Discussing the future of Malta with several people last week, I learned that that the Maltese are worried about the future of this country. One man said he is afraid of the closing of churches.
The problems would be easy to solve, but, as usual, the solution staring most people in the face is simple.
This country has been blessed with prosperity and peace because of one huge asset-Catholicism.
The Catholic population once was made up of practicing Catholics. A lady told me on Saturday that her grandparents had eight children, her mother two, and she has one.
This is a contracepting culture.
The fact that the gorgeous, ancient, venerable churches are full of old and middle-aged people tells the story of a people making themselves extinct.
Materialism and consumerism plus the popularity of socialist parties show a real problem of Catholics not thinking like Catholics. They are thinking like secularists. Money comes first, comfort comes first. A woman said to me on Saturday that the non-Maltese do not mind living in crowded houses, with many in a small space, but the Maltese no longer want to do this. They put comfort and status before children.
Seeking status is a huge impetus, which trumps normal family life. People think they have to have cars, lots of things, a certain standard of living, which their grandparents were happy not to have.
I see babies daily when I am out and about. Few are Maltese babies, very few.
Demographics are changing the culture, and this is so obvious in a small space that many are talking about this.
But, what is needed is not talk but repentance, conversion, back to the simple teachings of the Church on the family.
Wealth has ruined Malta. Business seems more important than religion.
Without God, without Catholicism, nothing is important, and all becomes deadly.
The death of this culture would be a tragedy felt across the entire Mediterranean. The Maltese at one time kept the enemies of Catholicism from entering the continent of Europe.
We shall not see this strength again unless people return in their hearts, minds, and pocketbooks back to Jesus and Mary.
The lie of contraception is an open sore which is causing this lovely nation to bleed to death.
