The bishopric of Mons Nikola Ġużeppi and the parish's turbulence in the 60’s and 70’s

Abstract

The bishopric of Mons. Nikola Ġużeppi Cauchi was a long and eventful one. He had to face various difficulties from mass emigration, parochialism, religio-political clashes, and the secularisation of a century-old Catholic diocese. This essay will focus on parochialism as a subject and how this issue was tackled by the said bishop during his episcopate. The first issues of parochialism began in 1933 when some parishes lost some of their privileges. Furthermore, the parish of St George which in 1688 lost its independence and was reunited with the Matrice church of the Assumption received independence once more but was requesting its seniority over the other parishes, which led to trouble. Bishop Cauchi received this trouble as hereditary from his predecessors. This bishop in many ways had introduce back balance and order within these parishes.