“Would you say that your views are the same as those expressed by John Kennedy when he was a candidate, when he spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in September of 1960, quote, I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me, close quote?”
Arlen Spector
“It was a period that caused a lot of harm, as people were unfairly put in a situation of having to choose between the party they supported and the Church they were baptised in. Labourites who chose to continue supporting the party felt as if the Church had rejected them and this led to a grudge that was carried for a long time”
Fr Anġ Seychell
“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”
“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”
“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”
