Interviewing a Maltese Married Catholic Priest

I had the pleasure and honor to interview Fr. Daniel Bartolo, a Maltese married Catholic priest. I hope you enjoy his answers to my questions as much as I did.

• Q: Were you ordained a priest before or after your marriage ? If after your marriage, then how did you get the approval of the Catholic church?
  
  A: I was ordained before choosing to live with my wife. I did not ask for the approval of the church nor did I get one. I simply moved on.




• Q: How do you manage your time between family and church duties?
  
  A: I don't see a problem between family and church duties. There are millions of persons who work and have a family. Why does a 'priest's' work be different? I mean if one feels part of the family, one has to spend quality time with his family i.e. including a number of hours in order to be present and help with the family's basic needs. In my case I still do most of the shopping besides other things.




• Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a married Catholic priest?
  
  A: The advantages are that the way you think, write, feel and become changes completely. Although comparison are odious, yet looking in retrospect, I used to think about futile thinks in the church. Now having a normal family I have changed my priorities completely. Obviously in my case I have twins (3 years old) and an adolescent boy - 16 years old. Well now I truly understand that taking care of your own children is a very demanding job.
  
  The disadvantages are that it's still a new think in the western church. Hence some people feel that they were sort of misled. Others still think of marriage together with priesthood as something bad! The fact is that some people never allow new things to overcome their teething problems. They are already full of prejudice. Well time will heal!




• Q: Do you think not allowing married priests in the Catholic church will hurt the recruitment of Catholic priests in the future and vise versa?
  
  A: I think that married priesthood is a jewel as much as celibate priests. It should appeal to today's generation for various reasons. If presented well to the people it would add to the beauty of priesthood. It could be the missing link in today's vocation camp. Consequently it would help the recruitment of Catholic priests.




• Q: How can the Catholic church attract people to become clergy?
  
  A: In the first place religion has to be presented in a way which shows God's presence in today's world. It cannot be a formula coming from high above but rather people's experience which is put on a very high level to meet God. If religion makes sense for today's life, then obviously one of the consequences would be that the number of candidates for priesthood would increase immensely.




• Q: What do you think of the gay Catholic priests? Do you think it's fair to almost ban gay men from the priesthood?
  
  A: I don't see why we put all this emphasis on the sexual part or intentions of a person. Why don't we focus on other qualities which surely are needed for today's ministers: understanding other people; delivering the right message for the right people; planning pastoral action; reading the signs of the times, leaving the comfort of the cloistery to live in the world etc.....I don't have any problems with gay people and I don't see why they shouldn't be ordained




• Q: What's the best way to keep youths in the church?
  
  A: We have to accompany them in their journey of life. We can't preach simply by using beautiful words. But if they see us facing the same normal life but with courage, then we would be a 'light'. The problem is that many times the life of the pastor is sort of protected, hence it loses its significance. Secondly we have to forget to speak or to dish out the perfect formula and become silent listeners without judging or labeling.




• Q: How can Catholics measure their success in life?
  
  A: If we bring about small changes in the life of those who are next to us, then surely we are bringing big changes in our world.




• Q: What are the largest challenges for the Catholic church to overcome in the next decade?
  
  A: Years ago we were concerned that people did not know Catholic formulas by heart. Now many people simply don't care what the Catholic church thinks! We have to make bridges in one way or another with a vast majority because people have become very suspicious about our religion. Others don't feel the need to adhere to any type of religion. Others live as if God does not exist. There are great injustices in the world. It seems that many people are too busy to notice.




• Q: Should Catholics who are going through a marriage annulment being allowed to take the Eucharist?
  
  A: Obviously yes. There are no legal problems. But I take the opportunity to speak about the divorced ones. God created man and woman and not robots! Some people like the pharisees are prepared to kill in order to save a law! Blind observance to a law is never a Catholic attitude. It's too simple to find truth. These people have gone through endless sleepless nights in order to take a long awaited decision. Why do we treat them like children and dare to judge them?! If they can't receive communion what about the other people? Who is without a sin? There are various sectors in society where people damage other people by different methods. Even in business we hear many incredible stories of how one company flourished by resorting to dirty tricks.....Why do we let these receive communion? Why do we single out those who have the courage to start afresh?




• Q: Is there a base for the rule that prohibits Catholics divorced outside the Catholic church [court divorce] from taking the Eucharist?
  
  A: There are many things to say about this. One of them is surely is that we interpret Christ out of context. Throughout the whole bible, God's favourites are the orphans and the widows. Women who were divorced in Christ's times were in the same social level as that of widows. Nobody cared for them and they literally lived day by day. Many of them died with hunger besides neglect, loss of social status etc.....Christ explains his opposition to divorce because in the mentality of those days, the woman risked all whilst the man won easily all legal quarrels. Hence opposing divorce was opposing to a situation where women could become more like animals wandering in the streets.
  
  We grow in our feelings, behaviour, attitude etc....The choices we made yesterday maybe were not to the best of our ability. We realise some things only after years of experience. Jesus was always in favour of man when there was a conflict with law, like the one who needed desperate help but it was Sabbath. Surely, when a man or woman has a marriage failure, he/she has every right to start anew. If one says that he cannot, then we define God as a person who likes to see people suffering. It seems like the old idea where fathers and mothers used to offer the blood of their virgin daughter to please the angry God.




• Q: There's definitely a gap and misunderstanding among the different religious sectors. How should we reach to people of other religious or Christian sectors?
  
  A: There are various methods. One would be to meet on a personal level. I'm always of the same opinion that prejudice is high with people we don't know. When we get to know people, our fears simply disappear. Secondly, if we truly practice humility in the sense that we don't know it all, then we would be more open to listen and to know other opinions.




• Q: Do Catholics represent a minority or majority in Malta?
  
  A: The Catholics represent the majority according to the baptism register. According to other criteria, then things are changing pretty fast. In fact, when studies are done in order to find what people believe and what they do in everyday life, the surprises are the order to the day.




• Q: What's the best Maltese meal? :-)
  
  A: There are various meals: rabbit, widow's soup [widow's soup was supposed to be for very poor people ie. Literally boiling water with some vegetables. Today it has become a heavy meal!] (!!), local fish (el dorado), local cow's meat, local bread together with tomatoes, olives, oil etc...

Thank you Fr. Daniel for taking the time to answer my questions.