Tel: 25906203/21241281 Fax: 21242971 Email: info@maltadiocese.org
17 ta’ Awwissu, 2009
90/2009
L-ewwelnett nixtieq nirringrazzja lilkom tal-ProġettImpenn għall-ħidma kollha li għamiltu f’din is-sena biex tiġbdu l-attenzjoni dwar il-Familja, u l-importanza li naħdmu għall-istabilita’ tagħha. Naħseb il-kampanja li għamiltu kienet ta’ fejda kbira kemm fiha nfisha, kif ukoll għaliex il-messaġġ tagħkom kien ċar: mhux se jkollna familji u żwiġijiet stabbli jekk stat, Knisja, u entitajiet oħrajn mhux se jaħdmu għaliha b’kull mod. Hemm wisq xi jfixkel illum fl-istabilita’ taż-żwieġ. Jekk l-istat jistqarr li żwieġ u familji sodi huma ta’ ġid bażiku għas-soċjeta’, mela il-koppji miżżewġin iridu l-għajnuna minħabba l-kontribut li jagħtu għall-ġid tal-istat, bħalma sitwazzjonijiet oħrajn jeħtieġu għajnuna mill-Istat biex jgħixu ħajja deċenti meta tifrik ta’ familja jirriżulta f’faqar ta’ kull xorta: finanzjarju, emozzjonali, soċjali.
Illum nixtieq nirringrazzjakom għaliex ħadtu l-impenn biex tagħtu l-kontribut tagħkom ukoll fuq il-kwistjoni tad-Divorzju. Huwa dibattitu li ilu li beda fis-soċjetà, u bħalma hemm min jikteb favur id-divorzju, il-konsegwenzi li jġib miegħu jqiegħed dover fuq dawk li jemmnu fl-istabilita’ taż-żwieġ, inkluża l-Knisja Kattolika, li taqsam mal-Poplu Malti l-ħsieb tagħha. Nieħu gost li d-Dokument huwa bbażat fuq studji u riċerki, u mhux fuq nuqqas ta’ rispett lejn il-persuni li jaħsbuha b’mod differenti.
Il-Knisja tibbaża l-argumenti tagħha fuq żewg livelli. L-ewwel wieħed huwa fuq it-tagħlim tal-Mulej Ġesu’. Sentenzi ta’ Ġesu’ bħal: ‚Kien minħabba l-ebusija ta’ qalbkom li Mose’ takom il-permess tibagħtu n-nisa tagħkom‛ u ‚Mela dak li għaqqad Alla ma għandux jifirdu l-bniedem‛ (Mt 19, 8.6) juru ċar il-ħsieb ta’ Ġesu’ fuq iż-żwieġ. Minkejja kull diskussjoni fuq il-kliem ‚barra minn żwieġ ħażin‛ (in-nisrani jġħaddi għall-Kelma ta’ Alla mill-interpretazzjoni tal-Knisja Kattolika, bħalma protestant jgħaddi minn interpretazzjoni tal-Knisja tiegħu), jidher ċar li Ġesu’, f’dan id-diskors qatt ma seta’ jippermetti li l-poter spiritwali li huwa ta’ Alla (‚li għaqqad Alla‛), u din hija l-veru emfasi ta’ Ġesu’, jgħaddi biex ikun poter f’idejn il-bniedem (‚ma għandux jifirdu l-bniedem‛). Dan hu d-divorzju li qed jiġi propost illum: li ‘dak li għaqqad Alla’ jgħaddi f’idejn il-bniedem biex ikun jista’ jifirdu hu bid-divorzju. Il-Knisja Kattolika qatt ma tista’ tippermetti li dan isir.
Iżda dan it-tagħlim li hu validu fi ħdan il-membri tal-Knisja, aħna nixtiequ ngħadduh lis-soċjeta’ kollha hawn f’Malta bħala offerta ta’ riflessjoni. Inkunu qed nonqsu lis-soċjeta’ li aħna parti minnha jekk ma magħmlux dan. Iżda din id-darba aħna ma nitilqux minn pożizzjoni ta’ twemmin, iżda minn pożizzjoni ta’ fatti. In-nisrani jara li l-fatti jipprovaw dak li jemmen. Lis-soċjeta’ nipproponulha dawn il-fatti biex imbagħad kull wieħed u waħda fis-soċjeta’, u s-soċjeta’ fiha nfisha, tasal għall-konklużjonijiet tagħha.
Mill-ġdid nirringrazzjakom għall-impenn tagħkom favur żwieġ dejjiemi bħala bażi ta’ kull familja, kif ukoll ta’ dan id-Dokument, li għalkemm huwa miftuħ li jiġi ribattut fuq l-argumenti u l-istatistiċi li fih, minn argument u stastiċi oħra, żgur li jgħinna biex id-deċiżjoni ma neħduhiex biss għaliex pajjiżi oħra għamluha jew għaliex qed issir pressure fuqna, iżda b’għażla, favur jew kontra, libera u mdawla.
Nota: Il-ProgettImpenn jiġbor fiħ il-Kummissjoni Djoċesana Familja, il-Caritas Malta u l-Moviment ta’ Kana.
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Times: Divorce: Church argument based on faith and facts - Archbishop
Monday, 17th August 2009 - 17:45CET
The Church needed to spread its message against divorce not only on the basis of the teachings of the Bible, but also on the basis of facts in everyday life, Archbishop Paul Cremona said this evening.
He said the Church could never accept divorce because God's spiritual authority to unite people in marriage could not be transferred to man to dissolve.
While such teachings were valid for the members of the Church and needed to be conveyed to all of society, the point of departure was not just faith, but also facts, the Archbishop said. Christians could see that facts proved their faith.
