Everyone knows the feeling when the disturbing thought of someday having to forever part ways with a loved one or a close friend tries to sneak in. Such thoughts used to cross my mind about Fr Joe Inguanez, and I would quickly shrug them away.
So when, on the 28th day of last August shortly after four in the afternoon, I learnt of his sudden and unexpected passing, I was left speechless. Just that same Monday morning I had attended his 7am mass at Għaxaq parish church. Before leaving, I turned to bow to the Holy Tabernacle and I caught a glimpse of Fr Joe at the altar preparing for the next mass. Who would have told me that that was to be the last time I would see him before he passed on to a better life?
Fr Joe and I knew each other on several levels. We were very close friends. He was my spiritual mentor and I was his personal doctor. He hailed from the same parish as I do but while he was a native Għaxqi, I came to live in his hometown in 1995.
During that time, my wife and I would attend the daily 7am mass and it was there when Fr Joe’s life and mine crossed paths for the first time. I vividly remember him reaching out to us, then a newly-wed couple, and urging us with a smiling ‘ibqgħu ejjew’ (keep on coming).
An extremely well-read scholar, Fr Joe had a tremendous love for books. He often called it his hobby. You would always see him with a book in his hands when in a waiting room, over a coffee or even at the seaside. He held a PhD in sociology and headed this department at the University of Malta for a number of years. Yet despite his accamademic qualifications, he never referred to himself as ‘doctor’ but simply as Fr Joe.
He put his vast knowledge in practice by guiding a countless number of students and, later on, by directing Discern, the Archdiocese’s research institute intended to read the signs of times. Indeed, he was a living example of how to use one’s knowledge and intelligence for the benefit of others, of the Church and of society.
Fr Joe was never afraid to frankly criticise where he felt appropriate, be it the State, university or even the Curia
An avid promoter of the reforms proposed by the second Vatican Council, Fr Joe was frequently saddened at the stance taken by conservative factions within the church. Though qualifying as an octogenerian shortly before his demise, he was a very progressive priest, in my humble opinion, even more than others much younger than him. He was a great fan of Pope Francis and was much influenced by the Holy Father’s simple way of life. He followed this simplicity even in his liturgical vestments.
Suffice it to say that I have always know Fr Joe to possess only four chasubles (pjaneti), one for each liturgical colour − indeed the bare minimum required. He frequently used to cite Francis’s plea to confessors to show mercy towards the penitent. We shared the same idea of the Church as one not based on expensive statues, damask or chandeliers but on compassion, mercy and acceptance of all, even those who by time moved away from it.
Fr Joe was never afraid to frankly criticise where he felt appropriate, be it the State, university or even the Curia. I know he did this out of his love for Christ, His Church and the Catholic faith, over which he worried so much. His greatest sorrow was the ever-growing ‘crisis in faith’, as he would often and aptly put it. Many who knew him casually might think he was short-tempered. On the contrary, he knew how to smile or even joke about himself.
No, Fr Joe, life will not be exactly the same without you. Like others, I feel I have become spiritually orphaned. However, comfort draws from knowing that you are now praying for the Church you loved so much and that you are doing so from a much better place, beside Him to whom you dedicated your whole life.
Mark Grima, MD