Comments on: Is he still celebrating mass in Gozo?

By: Pegasus

Pegasus — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:36:54 +0000

yes it’s the same one

[Daphne – Thanks. I’ll dig out that article and follow it up.]

By: Pegasus

Pegasus — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:59:01 +0000

Daphne, Do you remember Dun Dumink Camilleri from Nadur? He’s back in Nadur. He has been back for well over a year now. From what I heard legal charges against him have been dropped because the mother who had initally made the report has now forgiven him. Can you believe that?

[Daphne – Is this the priest who ran away to the US to escape charges? The one about whom I had written a couple of years ago?]

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:10:52 +0000

Uncle Fester – I do not know Insp Calleja, but have heard her name about similar cases, including, I believe, the Mark Vella Gera one.

J. Insp. Louise Calleja works for the vice-squad, so giving them a call would be a start.

By: louise vella

louise vella — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:42:34 +0000

J. – Going to the curia is simply a waste of time. Go straight to Inspector Louise Calleja, the sooner the better.

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:27:27 +0000

@J – listen to what Amanda Mallia is telling you. Maybe Daphne can put you in private contact with each other so that she can provide you with exact contact information for Insp. Calleja if she is unable to do so publicly. You also need to get therapy to work on healing the enormous psychological hurt this man has caused you. Do it for yourself first and then for others.

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:20:36 +0000

@Daphne. As the old saying goes curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back. Welcome back! I think that it was Dom Mintoff who once said that you need to get out of the place for a while to see things clearly. Having been out of the place for a while I see a lot of change, much of it definitely for the better. However still very polarized, still very blinkered, no room for any gray – us and them, black and white, ta din naha w tan-naha l-ohra. I remember reading a book by a Dutch anthropologist in the 70s – Prelates and Politicians in Malta – in which he predicted that once the PN was elected to power the church’s authority would cave in rapidly and Mintoff’s hoped for secularization of Malta would take place. I would like to reread that book one day. What I see is a steady erosion of clerical power, not a tidal wave of change at all. What do you think from your position to the side and near the top of the top heavy social structure in post-1987 Malta in the waning days of Eddie’s “bidla mehtiega”?

[Daphne – The country has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. The other day I was sorting through some street photographs from 1995, and they looked like scenes from the 1970s (elsewhere). People in drab clothes, and the cars parked in a row on one street – in Sliema, that is – were old VW beetles, old station wagons, Maruti jeeps, and so on. But forget the materialism, which is a good thing anyway and not a bad one: people’s expectations have changed and there is far greater openness and tolerance than there was, as long as the person doing whatever it is isn’t African.]

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:03:32 +0000

J. – Especially since this man is still a priest, I suggest that you pluck up the courage to report him to the relevant authorities – By which I mean the police, and NOT the Curia. (You may wish to talk to Insp. Louise Calleja, who I believe was handling the Mark Vella Gera case.)

Please do so if not for yourself, then for other innocent children. A leopard does not change its spots, so this man may still be preying on children entrusted to his care, even if on a temporary basis.

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:16:58 +0000

@Daphne. My reunion was 2 years ago not 3, my mistake. I sat for my O-Levels in 1981 and believe you me we have never met. If we had met I would let you know. Let me help you out, take my email address and break it down then google my initial, my surname, the city where I live and my profession and you will get my professional biography.

[Daphne – You’re right, we haven’t. You’ve been away most of the time.]

By: david s

david s — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:00:09 +0000

I find this priest paedophilia so terrible and shameful. Because the church hides it very well, it is just incredible how much goes on. The church does its VERY BEST for these stories not to come out, and just transfers these priests to another parish/country. You would be shocked at the number of cases, and the terror/ confusion these children suffer .

By: Meerkat :)

Meerkat :) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:16:12 +0000

If a priest is dismissed from the clerical state, that means that his status reverts to the lay state. He is still a priest but he cannot function as a priest, to put it in simple terms.

‘Rev’ only applies to men who are still in the clerical state.