1 THE MALTESE PRESENCE IN NORTH AMERICA E-NEWSLETTER Issue 20 NOVEMBER 2020 SOME OF FR. LAWRENCE E. ATTARD’S WORKS ON MALTESE EMIGRATION (see pages 11-12) 2 The Maltese Presence newsletter have been greatly influ- any time of the year. in North America enced by and are much indebted to I know the video, From Malta to Issue No. 20 November him. Motor City, on Livin Malta has 2020 My thanks to Fr. Mario Micallef sparked much interest, especially Editor (page 2), the Consul General of the by the Maltese living in Metropolitan Dan Brock Republic of Malta for Canada Detroit. I have provided an added (pages 4, 7-10) and Lisa LiGreci dimension to it. (See pages 16-18) Copy Editor (pages 5-6) for their submissions. Page 20 shows samples of news- Mona Vella Nicholas Without their input, the monthly letters, past and present, of North issues would be less relevant to the American associations. In a future Contributors to This Issue reader. issue I hope to illustrate examples CANADA Hand in hand with these are the from other Maltese organizations. Ontario emails and Facebook messages My thanks to the readers for their Consulate General of Malta to received concerning the activities, comments. This motivates me to try Canada webpage albeit rather limited under the even harder. Richard S. Cumbo present circumstances, from the Again, I would like to wish our Fr. Mario Micallef various Maltese associations and American readers all the best in the USA government representatives. (See November 3rd elections and a Hap- Michigan pages 13-14) In this latter instance py Thanksgiving on November 26th. Lisa LiGreci I would like to single out Her As in past issues, I can be reached Australia Excellency Vanessa Frazier, Per- through [email protected], be New South Wales manent Representative of Malta to it ideas you wish to share, etc. Mark Caruana the United Nations. Without her alerting me to the Zoom discussion CONTENTS EDITORIAL COMMENT held on October 14th (see page 14) 2. Editorial Comment We’re now into November and I, and most of the readership, would 3. Pastor’s Thoughts… there seems to be no end in sight still be in the dark. 4. Notice from the Consulate with this coronavirus pandemic. In Despite the fact that this news- General of the Republic of fact, this second wave is worse than letter has been in existence for Malta to Canada that of last spring! Still, the world nearly two years some Maltese 5. How to Brine Fresh Green survived the Spanish Flu of 100 associations and government re- Olives (Kif Tissalmura Ż- years ago and worse pandemics presentatives in North America still Żebbuġ Aħdar Frisk) before that. Our faith is in God. seem to be unaware of its existence 7. Monthly Message of the Con- Speaking about God, no doubt this or have deliberately chosen to ig- sul General of the Republic of present situation will alter plans nore this voice of the Maltese in Malta for Canada worldwide when it comes to visiting North America. 10. The Maltese Canadian Club of the graves of loved ones on I find it particularly irksome that London’s Presence at the November 1st (All Saints Day) and they will notify the two Maltese Multi-Cultural Festival, Cen- November 2nd (All Souls Day). Ditto newsletters published in Australia— tennial Hall, London for Memorial Masses. half a world away—concerning 10. Reader Comments Locally, I plan to send emails to activities here in North America and 11. Fr. Lawrence E. Attard, OP the Maltese community in the yet not inform the editor of a Remembered London, Ontario area, providing Maltese newsletter published on 13. Letter to the Editor of This them with the names, dates and their own continent! Newsletter place of deaths of their loved ones An article which most should find 13. Activities within the Maltese who have died, worldwide, within interesting is the account of a pain- Communities the past year so that all of us can ting executed by Edmund Mon- 14. Yet Another Arrival on the take a few minutes to remember tague Morris, who was not Maltese, Sobieski! and pray for them. Under normal but this work has a Maltese Cana- 14. “Pumpkins at Halloween” conditions, this would have been dian twist. (See page 15) 15. Where Is This Painting Now? done at a Memorial Mass held in the Halloween may be over for another 16. From Malta to Motor City and mausoleum at the local Catholic ce- year and, owing to COVID-19, may on to London, Ontario metery. have been celebrated differently 18. Maltese Organizations in North This month’s feature article cen- than previously. I invite you, America tres around the late Fr. Lawrence E. however, to go on Charles J. Vella’s 20. Sample Newsletters of Some Attard, OP. (See pages 1, 11-12) At webpage “Pumpkins at Halloween.” North American Associations least three of the contributors to this (See page 14) The work of his Past and Present. family and friends can be enjoyed 3 GLEANINGS FROM THE SUNDAY BULLETIN ‘times, prophets are very often uncomfortable because they challenge us to change, to move out of PASTOR’S THOUGHTS… our comfort zone. Truth is that conversion is a life-long process. As long as we are alive, there is always room for improvement in our lives. …it would be a good idea to stop and think who are, or have been, prophets in our lives. Who are those people whom God has sent to help me to become a better Christian, a better person? Even though they might cause discomfort in our lives, deep down we all know that God sent them for our own good. Indeed, they are God’s gifts for us, and for this we should be grateful. Fr. Mario Micallef, MSSP, is pastor of St. Paul the Apostle, Toronto, the only Maltese national parish in North America. Jesus’ Message is all about Love, Joy and Life These “Pastor’s thoughts…” are extracts from his commen- taries on the Sunday readings which are published in the Sometimes people talk about faith as if it were a Parish’s Sunday Bulletin. burden, a series of dos and don’ts to be strictly adhered We Are All Called to, otherwise harsh punishments are to be expected. to Be Present in the Father’s Vineyard This is very often accompanied by an image of God whose mission in life is to be ready to judge and As a community of believers, we are all called to be condemn us as soon as we do something wrong. present in the Father’s vineyard. It is our home. This is very, very different to the God Jesus Christ Depending on our vocation in life, we are all called to came to proclaim, and to the kind of life he came to give our share and participate in the mission of Jesus. announce. Speaking about his mission on earth, he Whether as parent or grandparents, pastors or friends, once said, “I have come that they may have life, and the calling is for everybody. There will be times when have it to the full.” He also said that whatever he told us we do not feel like it, or times when we might feel was “so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be discouraged. We do go through those moments when complete.” These, and other quotes from the gospels we are tempted to give everything up. clearly show us that Jesus’ message is all about love, We continue to walk on the journey our predecessors joy and life. have started. They knew that being part of a parish community is different to being a spectator. They gave The Image of God their part. Like all of us they were not perfect. They Giving to God what belongs to God is what we did in made mistakes, but they were good enough to correct our baptism. There we died for the world and offered and move on….Being a Christian does not mean being our lives to God. With our baptismal promises we made perfect! a commitment to live the rest of our lives according to As a parish community we are called to continue God’s wishes. together on our journey of faith. We are called to Jesus’ invitation is still very relevant to us today. Like continue to give witness to our God who is always the people in Jesus’ time we, too, have to choose which present and continuously loving. We are called to God to serve in our lives. The idols that might want to encourage and help each other grow. We are called to allure us in life can be many: money, work, self-image, help others experience what we have freely received. ambitions. As Christians, we belong to God because Sometimes we might feel discouraged and tempted to His image is imprinted in us. Let us give God what truly give up. These who came before us inspire us to move belongs to him. If we want to see what the image of God on. Because, deep down, we known that that’s the right looks like, Jesus’ words come to our help when he told thing to do. us “whoever sees me sees the Father.” So, living up to God Continues Sending Us Prophets God’s image simply means living the same kind of life that Jesus lived – a life of total, self-giving love. [God] never ceases sending us prophets to help us in Let us live up to the image that is imprinted in us: our lives.