Malta: Salesians try something new

Trip to Senglea

At 10.00 in the morning I met Paul Formosa at his house, St Alphonsus, on Triq Carm Galea. Besides being provincial delegate of the Maltese delegation, Paul is rector of this community which celebrates 100 years this year. I had a cup of coffee with Paul and with Eric Cachia, the community and delegation financial administrator. Then Paul drove me to the bay town of Senglea, which is one of the poorest areas of the nation.

Entrance to St Alphonsus Community on Triq Carm Galea

The Salesians have been wanting to work in this area of the country for years, but there never seemed to be an opening. Last year, however, the Jesuits moved out of a "house" where they had been working for 50 years, and the Archbishop offered the house to the Salesians. Two ex-provincial delegates are working there and forming the first community as of last month, October. They are Victor Mangion (rector) and Alfred Sacco. They are joined by the only Brother of the delegation, Emanuel Gatt.

As we neared the town of Senglea, Paul pointed out the dome of the parish church. That church, baroque in the style of the 1500s, is a beauty to behold. But we are not in the parish. We have our own house, he said, and pointed to another dome. We got closer and I realized that the house is a convent -- a huge one at that.

"The Jesuits could not longer carry forward their mission here," Paul told me, "so this is why we have the opportunity. But the house needs a lot of work."

I looked at the main entrance, and recognized the statue of St Philip Neri. "So, the Oratorian Fathers were here first?" I asked.

Paul looked surprised. "Yes! How did you know that?"

"The statue of Filippo Neri. Who else would put that at the entrance?" My response made Paul laugh… and we walked up the short way from where we parked on the street to enter by the open door, under the guardianship of St Philip Neri, who was distracted obviously, because he was looking out over the roofs at the sea.

Victor was in his office, waiting for us, and Alfred came up the corridor almost immediately. There were workmen everywhere, plastering, painting, sanding… well, workmen and their adolescent sons who worked beside their fathers in the trade. I could not help but reflect how when most people move, they remodel their homes so that they can get a higher value for the sale. This place has been neglected for years. It isn't that the Jesuits got old and could not maintain it. They came 50 years ago, and the last attempt to clean the facility goes back before their arrival. How sad.

We walked from room to room on what I thought was the ground floor… and until we went down a flight of stairs… and saw another door out to the ground… More rooms, high ceilings, and two or three entrances. "This is the part we will give over to the young people for their games," said Fr Victor. "The real idea of the center is to reach out to the poor of this area," he continued. "At this point we are making contacts… but mainly we are cleaning up this old monastery.

Succession seen in Senglea:
Paul Formosa, at center, with his two predecessors as provincial delegates,
Alfred Sacco (L) and Victor Mangion (R).

On the lower floor there was one door locked. Victor pulled out his huge keyring and unlocked it, and accompanied us inside to the convent library. As with most of the building, the room was covered with a layer of dust, but this was the convent treasure. The books went back to the 1600s and 1700s. I recognized the style of binding, since I had worked in a library through high school and college. There were books on pastoral life and preaching, as well as on arguments of Christian teaching. This was the formative resource of generations of Oratorians who had ministered on the island of Malta, and now these books all rested quietly on open shelves, waiting to be rediscovered by scholars. All the books that I looked at were written in Latin. It would have been wonderful to work through a few shelves and see what was really there, but there was no time. Our tour continued.

We climbed the stairs again, and then went into what I thought was a side room. Instead, it was the entry to the room. From here we could see two bays, with ocean liners and fishing fleets. The bay of Valletta, and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.

Cruise ship moving docked at Valletta

We could also see the parish church, which was barely a five-minute walk on the street. Victor explained that the parish church (The Nativity of Mary) was bombed by the Germans during World War II, as were many other churches, and the docks and ports. But this convent was never bombed. This was not a miracle, but a practical matter for the Germans. From the air they used to spot the dome of this convent church, and the dome would guide them into the harbor, where they would make their attacks. Just as they did with London, the Germans bombed Malta continuously during 1941, for this was an important port for the British. And just as in London, the people of Malta courageously rode out the bombings.

Red dome of the convent church makes the it highly visible

The parishioners took advantage of the sad situation, and moved everything into the convent. It housed people and was the church for the duration of the war. Only after the war did they rebuild their church of the Nativity of Mary. They rebuilt it according to the style and specifications of the original 1580 structure, and in 1956 this parish and national shrine to the Virgin Mary was completed and consecrated. It had been declared a basilica by Benedict XV in 1921, and it looks every bit that today.

Relevant to the Salesians is that the convent and church that they have taken over last month actually belongs to the parish ever since the Oratorians left. So, all the expense for the renovations are paid for by the parish.

To get a better look, we climbed up to the next level of roof – the roof of the convent church. It is dedicated officially to St Philip Neri, but the people of the region and the sailors and fishing population call it "Our Lady of Good Port". When from the sea they see the red dome and the massive doors of the Church, they know they can turn into the safe harbor. So not just the Germans used the church as a guide into Malta's harbors; the people have done it for four centuries.

View of the entrance of the bay into the Mediterranean Sea from church roof

We climbed up to the roof of the church by means of the bell tower. The view was even more complete that that which we had seen from the roof of the convent. It was also evident that, except for a row of homes immediately in front of the church, the majority of the dwellings in the neighborhood are poorer… especially as the stretch away from the convent. "This will represent a new kind of work for us," Paul explained to me. "We are not going to set up a new structure here, like a school or a hostel. Instead our plan and hope is to work with existing agencies: to bring our sensibilities to people already working for the poor of Senglea.

This sounded interesting. It is something that, in our own province, we have been trying to do in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. Of course, we do not have a 17th-century shrine to work from, I thought. This does have the advantage of adding visibility to the Salesians who will engage in this outreach mission.

After a good look around, the four of us climbed back down through the belltower and followed into the church. The church is bigger inside that I had suspected from the outside or even from the roof. Or maybe this is illusion. In any case, the worship space is perfectly baroque (and I love baroque). There was evidence of a lot of cleaning and polishing going on in these days. The people who are attached to this church as their woship community are getting the church ready for the visit of the Rector Major, Pascual Chávez, on 9 December, when he will celebrate a mass here.

Will that mass be a way to launch the mission? Will it just be a stop-over of sorts? This is an important question. The risk of the new presence in Senglea is that people may expect the Salesians to become curators of a 16th-century convent and church… museum curators. Instead, they have come to Senglea to make a contribution to the poor families and the young. They are hoping to to really work for the human development of these families. Quite a proportion of Salesians in Malta are trained psychologists, social workers and counselors. They are attracting a number of young adults to the community who are already trained in these skills. Hopefully, the mission at Senglea can be shaped by this expertise and awareness.

This was the gist of our conversation as we walked through the convent, and as Paul and I drove back to Sliema. New challenges demand new expertise and innovative approaches, but in the same spirit of the Salesian charism. And the new challenges, represented by Senglea offer new hope to the Salesians in Malta.