Former Nationalist MP Joe Cassar appointed president of Cana Movement

The former Nationalist MP Joe Cassar has been appointed President of the Cana Movement, a lay Catholic organisation that prepares couples for marriage.

Cassar, a former health minister in the Gonzi administration, will take the place of Dr Arthur Galea Salomone, who held the role for eight years.

Cassar, a consultant psychiatrist by profession, is today a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta, and leads the emergency psychiatric services unit in Mater Dei Hospital. In his professional capacity, Cassar's area of expertise is mental health among children and young families, as well as with families in difficulty. 

The Cana Movement offers marriage preparation courses and counselling for those encountering personal or familly difficulties.

Cassar had resigned from the PN parliamentary group in 2015 after MaltaToday revealed that property entrepreneur Joe Gaffarena had paid for works at Cassar's Dingli house. At the time Cassar was health minister, implying that he should have declared the financing as a gift.