The long and glorious annals of the Church in Malta begin with the story of how that Church was founded by St. Paul in the year 60 AD after he was shipwrecked on his way to Rome and spent three months living in a cave. St Paul is celebrated everywhere in Malta as is St. Luke who accompanied him and who of course wrote the story afterwards in the Acts of the Apostles.

The most recent annals are set to record that in the last November of the second Christian millennium a certain IAPCE duo made their way from the Marino Institute of Education to the same destination as St Paul, guests of the Church he had founded and with a mission of talking to chaplains, counsellors, principals and teachers in an attempt to promote the notion of making schools more caring, more pastoral, more Christian places. Talking about getting     relationships right, of partnerships, of the conditions under which we could have faith in the schools of the next century - new twists perhaps to the age old message first delivered by two prisoners struggling ashore from the wrecked remains of a Roman ship. As our Air Malta Boeing 737 banked over the nearby island of Gozo we were ruminating on the way in which our travels were intersecting with the missionary journeys of St Paul. A nice thought that was encouraged by the added resonance that we were staying at the Archbishop's Seminary at Rabat only a stone's throw from the cave where the famous castaways had taken shelter.

 In our humbler moments we recognised that we only had a few days in which to have an impact and that we were arriving not so much shipwrecked as simply wrecked. And while one noted that one's companion was Luke also, one was aware that sainthood was occasionally questioned in this instance, that an aversion to rough caves was well known, and that while he was author of a bestseller or two, he was willing in this case - nay ironically insistent - that his companion be the one to write the acts for that growing spiritual canon which is Pastoral Care News.

The Budget in Malta had been announced on the day of our arrival and there was much talk of Malta's imminent joining of the EC, how their economy would emulate our tiger and how they too were going to milk the gravy train. Amongst all the mixed metaphors the only thing we were certain of was that they were going to milk us. Our programme consisted of six presentations in four days, four of them lasting more than three hours. All sessions were to take place a half hour's journey away (we will pass over the driving in silence) at the Knights' city of Valetta and when we turned up at Gonzi Hall on the first morning a half hour before kick-off, there were already two hundred intense souls waiting expectantly. The sharp intaking of breath was exacerbated by the arrival of a Malta Television crew who pointed cameras at our opening presentation and requested interviews during the twenty minute break.

One way or another we survived the character training and the trial by ordeal, and by the time the few days were up, a nation which had rebuffed Suleiman the Magnificent and the Desert Fox, chastised the French and sent the British packing were at least asking if we would come back again.The only sad note was that the very sincere wishes of IAPCE colleagues - that we enjoy our November sojourn in the Mediterranean sun and return with a tan - would be so cruelly subverted not only by the arduous programme undertaken but also by the sun's pointed reticence during our stay. Well wishers can be consoled, however, at the thought of us sipping a respectable meriot under the oleander tree on the balcony of the Palazzo Zara, perched high on the walls of the ancient city of Mdina. Think of us there looking down on the twinkling lights of Malta as we came to terms with secondi piatti and thoughts of the doici ahead while expressing voluble and lugubrious toasts to dear and absent friends. You are free to note that it was never like that in St.Paul's day.

Ned Prendergast.

back | home

Publications | Programmes | Newsletter | Contact Us | Services | Membership

Copyright iapce. Marino Institute of Education, Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9.