interview

A telly caster leftist priest

Fr Colin Apap has no qualms about criticising the higher echelons of the church structure for losing touch with the grass roots. He also believes the Labour Party should bury the hatchet with Mintoff and tells KURT SANSONE that it is only a matter of time before divorce becomes a Maltese reality

Fr Colin Apap is a vibrant person who has been described as controversial, liberal and a Labourite for his somewhat unconventional views. But the priest derides these labels as attempts to pigeonhole him, something which he dislikes.

"I am a normal human being but people need labels to be able to identify others. Labelling me ‘controversial’ is just a tag, which I consider to be unhealthy. I am liberal in certain aspects and conservative in others and most of my views on the church’s teachings stem from the Second Vatican Council, which spoke about different visions of the church."

The interview starts off on controversial ground with me asking Fr Colin about his views on the Maltese church.

"It is wrong to put the Maltese church in one pigeonhole. But there is what I call a curia mentality among church leaders. The curia is formed by a subculture of priests some of whom had been active at grass roots level. However, once priests become part of the structure they become more rule-orientated rather then pastoral."

Fr Colin emphasises that there is a tendency for priests who become ‘curialists’ to see things in a different light and thus lose touch with the grass roots. He explains that this is a common occurrence abroad, including the Vatican.

Fr Colin does not see eye to eye with religious fundamentalism and believes that such an attitude is harming the largest religions.

"It is a shame to see mullahs or priests encouraging death either by waging war or killing doctors who perform abortions. This is why organised religion is losing converts."

Fr Colin harps back to the 1960s when the Maltese Catholic Church experienced its own fundamentalist streak by using religion to punish Labourites.

"We have not yet recovered from that mistake," Fr Colin says. "Gradually things are changing but the consequences of the politico-religious battle can still be felt today with the lack of vocations we are experiencing."

For Fr Colin compassion is the name of the game. "I believe in compassion – seeing the positive in others. My beliefs are not equal to those of others for I truly believe that Jesus Christ is THE saviour. But being compassionate is being able to see the positive and the strong points of others."

The priest dwells on the difference between religion and spirituality, recalling the time he lived in countries where Catholics are a minority. In such countries religion as in the official structures, buildings and symbols, is a non-starter. "It is in these countries that I learnt to live a life of spirituality," Fr Colin adds. He explains that in today’s world, people live a more spiritual life than a religious one and Malta is not immune to this phenomenon.

"People need institutions much less than before. This reflects badly on the people who lead these institutions because it shows that they are betraying the teachings of Christ."

I ask Fr Colin for his views on the Church Synod, which has been going on for the past three years in a bid to provide a critical review of the Maltese church and propose a new way forward. His smile says it all.

"For many people the church synod was irrelevant. It has been working for three years and the impact it has had is minimal. The impression was given that many people were going to be involved but unfortunately it was the usual few, who had their fingers in the pie. I was not involved personally so the whole exercise is irrelevant to me."

Fr Colin hits out at the curia describing the prevalent attitude as "elitist". He stresses that people who do not conform to the curia’s policies are sidelined and although the outspoken priest did not include himself in the list of ‘black sheep’, it was evident that he has been a victim of this attitude.

Fr Colin adds, "I don’t think there is enough diversity in the curia to represent the different schools of thought within the church."

In two years’ time the Archbishop will have to change because Canon Law decries that a bishop must relinquish his post on reaching 75 years of age. Fr Colin has a dream. He wants the new archbishop to be appointed after a wide consultation with priests and the laity. "I believe that this should be the way an archbishop is appointed but the probability is that in two years’ time we will be faced with a ‘fait accompli’ and we will find a new archbishop in place without knowing it."

I steer the discussion toward the divorce issue. Fr Colin has no qualms in saying that marriage based on a free choice of love and commitment between a man and a woman is the ideal option, but he also has his feet on the ground.

He asks pertinently, "What do you do when this ideal cannot be reached?"

The priest believes that it is only a question of time before divorce is introduced into Malta. He stresses that marriage failures are not positive because they erode the basic fabric of society - the family - but divorce would provide the legislative framework to regulate the situation. "It is the lesser of two evils," Fr Colin adds.

He then draws parallels between the cohabitation law proposed by the Nationalist Party in the 1998 manifesto and divorce legislation. "Legally recognising cohabitation is tantamount to introducing divorce because the consequences are the same. The cohabitation law would recognise a stable relationship outside of regular marriage, as well as the children born out of that union. It is just a politically correct way of introducing divorce without causing a furore. I am even inclined to believe that the policy was suggested by priests close to the Nationalist Party because they recognise that eventually divorce will have to be introduced."

Fr Colin places the discussion about divorce within the wider debate of European Union membership. He believes that EU membership will provide a ‘de facto’ confirmation for the introduction of laws such as divorce, abortion, same sex marriages and euthanasia.

