Bishop Anton Teuma led a Solemn Pontifical in the Gozo Cathedral to mark the occasion of Gozo Day.

President Dr. George Vella and Mrs Vella, the President of the Region Dr. Samuel Azzopardi, and the Mayors and Chaplains from Gozo, were among those who attended the Mass.

In line with the social issues addressed in several of his homilies in recent months, the Bishop in his reflection, shared with the congregation what worries him, and his dreams for “our Gozo.”

The Bishop stated, “our Gozo is full of buildings, and a young couple has nowhere to live. Our Gozo is full of cars, and you cannot drive on the road. Our Gozo is full of `foreigners,’ but should we keep calling them foreigners?”

He said, “let us look ahead and see what can be done. We don’t live with nostalgia and the destruction of how we were, but with the hope of how we can be.”

Bishop Teuma asked, “why are there so many people alone, abandoned to themselves, on our little island?”

“I dream of creating a society of true integration, before it’s too late,” th Bishop said. “We must find ways to coexist with those who are different from us, otherwise they remain strangers to us and we are strangers to them.” He urged Gozitans to “find a way to meet together and plan things with each other, because this is the essence of the Gospel. This is the coming Gozo…”

“It is not only history and culture that unite us, but the relationships of love between us and how much we see the needs of each other and of those who are here among us today,” said the Bishop.

Bishop Teuma stressed that “something should be done both at the level of the building industry and at the level of traffic on our Gozo.”

The Bishop added that “these are situations where on the one hand those who are strong keep moving, and those who are weaker stay behind. But this is not the Gospel, this does not create a community, this does not allow us to feel more Gozitan.”

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