Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478015
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications The stamp of truth I have been reading and admiring Saviour Balzan's articles for donkeys' years but once in a blue moon, I beg to disagree with his opinion and feel like speaking up for the pursuit and sake of the truth. I am sure that what he wrote in the article "Anything goes…"was not a lash-out of the Church but just a slip of the pen. The shortcomings of a sol- itary priest should not provoke such a scathing, lop-sided condemnation of the Church's history. Rodney Stark, in his book 'Bearing false witness' rebuts completely and convincingly the widespread "black legends" about Catholic violence, intol- erance, bigotry, gives this deep-rooted prejudice a sound thrashing and clears up a lot of confused history along the way. For a moment my friend was even sceptic about religion being a force for good, wondering why so much faith is placed in it. This was surely another fleeting moment of amnesia. Perhaps one of the most amazing legacies of the Church is the universally acknowl- edged mission of reaching out to the despised, the abandoned, the forsaken, the lost, the insignificant and the pow- erless. The willingness to bend the knee of repentance and the compilation of a long list of "mea culpas" when wrongs have been committed is another car- dinal feature of the Church. These are just two reminders of the power of faith to change one's opinion and lives and history for the good. It is manifest that the Church's doc- trine and discipline have withstood countless persecutions, heresies and other perils to which any but a divine- ly instituted society must have suc- cumbed. The most compelling historical evidence is that Christianity and the Church have been a boon to man- kind… and have had a beneficent effect upon the human race. Most people today do not realise how much we owe the Church and Jesus of Nazareth… what goodness and mercy there is in this world has come in large measure from them. And this mentality must be pro- claimed loud and clear without compromising my mutual respect of Balzan's writings. John Azzopardi Zabbar Cataract operations THE Malta Association of Ophthal- mologists has reliable information from its members working in Mater Dei, that since May of this year, on a regular basis, patients have had their cataract operation cancelled because of lack of consumables required for surgery. Most commonly this was due to a lack of the appropriate intra-ocular lens power (the lens insertion being that vital step for restoring the vision to patients) or lack of operating packs needed to carry out the surgery safely. The Malta Association of Ophthal- mologists strongly demands that a long-term solution and not an ad hoc short term solution, is found by the Hospital Authorities, and they must resolve any procurement problems, so our members at the Department of Ophthalmology can continue to offer the sterling service to the patients as they have always given along the years. Mr Mario Vella President, Malta Association of Ophthalmologists