Catania PS

The photo is of the Italian Red Cross on bikes at the St Agatha procession!  They are in University square.

I forgot to mention the first part of our excursion on our last day in Catania.  I'm not sure where it was, but I think it was a Carmelite sanctuary.  The reason I wanted to say something about it is because the visit brought home to me how my religious beliefs or lack of them puts me on the outer in the Maltese community.

During the week, the priest who was on the tour with us conducted a short mass each morning in the hotel before breakfast.  That was no problem for me - I simply stayed in bed a little longer.  But for this last visit to the sanctuary, the bus driver had organised for a priest to lead the group in prayer.  We were invited to sit down in the pews and he spoke in Italian so I didn't know what was going on.  It didn't worry me - I simply sat quietly and contemplated the surroundings.

Outside the sanctuary there are orange trees planted in the square and strange, large stone hands stuck out of the walls presumably to hold banners for special occasions.  I learnt from a passer-by that the oranges were not good to eat but were used for medicinal purposes and also made a good marmalade.  The bus driver distributed small pictures of St Agatha.

One of the tour group said to me, "you are not a Catholic."

"No"

"That is why you are not interested."

I was startled because I had not considered that I was conveying a lack of interest.  I mumbled "It isn't that I'm not interested.  I just don't understand."

I have wondered about it since then.  It means that part of me will remain a visitor in an island where Catholic faith is a central part of life.  In Catania, faith was the core that brought all the tour group together but also linked them to the people of Catania.  I can respect and appreciate the community that that faith creates but I can't enter into it at a fundamental level.