"We should show facts to society so that all the members of society and society itself may then draw its own conclusions," the Archbishop said.
Mgr Cremona was addressed representatives of ProgettImpenn, which groups the Diocesan Family Commission, Caritas Malta and the Cana Movement.
The representatives presented Mgr Cremona with the report on divorce, published last month, entitled For Worse, not for better.
In his address Mgr Cremona thanked the three organisations and underlined the importance of their work for the stability of families.
He said that their marriage was clear: the country would not have stable families and marriages unless the state, the church and other entities worked for this purpose in every way.
There was much which hindered family stability today, he said.
Once the state had declared that stable marriages and strong families were beneficial for society, then married couples deserve assistance in virtue of the contribution they gave for the well-being of society in the same way as other sectors needed assistance from the state in order to live a decent life when family breakups resulted in financial, emotional and social problems, Mgr Cremona said.
[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]
Times: Married couples deserve assistance - Archbishop
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090818/local/married-couples-deserve-assistance-archbishop
Tuesday, 18th August 2009 by Cynthia Busuttil
Archbishop Paul Cremona yesterday said the Church had to spread its message against divorce not only on the basis of the teachings of the Bible but also on the basis of facts in everyday life.
Speaking to representatives of Proġett Impenn - which groups together the Diocesan Family Commission, Caritas Malta and the Cana Movement - Mgr Cremona said the Church could never accept divorce because God's spiritual authority to unite people in marriage could not be transferred to man to dissolve.
Proġett Impenn presented the Archbishop with a report entitled For Worse, Not For Better, published in reply to a think tank member's report arguing for the introduction of divorce in the interest of those who want to remarry.
"We should show facts to society so all the members of society may then draw its own conclusions," said the Archbishop.
He said the message of Proġett Impenn was clear and stressed the country would not have stable families and marriages unless the State, the Church and other entities worked for this purpose in every way.
He said once the State had declared that stable marriages and strong families were beneficial for society, married couples deserved assistance because of the contribution they gave for the well-being of society.
The Sunday Times has just carried an interview with Cana founder Mgr Charles Vella who said that, although divorce from a Catholic viewpoint was considered a menace to the stability of marriage, it did not mean it was going to wreck marriages.
Mgr Vella yesterday told The Times that politicians from the Nationalist and Labour parties were among those who had contacted him to thank him for speaking so frankly on the issue.
"A very well-known person from the government's side called me at 8 a.m. (on Sunday) and said thank you," the 81-year-old priest said when contacted, although he stopped short of giving names.
He said he was constantly stopped in the streets on Sunday, with people telling him about their cases.
Among them was a man who had been suffering from a marriage breakdown for some 25 years and as a consequence had not been to church for two decades. "The lost sheep are very important," he said.
Asked why he had decided to speak out, Mgr Vella said he wanted to give people "courage, mercy and hope" while never withdrawing from the teachings of the Church.
"I spoke through my knowledge of the Church's doctrine and also through my heart and my conscience, while remembering that as a priest I follow Jesus Christ, who is for me the way and the truth.
"I wanted to create a dialogue about the issue and I am very glad this is happening," he said, adding dialogue had to continue.
Although the institution of marriage was "in crisis", Mgr Vella said the family was still strong and it was imperative for both the State and the Church to do as much as possible to help couples.
Mgr Vella had also voiced his opinion that the Church should invest more in the Cana Movement, which helped prepare couples for marriage. Whereas it used to employ 30 people before, now it employed 16.
Asked for his reaction yesterday, Cana Movement director Joe Mizzi said more manpower was always needed, especially since the movement operated with volunteers.
The movement was in favour of a strong marriage between a man and woman which lasted forever and therefore its position was that divorce was damaging for the family.
"Wherever divorce was introduced, the number of marriages went down, while cohabitation and divorce increased. Divorce generates more suffering for both the couples and children," he said.
Studies also shows that wherever divorce was introduced rates shot up, he added.
When it was pointed out that divorce numbers would obviously increase when legislation was introduced, since before couples could not go for divorce, Fr Mizzi said there were consequences to divorce which were very harmful.
"Our proposal is to learn from other countries' mistakes and go for strengthening our marriages," he said, adding the movement would continue working and investing in marriage preparation.
[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]
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Times: Inconvenient truth in divorce debate
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090817/letters/inconvenient-truth-in-divorce-debateMonday, 17th August 2009 by Martin Scicluna, Valletta
Since, judging by the article by Austin Bencini (A Think-Tank's Anathema, August 13), he has clearly based his reactions to my response to the ProgettImpenn report, commenting on mine as lead author of For Worse, For Better: Re-marriage After Legal Separation, solely on the newspaper reports, I am taking this opportunity of sending him a personal copy of the response in full for him to study.
In it he will discover that, far from "throwing an anathema against a Church", as he colourfully puts it, my response focuses on three issues: exposing the fundamental flaw in the ProgettImpenn arguments (where it asserts, illogically, that "divorce causes marriage breakdown" when marriage breakdown clearly happens well before legal separation or divorce comes into effect and is not caused by them); setting out the detailed statistical evidence to refute ProgettImpenn's efforts to, in its own words, "prove the reality is not as bad as presented by TPPI" (it was in this context that the word 'denial' was rightly used); and exposing the hypocrisy running through its position.
He will discover also that I refer several times to the respect I hold for the Church's doctrinal view (which I recognise is its religious and honestly held view-point), but that I objected to ProgettImpenn's attempt to dress up its report as an objective and reasonable secular case to prevent re-marriage after legal separation, when it was clearly being selective and self-serving in the arguments it deployed.
Therein lies the heart of the debate between us and "anathema" has nothing to do with it.
Therein lies the heart of the debate between us and "anathema" has nothing to do with it.
[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]
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