I point out that the EU does not legislate on such matters but allows the individual countries to decide what laws to introduce but Fr Colin adds that a European-wide concept is being born of what rights and obligations an ideal European citizen should have.

He adds that EU membership will accelerate the change of mentality on such sensitive issues.

The divorce debate is not complete unless accompanied by the primary issue of broken marriages. Drawing from his experience of counselling married couples in difficulty, Fr Colin stresses there is no magical formula for a successful marriage.

"A long courtship does not necessarily guarantee a successful marriage and vice versa. Marriage has to be worked at every single day. In addition there is that little ‘dirty’ word called sacrifice. It is an important element of marriage because we change continuously. I am not the same person I was yesterday let alone the same person I was 15 years ago. If sacrifice is absent any marriage will face problems."

I am interested to know the priest’s views on EU membership and he immediately interjects that Europe has its black and white sides. "But most probably it has a lot of grey areas," Fr Colin adds with a resigned look on his face at the way the issue has been polarised in this country.

Fr Colin tells me that he will take his final decision on the matter once the negotiated package becomes known. But the criteria he will adopt to evaluate the outcome will centre around one basic question, who will pay the price for membership?

"I have to decide whether the price for membership will be worth it. I have no doubt that farmers will pay a high price. Doctors and lawyers are using the Maltese language criteria to protect their jobs from the potential influx of European workers. I will evaluate the package from the point of view of the poor and if the ‘have-nots’ can be safeguarded then I will vote in favour."

Given the polarised debate Fr Colin insists that it is not the business of the bishops to tell people how to vote in the referendum. He has high respect for the prudent attitude adopted by the bishops on the EU issue. "Political parties do not want to know the opinion of the bishops on the issue, they simply want to use what the bishops say for their respective political platforms. The Archbishop is very discerning in what he says on the issue given the mistakes made by the church in the 1960s."

Fr Colin believes that the EU is Dr Fenech Adami’s political milieu, and the priest considers it to be a legitimate ambition. But, he adds, the closer we get to the EU target the more sensitive the Prime Minister is becoming to criticism levelled against him.

I veer the discussion toward globalisation and the impact it is having on values but Fr Colin reduces the concept to the economic realm. He believes that it is an economic framework championed by the large multinational corporations, by which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.

Turning to his television programme ‘Stejjer’, Fr Colin insists that the team behind the programme gives due importance to the ethics behind the personal experiences that are aired. In the priest’s words, ‘Stejjer’ is about getting people together, allowing them to expose their problems on air, giving them the chance to say they are sorry. "It is about being compassionate," Fr Colin adds.

Fr Colin’s social work brings him in touch with a lot of poor people but he considers ignorance to be the biggest poverty. "Our education system has failed on a number of counts. One look at the south shows that the number of students reaching tertiary education is very low when compared to other areas. This is why I believe in politics with a capital ‘P’."

Sticking to politics I ask Fr Colin whether it bothers him that people identify him with the Labour Party. He smiles; no answer is a simple yes or no.

"I am a Christian and so my vocation is to identify with the poor. If the MLP identifies with the poor I am happy with that but unfortunately it is losing that element because of political convenience. People like Alfred Sant and Alfred Mifsud are economists and some of their policies are rightwing. I believe that the Labour party has to create a coalition of the left and reach out to its grass roots."

I point out that the Labour leader had already expressed his wish to create a social coalition during the Zebbug mass meeting last year but Fr Colin wants Dr Sant to elaborate further on the concept because it is still vague.

The Left-leaning priest believes that the Labour party has to rehabilitate Mintoff because a lot of Labourites who suffered in the 1960s still identify with the octogenarian.

Fr Colin dwells on the Labour government’s short spell between 1996 and 1998 remarking that the Labour party and Dr Sant were cheated from completing the full term in office.

"Dr Sant was character-assassinated in all possible ways including on a personal level," Fr Colin adds, angry at the very un-European way the former Prime Minister was treated. He continues, "I am afraid when people are in power for a long time because time and power tend to corrupt."

The priest considers Dr Sant to be a brilliant person despite the coldness he portrays. "But the 1998 debacle is something Dr Sant has to learn how to live with," Fr Colin adds.

For the last nine months Fr Colin has been assigned pastoral work at Hal-Farrug in Luqa. He is very enthusiastic about the challenge because the community has a mixture of people hailing from very different backgrounds. "The community is composed of middle class families, poor families and problematic people but I intend to create a Christian community. The past few months have been very exciting and the climax was reached in the Christmas midnight mass when scores of people from the area attended despite the difficulties I encountered to push the idea through."

Fr Colin admits that he does encounter problems because of his outspokenness but he believes that if a person has no enemies then he has nothing to say to the world.

"We need more Christians that live what they believe," he says. But this idealistic statement is soon followed with a smile. "I cannot say that I live all that I preach but if I preach only those things that I am certain I can live, I will be silent all my life."