Can John Muscat installed as new Fontana Parish Priest

During a solemn Mass on Sunday, Gozo Bishop Mons. Mario Grech installed Canon John Muscat as the new Fontana Parish Priest.

Before the Mass, Can Joseph Muscat was accompanied by the La Stella Band and the Sta. Margerita Band who jointly played festive band marches along the main streets of Fontana.

Dr John Galea’s Missa Fons Vitae was performed during the solemn Mass with the participation of Chorus Urbanus and orchestra. The Proprium of the Feast of the Sacred Heart composed also by Dr Galea was performed during the High Mass.

The congregation on this special occasion included numerous Fontana parishioners as well as a number of Sannat parishioners, the parish from where Can Muscat hails and members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre headed by the Lieutenency’s present Commander Eric Fenech Pace and ex-Comm. H.E. Victor Licari.

The Mass ended with Vincenzo Ciappara’s Antiphon Ad Iesum Autem in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Patron of Fontana. After the mass, the congregation was invited for a reception on the Church parvis.

Canon Muscat was born in Sannat in 1959 and after attending the village primary school he moved on to the Victoria Lyceum. In 1975 he started the philosophical and theological formation at the Gozo Seminary and was ordained a Priest by Pope John Paul II in Rome on May 31, 1984

Also in 1984 he began his pastoral work in Camden New Jersey and performed various ministries in the Council of Vocations Commission between Jews and Catholics, the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, Director of Propaganda faith, Catholic Relief Services Director for the diocese and missions of Brazil and Assistant Spiritual Director at the Seminary of St. Charles Philadelphia. He was also a Parish Administrator of several parishes and followed a four year course in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Fr. John returned to Malta in 2007 after 23 years of pastoral service abroad. He was appointed Honorary Canon of the Collegiate of Gharb in November 2009, Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in the Cathedral of New York in 2003 and Commander of the Order in the Cathedral of Mdina Malta, by Nuncio Apostolic in 2011.