MALTA
Times of Malta
Editorial
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Is local Church in crisis?
Fr Joe Borg lit a fuse in his The Sunday Times of Malta column last weekend when he questioned Archbishop Paul Cremona’s ability to lead the local Church. He said that while others discussed the issue behind closed doors, he felt as a matter of conscience the duty to speak out about the issue.
If for nothing else, he deserves credit for being upfront. There are many discontented people in various walks of life, priests included, who would do well to take a leaf out of this particular book. However, the second issue that needs to be addressed is, does he have a point?
We asked the Archbishop for an interview on the issue. We got a one-line statement the day after the column was published, saying that he was committed to serve the Church to the best of his ability, and after catching up with him on Friday, he said it is the Pope who decides his future. But no interview.
This in itself is evidence of a problem. The Archbishop is a good man. No one questions that. He has had health problems. Everybody sympathises with that. But, as a question raged over whether Pope John Paul II should carry on in the latter stages of his papacy – and we all know the step Benedict took – so the issue must be addressed as to whether the Church’s best interests are served with Mgr Cremona at the helm.
This is a question the Church itself must resolve. But it can only do this if it first shows a hitherto unseen willingness to discuss it. In truth, rumblings have been around for quite some time and clergymen are doing themselves no good by running away from them.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.