Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/368911
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 AUGUST 2014 13 Church itself? "That there are internal pressures I have no doubt. Just as there are pressures within political parties. You have to learn to live with those pressures. And I think Paul Cremona may have yet to grow accustomed to them. I imagine someone like [Aux- iliary Bishop] Charles Scicluna – not that I know him much – will know how to live with them. Paul Cremona perhaps less so. I don't want to judge. But… yes, there are internal pres- sures…" Are these pressures perhaps too strong within certain communities for even the Church to control? "Yes," he replies without hesitation. "No doubt. And in a way that is also the Church's fault, at least in the past. The Church has always had such a strong hold on Maltese society... and Maltese society, to this day, still re- mains so drawn to these elements…" He trails away as if suddenly con- scious that he might be treading on a minefield of his own. "I am from Hamrun, so I'll only talk about Ham- run. This way, if I offend anyone it will be my own hometown, so it will be OK. What does it mean, that to show devotion to San Gaetano you have to let off bombs? I can't understand this. And many of them, most likely, will not have a clue who San Gaetano even was, still less what sort of revo- lution he started within the society of his own day. What do we care? We care about bombs. The Church is partly to blame for this. The Church of the past…" Yet it is the Church of the present that still takes similar decisions. As- ciak gives the impression that he wants to blame everything negative on the Church of yesteryear. It is however still the same Church… "Let's be clear: I don't know exactly why the Mgarr parish priest was re- moved. I only know what I read in the newspapers. The story could be bigger than that. But if it is true that he was trying to change the local mentality and turn it away from all this pagan- ism…" he lays particular emphasis on that last word… "whoever wanted to remove him was wrong. I was also a little surprised when I read that – and again, I don't know how much of it is true – when he [the parish priest] met Archbishop Cremona, he was not told to leave… as if Cremona was afraid to tell him. When he came out of that meeting he thought the situation had been sorted out. Then Scicluna sent for him and – always accord- ing to what he said afterwards – told him that: listen, Cremona wanted to remove you, but he didn't have the courage. So I'm going to remove you myself. If this is true, I'll say it plain: it doesn't reflect well, either on Arch- bishop Cremona or on Bishop Sci- cluna. Even at leadership level. If both are part of a leadership team, and one is hesitant… why reveal to others that he is hesitant?" But Asciak is also keen to dispel the perception that there are only nega- tive things to say about the Church. "We have to also understand that there are elements within the Church that are extremely positive..." Here he breaks off for an appreciation of the late Fr Eric Overend, formerly parish priest of Zejtun, who is remembered fondly for the strong relationship he built with the communities he served. "Isn't this also authenticity? Fr Over- end was an archpriest. Wasn't he also part of the leadership of the Church? If there were more people like him in the structures of the Church, we wouldn't even be thinking about things like a leadership crisis. And there are others like him. Nuns who do a lot of work with prostitutes, for instance. Do these people ever get any limelight? No. We only talk about Paul Cremona's leadership qualities. I personally associate Paul Cremona with this type of person: the authentic ones who work quietly for the good of the Church." Interview Prof. Victor Asciak, former head of the Church Environment Commission and outspoken lay Catholic, questions the motivation behind recent criticism of Archbishop Paul Cremona just its leadership PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD