The results of the latest European Value Studies survey, carried out across Europe by researchers in several European universities, including Professor Anthony M. Abela of the University of Malta, and published in The Times yesterday, surely came as no surprise to us in Malta.

The majority of the Maltese have always been staunchly Catholic, as can be seen not only in the number of churches and the religious feasts held throughout the year, but also in church attendance and in the cherishing of Catholic values regarding such matters as God, abortion, divorce, euthanasia, and the family.

Indeed, compared to other Europeans, with very few exceptions, the Maltese come out way ahead when it comes to church attendance and belief in God, rules of morality, trust in the Church as an institution, but also in concern for the sick and the elderly.

The deeply ingrained religious tradition in these islands is also reflected in the proverbial hospitality of the Maltese, their great generosity towards the poor at home and in third world countries and those afflicted by natural calamities and the frequent displays of solidarity.

Response to appeals for generosity for the Missions or for particular charitable causes is predictably overwhelming. Raising funds for major charitable causes, made easier by just dialling a number and paying with the next telephone bill, has become commonplace, breaking records year after year.

But let not these rosy facts and figures delude us into thinking that the moral values of the Maltese, and especially of the rising generation, in many instances are not slipping badly. One could blame it on growing affluence, on the veritable bombardment of TV programmes and images from around the world which inexorably erode traditional values through pornography or their depiction of hedonistic lifestyles and materialism where God or spirituality is completely absent. The fact remains that a lot of what was ‘sacred‘ is no longer so. This is seen in attitudes to premarital sex, for example, where ironically it is those who do not practise it that are considered ‘strange‘; not to mention belief in the afterlife or in the personal morality of forgiving “those who trespass against you” and loving your enemies! Or the growing presence of blasphemy, obscenities and swearwords in ordinary conversation.

And what about marital breakdowns? An increasing number of young and not so young married couples are separating, and moving into adulterous relationships, which Maltese society has practically accepted as ‘normal‘. The high number of marriage breakdowns - affecting all classes - betrays inadequate preparation, an absence of commitment, lack of altruism and declining personal moral standards.

Respect for human life is waning; this is not only seen in the brutal murders (of which we have had quite a few in recent years), but also in the growing indifference to human life: whether it is through drug-taking, drunkenness, or irresponsible driving.

We have seen a rise in major robberies and armed hold-ups - some targeting the same victims again and again - and even in petty theft like bag-snatching, or thefts from parked cars in broad daylight, causing great stress and trauma to the victims, aside from the inconvenience.

Or, to mention a minor thing which, however, is significant. Christmas cards which feature the protagonist of this great feast - namely the Baby Jesus, born in a manger in Bethlehem almost 2,000 years ago - have almost become a rarity among the thousands of cards featuring (often smutty) jokes, snow-covered cottages, Teddy Bears, Father Christmas riding a sled or coming down chimneys, or roaring log fires (none of which can even remotely be associated with Christmas in Malta, or indeed with the real meaning of Christmas). Indeed, the growing commercialisation of Christmas could be considered as an erosion of the value which we Maltese normally attach to this feast which celebrates the birth of the Saviour of Mankind. Although changes in public morality inevitably reflect a worldwide trend, accelerated in this age of instant communications and the constant bombardment of information and images referred to earlier, a lot can be done by our educators - starting with the family - to instil in the young the eternal principles of right and wrong, and the values handed to us by our Christian faith. In their Sunday homilies (increasingly the only occasion for many Maltese to hear the Word of God) Mass celebrants should lay greater emphasis, we feel, on how to face up to moral situations in everyday life, inspired by the liturgy of the day. Some hold - among them the Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Cauchi - that the Church should counter the materialism and the new amorality spread by commercial stations by having its own TV station. It is an idea worth considering.

© Allied Newspapers Ltd 2001