Hell's bells

My friend and former lecturer Anna Spiteri, who has a ghastly set of loud electronic church chimes as a neighbour in Senglea square, has been successful in her efforts at getting a court injunction to reduce the noise level. The chimes, which are programmed to go off every 15 minutes except between 11pm and 6am, are driving the neighbours nuts, but in their interpretation of Christian charity and respect for others, the priests who rule that particular roost think that those neighbours should carry in silence the cross they have imposed on them. The chimes, may I point out, have nothing to do with ‘tradition’ but are a horrible electronic package donated to the church by some misguided people to mark the year 2000.

The court ruled that the noise level of the chimes should not be any higher than 60 dBA, quoting a judgement that made reference to the World Health Organisation’s guidelines on community health. The court also brushed aside the petition that the church authorities brought forward, saying that those people may have signed in the clock’s favour without being aware that the noise level was actually damaging their health, and pointed out that the neighbours have been suffering for eight years already, which may have already caused them considerable physical and mental harm.

Coincidentally, another hellish bells story was published in The Guardian a few days ago.

Priest fined €60,000 as loud church bells take their toll
John Hooper in Rome
Wednesday September 3 2008

An Italian priest has been ordered to pay €60,000 (£49,000) in damages because the bells of his church were too loud, and were rung for too long at “unsocial hours”. The judgement, handed down by a court in the town of Chiavari, has widespread implications for what is often seen as Europe’s most Catholic nation, and perhaps the country with the highest density of churches. The case brought by a retired university teacher, Flora Leuzzi, is one of several alleging that over-enthusiastic tolling constitutes noise pollution.

Professor Leuzzi, who lives close to the Carmine church in Lavagna, near Genoa, began her campaign against its belfry 13 years ago. The judge found that the sound it emitted was louder than average. He also agreed that Leuzzi’s hearing had been marginally impaired. However, in perhaps an interesting comment on Italian values, he awarded only €9,000 for “biological damage” – and €46,000 for the disruption to Leuzzi’s social life. The remaining compensation was for “moral damage”. Witnesses testified that they had given up visiting Leuzzi at home in the old quarter of Lavagna.

Father Stefano Queirolo will only be permitted to ring them for Sunday Mass, and at Christmas and Easter. The bells will be allowed to peal for at most 20 seconds. Queirolo told the daily La Stampa he expected the diocese to appeal. He said the belfry had recently been soundproofed. In any case, he added: “We haven’t been ringing the bells for at least four years now.” There was another church only 100 metres away, he said. “And there’s no sense in overdoing things.”