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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 6 News The laymen cometh Dominican priest Mark Montebello said it's time for the lay members of the Church to drive Maltese Catholicism forward: here's how they answered the call MATTHEW AGIUS A recent blog post by Dominican priest and the Maltese archdiocese's resident gadfly, Fr Mark Montebel- lo, predicted the "extinction" of the Church as we know it. But how well-founded is this pre- diction? Indeed, does anyone out- side the clergy still care? Unhappy with the Church's cur- rent direction, Montebello de- scribes the Maltese Church as "showing itself to be obstinately incapable of being a 'sign of hope' in today's society, to give happiness and hope to society". "In other words, it's neither posi- tive nor evangelical", he writes. Urging laymen to "unite and take over", he describes an internal rift in opinion on how the Church can "relate itself positively, and evan- gelically, with today's Maltese and Gozitan society". Fr Montebello's criticism has been aimed, for the large part, at the in- stitutional level of the Church. He denounced the "excessive clerical- ism", which was in fact also criti- cized by Pope Francis in his encyc- lical Evangelii Gaudium. The term, he writes "means that pastoral and ecclesiastical organi- zation, the language, and the sym- bolism employed by the Church are tied to and formed by the clergy… the Pope insists that with excessive clericalism being one of the main problem of churches like ours, he implies that it is laymen, not the clergy, who hold the key to the solution to this challenge" – and insists that a change in mental- ity and a new meaning of 'church' are needed. "Laymen must change from passive receivers to active do- nors…from objects of duty to sub- jects of rights". To what extent do the lay faithful agree with Montebello's uncom- promising views? This question was posed to Emily Barbaro Sant, a member of Opus Dei, an organisation whose prela- ture enjoys unique status with the Vatican. Without hesitation she stated that she doesn't share Fr Montebello's views, describing them as "extreme". Disputing his claims of clerical- ism, she said that the Church in Malta was giving a great deal of weight to lay people and is attentive to their concerns. Extolling the archbishop as "a very good man and preacher", Barbaro Sant would not be drawn on Mon- tebello's criticism on his leadership, saying she was not the person to judge this matter, but did say the Church was "under bombardment" at the moment. Pointedly, she added: "I have al- ways believed dirty linen should be washed indoors. Montebello should have had the courage to discuss the problems with the Archbishop and not go to the press." On the other hand, a former Church school teacher, who wished to remain unnamed, said the Church was resisting the change that was sweeping Maltese society. "The Church makes mistakes which, to an outsider, would make it look like an organisation that doesn't administer religion, but politics. "Firstly, the Church is a closed society which does not embrace change, while Maltese society has moved towards modernity... sec- ondly, it's still a political organisa- tion where power is still an impor- tant currency." Alessandra Dee Crespo, Chancel- lor of the Church Court of Appeals and first Maltese woman to obtain the Licentiate in Sacred Theology, normally the reserve of the priest- hood, says the Church, both local and Universal, is still adjusting to her place in the world following the rapid secularisation of society. "She still has a unique voice, though, and judging from the ex- cessive media coverage dedicated to her, even from secular news or- ganisations, it is evident that she still matters." Crespo warns against the Church becoming "just another institution flogging her wares in the market- place", pointing out that the Gos- pel message is "not one of comfort but of discomfort because it entails making a radical change, literally turning from the path that leads to self-satisfaction, doing what one likes and not doing what one ought to," leading to it being accused of being out of touch, of issuing dik- tats and of wanting to spoil people's happiness. Crespo argues that since the Sec- ond Vatican Council, the role of the laity was "rediscovered to reflect the fundamental equality of faithful in the Church" and share fundamental equality with priests, with different functions to perform. But she claims that what Mon- tebello advocates is a revolt of the laity, which would necessarily lead to the 'protestantization' of the Catholic Church. "And yet if we look at the prot- estant denominations, we will no- tice that even they have leadership roles. Therefore, I am confused as to what Fr Montebello means by a 'a new meaning of Church' because his proposed model for a 'new' Church seems to imply doing away entirely with the particular role of shepherds." She says that what is needed is an enhanced synergy between priests and laity. "The opportunities to take a more active role in the Church are not lacking… It is mostly us [lay persons] who reduce Christi- anity to something which belongs exclusively to priests, thereby cleri- calizing the Church. Therefore the accusation of 'excessive clericalism' should not be solely laid at the insti- tutional Church's door." The 2012 divorce referendum may have kick-started a process of aggiornamento (keeping up with the times) in the Maltese Catholic Church. Prof. Roderick Pace, in a research paper on the growing secularisation of Catholic Malta, said the divorce referendum had indicated the extent of secularisa- tion in Malta. "Although the Catholic Church has lost a lot of its power, it is still very strong both as an institution and in religious practice. However, the referendum result has not left it unscathed. There is now accept- ance at various levels that it must change its approach." Speaking to MaltaToday, Prof. Pace elaborated: "The Maltese Church needs to shed its pomp and privileges, pageantry and ceremo- nies and the return of the Triden- tine mass. It should stop interfering PHOTO BY PHOTOCITY Fr Mark Montebello, OP – it's time to drive Maltese Catholicism forward The Archbishop administering Holy Communion