Malta: at the heart of the Mediterranean

This morning I got up at 5.00, and hurried my clean-up, for today I was bound for the airport and a trip to Malta.

Why Malta?

To join the Salesians of Malta for the Annual Salesian Family Conference in Sliema. I have been asked by the leader of the Salesians on that island nation, Paul Formosa, to give the opening talk there this coming Saturday. The theme is to be "Educating with the Heart of Don Bosco."

Travel from Roma to Valletta

It took me over an hour to get ready and make sure I had all I needed, even though I had packed last night. I left the university by 6.10. I should have left 5 minutes earlier, because my wait for the bus was a long one. Yet, I met an elderly woman there who was waiting to catch the same bus and the same train as I… and we spoke about her daily trips to Magliana to see her husband who has been hospitalized there for some weeks now. When the bus finally arrived at 6.33, the driver raced through four stops the train station at Nuovo Salario, and we made it just in time to climb the stairs and board the train. It was 6.36.

After the first three stops, many passengers exited to get a connecting train at Tiburtina or Nomentana… and I found myself sitting next to the same eldLinker woman. We continued our little conversation and read a bit until her exit at Magliana… and I went on to Fiumicino, arriving at 7.44… At 8.00 the desk for Air Malta opened. I was the first to check in… and then faced security clearance. It was a good thing that I was early, because this was the slow part. Not that the officials were slow, but because the majority of the passengers are not used to air travel. By 9.00 I was through to the secure area, and so grabbed a breakfast and waited at the gate for the 10.05 boarding. As usual, I had lots to read, and so was not worried about wasting any time.

Paul Formosa met me at Malta International Airport, and drove me to Sliema, where I will be staying these days. I've known Paul since my first visit in 1997, and we have remained friends. Often we have communicated by internet, exchanged ideas on youth animation. Lately we have been in touch through Facebook. In fact, it was through facebook that Paul invited me to come to Malta for the Salesian Family Seminar this coming weekend.

Impressions of Don Bosco's work in Malta

They say that if you go to a new place for a week, you can write an encyclopedia. If you stay a month, you can write a book. If you stay a year, you can write an article. If you stay a lifetime, you remain puzzled as to what to say at all.

In this scheme of things, I should be able to write an encyclopedia of my impressions tonight, after 10 hours on the island of Malta… but since I came here 11 years ago, I probably could not put together even a article. That's okay. I'll do my best to record some initial impressions of the Salesian reality here (if not the national reality).

Provincial House

Well, it is the Salesian provincial delegate house, because Malta is not a province, nor a vice-province (visitatoria), but a delegation of the Irish province. The history of how this came to be is quite interesting and if I have time later to digress on to this point, I will tell the story. But this is a day for quick impressions… And so I just will say that the "delegation" house is on Triq San Gwan Bosco 10 -- at "number ten, St John Bosco Street". How is that for a Salesian address!

The house is completely under remodeling. The only rooms that are not being touched right now are those on the second storey (which, of course, in the USA would be the 3rd floor because Unitedstatesians like to be more dramatic and it makes their buildings sound taller). These were remodeled recently, from the look of it. My room overlooks the playground of the Oratory and right now I can hear the young people in the game center with their music and laughter. Quite nice to hear the enthusiasm of youth even at this hour.

The rest of the house is all being remodeled: woodwork, plaster, entries, upgraded toilets and bath rooms, ungraded electrical connections and internet, and painting. The reason for the wholesale upgrade is that the Salesians will welcome the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, to Malta next month, for the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Salesian Oratory.

With this the house is a bit empty. There are two Salesians living here for the moment: Fr Joseph Forte, whom I met 11 years ago shortly after his return from India, and another Salesian. The delegate is living at the house of St Alphonsus, one block up the street.

St Patrick's, Sliema

St Patrick's Salesian School, Sliema

This is the first Salesian house in Malta. The first Salesians were sent by Blessed Michael Rua and arrived here in November 1903. It took two years to complete the construction of the Salesian Industrial School, as it was originally to be called, but once the first boys arrived in March 1905, the school was re-named St Patrick's, after the patron saint of the first rector, Fr. Patrick O'Grady.

The work is of historic significance, and we did feature an article about the work in the Journal of Salesian Studies about a decade ago. In fact, it was Paul Formosa who wrote that article… and with Paul, I joined the community for a light lunch after parking my luggage at the delegation house.

Savio College, Dingli

In the evening, Paul took me to Dingli, on the far side of the island. Paul had been been rector for the past 12 years. During my last visit in 1997, Paul had just taken over there. This past September he left the post because he is now the provincial delegate.

We joined the formation community for a prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and supper. There were ten young adults and four Salesians (two of them recently ordained) that we met. I quickly learned that two of the young adults are aspirants, and a third will make the step soon. The others are part of a program called "Come and See". They actually spend two weeks each month working with the boys of the school and living with the community. The structure of the school and of the Come and See program is a bit complicated to explain at this moment, but what immediately needs to be said is that the vocation discernment program is healthy and mixes study, apostolate, community life, prayer, peer-exchange and personal responsibility. The young adults (all in university or recently graduated) are enthusiastic, supportive of one another, committed to the mission to youth and, from what I could see during the prayer hour, also very committed to a sacramental and scriptural prayer life.

Historic Malta by night

There is much to say about Dingli - and I'll add notes later… but it is getting late and I need to wrap this up.

Following the supper visit with the young Salesian community there at Dingli, and a tour of the facilities where I noted many important improvements that had been put into force since my first visit more than a decade ago, Paul took me for a drive to some of the historic places. Mdina, ancient capital of Malta, and Valetta, capital since the 17th-century. We admired the many wonders that we could see by the night lighting, and mainly spoke about the present climate in the Salesian delegation, the challenges to the Christian culture of the island, and the youth situation in Malta.

The night tourism was good to deepen conversations that Paul and I have tried to maintain over the internet for the last decade… and to orient me for the conference that I am to give on Saturday night to the Salesian Family.

Last impressions before going to sleep

Finally I can say that Malta is a tiny nation, and the Salesians are small in number here… but they use their resources well and have a great impact on the general public because they are strategic in their planning and global in their thinking. I'll try to give examples in the next few days.

Here I am: I love baroque artifacts… even old canons :-)