Independent: Curiouser and curiouser

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=108183
27.6.10? by Josanne Cassar

[Excerpt from the article. Click on the hyperlink above to view the entire article.]

When Alice fell through a black hole into a world where everything was distorted, logic flew out the window and nonsense gibberish became the norm.

I often get the feeling that Malta has become the land of Mad Hatters.

...

Fundamentalist and proud

Another surreal incident occurred this week as Archbishop Cremona joined hands with the head of the Islamic Centres and Propagation Bureau, to speak out against same sex marriages. (Don't worry, there won't be any similar cosy photo opportunities when they come to the subject of divorce.) Homosexuals who happen to be either Catholic or Muslim must have felt very comforted. Of course, gays are free not to embrace either religion, but for those who still feel a need for spiritual guidance by what they believe to be their faith, this was yet another blow.

I also don't see why the marriage of a gay couple should be equated with the breakdown in marriages between heterosexual couples.

The sentence which really popped out at me, however, was where the Archbishop "called for the State to help couples prepare for marriage due to an increase in couples deciding against faith marriages". Like Freddie Mercury, I thought I was going slightly mad and had to read this line several times. That's great – not only are we not moving anywhere near to the separation of Church and State, but we are now being continuously bombarded with blatant interference of the Church in civil matters. If a couple want to get married in a civil wedding it is a deliberate choice, which probably has a lot to do with their not wanting the Church to dictate their relationship.

Let me break it to you gently: nothing prepares you for marriage or for living under the same roof with another person day in day out. A governmental version of the Cana course is certainly not going to do the trick, because guess what? The Cana course isn't working either.

The media is being asked to do its bit to help promote stable marriages (do I smell another lucrative PR campaign?) but here again, do they honestly think a couple of billboards showing happy families will keep a warring couple from heading to court? I think the only way to promote marriage stability is to teach girls (especially) that the answer to their lifelong happiness is not a ring on their finger. Let's stop with all this preposterous social pressure to have a dream wedding which two years down the line often turns into a nightmare. Along with instilling some good manners, let's start talking to children about why, when they grow up, it's crucial to get married for the right reasons, rather than because everyone they know is doing it.