Vassallo and Fenech are not alone on gay marriage

I agree completely with Edwin Vassallo and Tonio Fenech’s stand on the new marriage bill and what should have been the PN’s position. I identify myself with their thoughts and beliefs. May there be members of parliament and other politicians who express the same views and are courageous enough to act accordingly in the future. 

Many people are fed up observing how a certain element of Maltese society and our political class are abandoning our traditional values and choosing a Godless society. I obviously don’t think that a fundamentalist state is in order but, on the other hand, what’s wrong in having an enriching Catholic presence in our parliament and what’s wrong in having politicians who are not hypocrites and practise their faith also through their political involvement?

When a person expresses his/her views everybody would agree that he/she has every right to do so. So why do so many people judge that very same person and think that he/she is imposing himself/herself on others when instead of ideas and opinions he/she puts forward his/her religious beliefs, values and morality?

Well done to Vassallo and Fenech. So many people are feeling represented in parliament through Vassallo’s choice. He is not alone; I’m sure there are thousands who believe he made the correct choice.

Joseph Attard, Bahrija

The spider’s web

The law is a spider’s web that catches the little flies and lets the big bugs escape

In the late 1990s, the local media reported a criminal case involving a man from St Julian’s who had sexually molested a ten-year old boy. The man was sentenced to four years in prison, and sent to jail right away. No pious Catholic pleaded “human frailty” on his behalf, as Catholics often do when Catholic priests are guilty of the same crime. No Christian came up with the stock phrase they always use to defend their priests: “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone” (while forgetting what Jesus said regarding those who scandalize children).

The media recently reported the case of a Gozitan priest who had been charged with performing lewd acts on three minor girls, violently and indecently assaulting them. During the court proceedings, it was alleged that the priest tried to kiss one of the girls during confession. Another girl observed that the celibate priest had the mannerisms of a “boyfriend”. A further allegation was that he had pulled one of the girls close to him, and fondling her uttered the words “cosy, cosy”.

The priest was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of molesting an underage girl.

The law is a spider’s web that catches the little flies and lets the big bugs escape.

John Guillaumier, St Julian's