2006: Gozo
by J.J. Markie Lepre
What a tedious task to review a year in Gozo when you don't really consider a handful of roads being rebuilt, a couple of wine bars bombastically inaugurated by the Prime Minister and some small-scale projects as worthy enough to appear in such an end-of-year review. What are you left with?
The year 2006. A Scottish woman drowned while diving in July; a Welsh father lost his life with his teenage son in a scuba-diving accident in August; around 30 illegal immigrants landed in Mgarr; more hotels closed, giving way to more apartments; the government announced it will be redeveloping the only government boys' secondary school; a hyperbaric unit was inaugurated at the Gozo General Hospital to provide emergency treatment to divers; Sannat's John Mizzi became the first ever Green candidate to be elected in a Local Council election in Gozo; two sea vessels were scuttled to attract more divers; a Gozo Channel employee saved an 83-year-old man and his daughter who plunged with their car into the sea in Mgarr; the Spanish company operating daily helicopter flights to and from Malta stopped its operations due to lack of demand; Gozo's new Catholic Bishop Mario Grech was the subject of an intensive public relations campaign earning him the tag of "a camera-hugging TV star" by pundit Joe Grima; and the Gozo Court allied itself with the English Courts and deported Shaun Attard, a 12-year-old Gozitan, to England to be with the mother that he does not want to be with.
C'est tout. But luckily for us the end-of-year reviewers there's the Catholic Church with a basket load of stories.
It was supposed to be a good year for Gozo's Catholic Church with an all-smiles, forward-looking, fresh Mgr Mario Grech replacing Mgr Nikol Cauchi who had handed in his resignation in 2004 upon turning 75; following 38 years of service. Mgr Grech was consecrated as the Bishop of Gozo in January. He then toured each Gozitan village, met Maltese migrants in New York and visited the Middle East. He was also subject to an intensive public relations campaign in a bid to encourage more Gozitans to look at the their Church as friendly, relevant and charismatic.
But having a new Bishop must have been the only good thing that happened to the Gozo Catholic Church this year. Actually, had it not been for that, 2006 could easily be described as an annus orribilis for the Catholic Church in Gozo. The year started with serious allegations made against the nuns who ran Lourdes Home in the seventies and eighties. A number of Gozitans told popular TV-show Bondiplus that they were psychologically and physically abused while living in the Ghajnsielem-based orphanage. This was followed by more stories of allegations of sexual abuse by clergymen that rocked Gozo's Catholic Church.
Then an elderly priest from Victoria admitted to having had inappropriate relations with the now disgraced American republican congressman Mark Foley when he was a young boy. Fr Anthony Mercieca said he gave massages to the boy in the nude in saunas, being nude together in the same room on overnight trips and skinny-dipping. On one occasion Fr Mercieca said he had taken too many anti depressant pills mixed with alcohol and he couldn't remember if they had had actual sexual relations or not. Upon Fr Mercieca's admission, the Miami Archdiocese, whose authority he still falls under, barred him from celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and wearing priestly clothes. Fr Mercieca then denied fresh molestation allegations set forward by a former altar boy identified as John Doe No. 26. Mark Foley resigned from the US Congress earlier this year after a number of suggestive e-mails to young male pages were uncovered. He then said he was molested by a clergyman when he was still an altar boy.
And that was this year's end-of-year review from an amazingly small island, whose residents are particularly pleased that nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes on the quiet, green and peaceful spot where they live.
by J.J. Markie Lepre
What a tedious task to review a year in Gozo when you don't really consider a handful of roads being rebuilt, a couple of wine bars bombastically inaugurated by the Prime Minister and some small-scale projects as worthy enough to appear in such an end-of-year review. What are you left with?
The year 2006. A Scottish woman drowned while diving in July; a Welsh father lost his life with his teenage son in a scuba-diving accident in August; around 30 illegal immigrants landed in Mgarr; more hotels closed, giving way to more apartments; the government announced it will be redeveloping the only government boys' secondary school; a hyperbaric unit was inaugurated at the Gozo General Hospital to provide emergency treatment to divers; Sannat's John Mizzi became the first ever Green candidate to be elected in a Local Council election in Gozo; two sea vessels were scuttled to attract more divers; a Gozo Channel employee saved an 83-year-old man and his daughter who plunged with their car into the sea in Mgarr; the Spanish company operating daily helicopter flights to and from Malta stopped its operations due to lack of demand; Gozo's new Catholic Bishop Mario Grech was the subject of an intensive public relations campaign earning him the tag of "a camera-hugging TV star" by pundit Joe Grima; and the Gozo Court allied itself with the English Courts and deported Shaun Attard, a 12-year-old Gozitan, to England to be with the mother that he does not want to be with.C'est tout. But luckily for us the end-of-year reviewers there's the Catholic Church with a basket load of stories.
It was supposed to be a good year for Gozo's Catholic Church with an all-smiles, forward-looking, fresh Mgr Mario Grech replacing Mgr Nikol Cauchi who had handed in his resignation in 2004 upon turning 75; following 38 years of service. Mgr Grech was consecrated as the Bishop of Gozo in January. He then toured each Gozitan village, met Maltese migrants in New York and visited the Middle East. He was also subject to an intensive public relations campaign in a bid to encourage more Gozitans to look at the their Church as friendly, relevant and charismatic.But having a new Bishop must have been the only good thing that happened to the Gozo Catholic Church this year. Actually, had it not been for that, 2006 could easily be described as an annus orribilis for the Catholic Church in Gozo. The year started with serious allegations made against the nuns who ran Lourdes Home in the seventies and eighties. A number of Gozitans told popular TV-show Bondiplus that they were psychologically and physically abused while living in the Ghajnsielem-based orphanage. This was followed by more stories of allegations of sexual abuse by clergymen that rocked Gozo's Catholic Church.
Then an elderly priest from Victoria admitted to having had inappropriate relations with the now disgraced American republican congressman Mark Foley when he was a young boy. Fr Anthony Mercieca said he gave massages to the boy in the nude in saunas, being nude together in the same room on overnight trips and skinny-dipping. On one occasion Fr Mercieca said he had taken too many anti depressant pills mixed with alcohol and he couldn't remember if they had had actual sexual relations or not. Upon Fr Mercieca's admission, the Miami Archdiocese, whose authority he still falls under, barred him from celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and wearing priestly clothes. Fr Mercieca then denied fresh molestation allegations set forward by a former altar boy identified as John Doe No. 26. Mark Foley resigned from the US Congress earlier this year after a number of suggestive e-mails to young male pages were uncovered. He then said he was molested by a clergyman when he was still an altar boy.And that was this year's end-of-year review from an amazingly small island, whose residents are particularly pleased that nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes on the quiet, green and peaceful spot where they live.