She feels less holy because picaninnies were screaming in her cathedral
The Sunday Times, 11 January
Objectionable christening during Epiphany Mass
Author: Marisa Pisani, St Julian’s
For several years one of the highlights of the New Year for me has been the Epiphany Mass at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. I always look forward to the lovely music sung by the resident choir and the Mass celebrated by our Archbishop.
Unfortunately, this year it turned out to be a very noisy affair and I left the church feeling less holy. As soon as I walked in I immediately noticed that it was not going to be normal.
Before the Mass started we were informed that there was going to be a christening of two Eritrean twins. The first thought that struck me was that I am sure that nearly every Maltese parent would like to have their babies christened in this beautiful cathedral by our charming Archbishop, but would not succeed.
Secondly, other Eritrean babies were crying and screaming throughout the Mass as three men took pictures with a flash (when this is prohibited) throughout the first half of the Mass. They even turned their backs on the altar while the Archbishop was delivering the sermon.
They were not taking photos of him for remembrance sake. No, they were only flashing away at their wives and babies. Can we please have normal Holy Mass next year as we have always had in the past and leave such things if they are necessary for other places of worship?
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“Eritrean babies were crying and screaming throughout the Mass” …. misshom jisthu; int qatt rajt tarbija Maltija tibki?
On a more serious note; I’m all for freedom of expression, but if anything, I just can’t believe there was nothing better to publish that day than this hogwash.
That, or the editor doesn’t quite like Marisa Pisani that much…!
These days, for some people, there’s an African immigrant behind every event that takes place on these islands. I was visiting this summer and after all the bile that I read in the Times about “illegals” and “klandestini” I almost expected to see immigrants coming out of the woodwork and Maltese women hiding behind closed doors in case the Africans get to them.
That is what I call Christian spirit!
Bis-serjeta! I still cant understand why letters and comments of this type are published..surely there is a limit to the freedom of expression.
[Daphne – Only in terms of libel. And there shouldn’t be restrictions. It’s important to have such views exposed, rather than keeping them hidden. Keeping them hidden doesn’t mean they don’t exist.]
If Ms Pisani felt less holy because of screaming babies in St John’s, she should have attended the canonisation of Dun Gorg at the Vatican. I was there, and it was a joke . People eating snacks and of course yelling each time they heard San Gorg mentioned. Otherwise, practically no one understood anything because it was in Latin (why on earth should the Church use a universal language in 2007?), and to add to the fun we were drenched! It was no different to PN’s meetings on the fosos with people yelling Eddie every so often (at least Eddie spoke Maltese). It was said Dun Gorg was averse to such pomp, and hence the rain…
[Daphne – L-aqwa dawk iz-zneks.]
David S: …or any one of the festa processions, or those held to mark Good Friday, or even any other christening mass where the babies are not Eritrean. Maybe we should try an experiment – have non-Eritrean babies baptised at the same mass next year and then take a reading to see whether the congregation’s haloes shine more or less brightly.