“There is a symbolism in the attack. It seems to be an attempt to sow discord when civil society on both sides is showing greater compassion.”
C. Uday Bhaskar
“I tried to minimise the number of cases where I could not give absolution to parishioners who came for confession. The cases were very few”
Fr Anġ Seychell
“I had always felt close to the workers’ movement but I chose to stay loyal to the Church. It wasn’t an easy choice and one that caused me a lot of pain”
Fr. Anġ Seychell
“Whether it was a figment of Mgr Gonzi’s imagination, or whether Dom Mintoff deliberately gave that impression, it was the climax of the bitter Church-Labour dispute and the beginning of eight years of social banishment of MLP supporters.”
Lino Spiteri
“A lump rises in my throat as I write this... Blood was not shed. Yet hatred was sown and took root. That can be worse than spilling of blood.” Mgr Gonzi had become obsessed with the belief that the Labour Party was inching closer to Communism”
“The Church in Malta, had a crusader mentality at the time and came out guns blazing against the Labour Party. However, he is also confident that black period will never return. Vatican Council II, which came after the interdiction, gave us the tools to find a way out of the impasse. The Church learned from those mistakes”
“When I said I felt I had done no wrong, he insisted I could only get married in the sacristy, even denying me the right to get married in a chapel. I later learnt that a number of priests had urged my wife-to-be to leave me. Can you imagine that?” Despite all this, I still wanted a Church wedding. When Yvonne was asked whether she’d take me as her husband she yelled out ‘yes’, her voice resounding well beyond the thick walls of the sacristy”
Joe Micallef Stafrace
