Foundations

The loving gaze of Jesus that constantly renews us and invites us to discern the presence of his Spirit

We propose to dedicate time, resources and training so, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we deepen our life of prayer and nurture a contemplative attitude. We open our hearts to Christ’s presence and to be renewed by him, to be one with the love of the Father. Our encounter with Christ transforms us to being a discerning people: whose thoughts and actions conform to those of Christ Jesus (Phil 2: 5) so our personal, professional and ecclesial lives can witness the joy of the Gospel.

Throughout the four years of the process, all our pastoral approaches must be oriented to this fundamental grace of the encounter with Christ.

To become one Church through our encounter with Christ, we prioritize praying with God’s word as we contemplate the face of Jesus of Nazareth and his loving gaze upon us. This enables us to recognise Him whenever He encounters us and we become persons who look upon others with his same loving gaze. Thus, like “every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven” who “brings from his storeroom both the new and the old” (Mt 13: 52), we reinforce positive practices, like Lenten talks and retreats, while being open to new initiatives developed by lay groups and movements, whether in the parish or diocese.

  • The availability of the Bible in Maltese, online, app, and printed versions.

PERSONS: Archdiocese of Malta; Vicariate for Evangelisation; Malta Bible Society

  • The formation of the People of God through various methods of prayer with Scripture with the aim that each person responds to God’s call for
    • conversion,
    • conforming to Christ (“Think as the Christ Jesus” [Phil 2:5]),
    • missionary zeal: we see the world through the eyes of Christ

PERSONS: Department of Sacred Scriptures (Faculty of Theology); Forum of Lay Movements; KSMR; Centre for Ignatian Spirituality (CIS).

  • Adoration: we pray in adoration so as to allow Christ into leading us in an intimate relationship with the Father, in whom everything begins and ends (Gaudete et Exsultate, 155). Formation, to this end, of those who animate adoration sessions (Liturgy animators/Commission of Liturgy; priests).

PERSONS: Forum of Lay Movements; KSMR with their respective charisms.

  • Liturgy: the highest form of the encounter between the Risen Christ and His People occurs in Liturgy. The Bishops, together with experts in this regard, are to initiate a process which reinforces the efforts to date with regard to the translation and the publication of liturgical texts.

PERSONS: The Bishops; the Interdiocesan Commission for the Liturgy, the College of Parish Priests.

  • Popular Religiosity: the founding of an ad hoc group with the aim of restoring the profound sense of popular religiosity in Malta so that it can be purified to channel the encounter with Christ and our people’s piety becomes more rooted in the Word.

PERSONS: Vicariate for Evangelisation; Vicariate Clergy and Parishes

  • Training for priests, members of religious Orders and the laity (including pastoral workers) with an emphasis on three areas: personal and professional choices; the accompaniment of persons according to their particular life situations; communal discernment within Church structures.
  • Renewal of the Church’s structures to reveal synodality and discernment as central to our operations: How is the role of the “consultative council” to be understood in its fullest sense? What is required from leaders in the parish? How do ecclesial structures reflect who the Church is called to be? How do they facilitate the whole community’s functioning according to its calling and its mission?

PERSONS: The Bishops with the collaboration of all those involved in this field: e.g. the Jesuits and the Centre for Ignatian Spirituality (CIS); the Vicariate for the Clergy and Parishes.

  • We implement on a local scale the Church’s vision as proposed by the Magisterium with a particular attention to Evangelii gaudium and the documents of the Maltese Diocesan Synod 1999–2003.
  • The Pastoral visit of Pope Francis renews the determination of the Church in Malta to be a People of God that listens, welcomes, accompanies and goes forth especially to those who are most vulnerable or marginalised.

PERSONS: Bishops with the collaboration of all those involved.