Miq Miq

Like a rolling stone

This trailer was in front of me in the Gozo ferry car queue. I confess total ignorance in transport security measures. So what I have to say might be completely off the mark.

But sitting in my car behind this behemoth was quite disturbing. Each of the four Ggantija-sized boulders was secured only by a single strap no wider than the waist belt I was wearing. More scarily, there did not seem to be anything at all to prevent them from sliding back.

I am sailing, I am sailing ... errr across the bay

"Mary, baqghalek werqa tursin?"

Ours is a tiny, densely populated island where 'bumping into someone' actually happens quite frequently. At the same time, we are surrounded by one of the most beautiful open seas in Europe. I always thought that owning a boat was a sublime way for the well off to avoid the suffocation of the former and embrace the blue expanse of the latter. Not quite.

Look at these boats in a photo I took from my balcony in Marsalforn. Observe two instances of a common sight this time of year: groups of them tied to each other.

And what is this your Grace?

Pull the RT's plug

Former Judge Victor Caruana Columbo, the chairman of the Curia's Response Team, has spent the last 8 years trying to decide whether Lawrence Grech and his fellow orphans were sexually abused at St Joseph Home. He would still be scratching his head and twiddling his thumbs had media pressure not led the Vatican itself to dive in to sort out the mess.

When Mons Carmel Scicluna, the Pope's delegate on such matters, came to Malta to effectively take over the case, he did more on the case in 8 days than Caruana Colombo did in 8 years.

This guy either tells lies or peddles them

Looking left and right

"My ‘serious allegations’ seem to have emanated from a private conversation I had in confidence with my client, Christopher Engerer, who in turn appears to have discussed the matter with his son, who subsequently discussed the matter with his godfather who then, felt duty bound to call the Commissioner of Police, in order for him to contact me to convince me that there was no political motivation behind the criminal charges and my client’s arrest ... I never made any statement, nor any form of allegations whatsoever vis-à-vis the modus operandi of the Police."

"We sent our father to jail"

On the court steps, minutes after the sentence was handed down, we referred to the sexual abuse victims of Charles Pulis and Godwin Scerri as "survivors". Because absent from those steps were many victims who could not be there. Some committed suicide, others died of a drug overdose and others are languishing in jail for a variety of crimes.

Fr Bernard, you've got mail

The Times online has reported that its sources in the Vatican confirmed that Fr Charles Pulis has been defrocked "about two weeks ago" but it is only the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP), that is Pulis' bosses, who can make the announcement public.

Very strangely, Fr Bernard Mangion, the MMSP superior general, said that he has not received "any official papers" from the Vatican confirming the defrocking and that before he does he "cannot speak".

Charles and Godwin should get a life ... in prison

The two paedophiles, Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis - now denuded of their priestly robes by the Vatican - have appealed against their jail sentences.

Why? To prove their innocence? No. They do not have a hope in, well, hell of proving that the sentence was a miscarriage of justice. The evidence brought against them in court by the ten victims was just overwhelming. In addition, Magistrate Saviour Demicoli made it all too obvious that he considers them to be pathological liars apart from paedphiles. I suppose one cannot be a one without being the other.

This is the house where sex abusers lived

As I drove to catch the ferry to Gozo this evening I had to stop to take a picture of this dilapidated house in Cirkewwa. As the last rays of sun kissed it's decaying red walls, it spoke to me. It looked like the perfect symbol of the day's end.

The day started with the court sending Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri to jail for six and five years respectively for sexually abusing boys. And it was ending with this house waiting impatiently to be engulfed by the evening's darkness, and therein to hide its shame. For it was in this house that these two priests committed some of their nauseating crimes on so many boys.

Michael bans Elvis the Pelvis

I just love this pastoral letter penned by Archbishop Michael Gonzi in 1957. No matter how often I read it, it's quaint hysterical tone (forgive the pun) remains hilarious. Note how the Archbishop b'ghafsa ta' qalb does not refer to rock & roll but to iz-zifna tar-rock & roll. The poor guy probably did not even know that the words rock & roll were originally black slang for sex.

Lawrence and his friends want justice tomorrow

Eight years ago on Bondiplus, Lawrence Grech had the courage to tell the nation that as a child he was sexually abused by priests at St Joseph's Home in Hamrun. His friends, with faces concealed, gave similar testimonies. The programme led to a court case and tomorrow, 2 August, at 9am it is expected that judgement will be handed down.

Pope Benedict has already apologised for the pain Lawrence and his friends suffered. Now they all expect justice and they expect to get it tomorrow.