concluded its mission on January 27, 1972, with a ‘Basic Document for the Reform of the Church Administration in Malta’ (Documento di base). This reform is still not fully accepted by some.
Will history be our teacher?