The Comic-book Journalism of
Maltese American Joe Sacco
FMLA Newsletter Issue 10 June - July 2011
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 2
From the Editor’s Desk:
When „Comics are NOT Just for Kids
I remember the phone call I received in the late 1990s from Victor
Debattista, a friend who then was a graduate student in astrophysics at
Rutgers University. ―Did you see the New York Times Magazine article on
Joe Sacco?‖
Joe Who? I asked myself. He must be an artist, probably with a Maltese
background, as I knew Victor was very knowledgeable about Maltese art
and artists. In fact, we first met at a Maltese art exhibit held at Fordham
University in New York City.
Victor, now a fellow in the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute at the University of Central
Lancashire, Preston, UK, went on to explain that Sacco, born in Malta but living in the
United States since he was a child, was a well-known cartoonist who was a journalist.
Cartoonist and journalist in the same phrase?
Like many people, I did read comic strips and popular comics as a child and when I was a
teenager (gasp!) started looking at editorial cartoons in the daily newspaper.
But then, real ―comics‖ to me, were something that pimple-
faced teen-aged boys kept under the bed and read when no
one was around because the focus was on violence, sex, and
fantasy.
I had a lot to learn and have. Today, graphic novels, as they
often are called, are part of high school and college literature
courses.
The New York Times Magazine article Victor referred me to
was about a new book Sacco had published on Palestine;
actually, it was a series of smaller stories compiled into a
larger book.
Victor suggested that I might want to read first a graphic
piece Sacco had written about his mother‘s harrowing
experience during World War II when Malta was under siege. Because this was the time
before Internet book sales, I went to a comic book store in New York and looked for that
first story. I found it, read it, and was mesmerized. This was, indeed, a talented cartoonist
and journalist, and I would read more.
On our cover this month is Carmen M. Sacco‘s (nee‘ Farrugia) account of what happened to
her and members of her family and community during those terrible war years in Malta. It is
a story we should not forget, and as Sacco notes in our article about his work beginning on
page 5, that is what his mother kept telling him.
The stories our elders tell us about hardship, life in bomb shelters, courage, and hope that
were part of World War II in Malta should never be ignored nor forgotten.
But are young people listening? What have you done to keep the memories alive and
enlighten the younger generation about the past of their elders? Perhaps a look at Carmen
Sacco's account of her experience would be a good starting point.
Saћћa u sliem dejjem! Claudia Caruana ■
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 3
From The President:
Linking Maltese Around the WorldOn the anniversary of the
setting up of the
Federation for Maltese
living Abroad (FMLA) it is a
good time to reflect on
what precisely has been
achieved over the past
year.
At the Convention held in Malta in March
2010, a group of interested persons met to
discuss the future of the organisation, then
known as FOMA. Discussion took place as to
what needs to be done to rejuvenate that
Federation. At that meeting election officers
were selected to conduct elections, for the
first time, to appoint a new committee.
In July 2010, elections were organised and
11 members were elected as committee
members. Subsequently, I was declared
President, Albert Vella, Secretary, and
Claudia Caruana, Editor of the newsletter,
The Maltese Link.
Perhaps the three most significant
achievements over this period of time have
been the following:
■ The setting
up of a Constitution
for the Federation.
No organisation can
function properly
without clearly
defined guidelines as
to its administration
and modus operandi.
So it is with
considerable pride
that we drafted a
constitution which,
within a few months,
was available for
discussion by all
delegates to the
Convention and
members of the
Federation.
■ The second milestone was the
publication of our newsletter: The Maltese
Link. The first issue of this newsletter
appeared in September 2010, only a couple
of months after the new FMLA came into
existence. It has been hailed as an
attractive medium for the dissemination of
information around the world. It is
distributed electronically and by mail to
approximately 3,000 individuals and
organisations. Thanks are due to the Editor,
Claudia Caruana as well as to the Secretary,
Albert Vella, for the not inconsiderable work
effort involved in the production and
distribution of The Maltese Link. ■ The third, and most recent
achievement is our new website that
provides lasting access to information about
the Federation. It is available at
www.malteseabroad.org Thanks are due to
Edwin Borg Manché of Melbourne, for this
work which has been carried out entirely on
a pro bono basis.
We can now say that within a year we have
managed to link Maltese wherever they
Home page of the FMLA website.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 4
happen to be around the world. Anyone can
read about the achievements of those who
left their homeland decades ago, as well as
those of their ever-flourishing progeny.
Anyone can express their views through
these media, which we believe will reduce
isolationism among countries and even
shorten distances and make communication
easier within any one of the vast countries
where Maltese have settled.
We also can say that we have opened a
portal of communication with Government
bodies that have been invited to contribute
to these new media of communication which
reach Maltese living overseas.
It will be remembered that one of the
promises made by the Minister for Foreign
Affairs at the Malta Convention last year was
the setting up of a Consultative Committee
made up of representatives from overseas
as well as from Malta itself. The aim of this
committee is to advise the Minister on issues
relating to Maltese living abroad.
In March, organisations were invited to
submit comments and recommendations to
the Minister to help him devise the best
ways of setting up such a committee.
The fact that so far no such committee has
been set up presumably relates to the
difficulty of organising such a body. It is
hard to envision how such a committee,
selected merely on recommendations from
individuals, groups, or associations and not
through an electoral process, can be
considered to be representative of a
community.
It is almost impossible to have an equitable
representation of the various communities of
Maltese living overseas when one considers
the disparities in demographic distribution of
Maltese around the world. It is possibly for
these reasons that such a consultative
committee has not yet materialised.
It is of course in the interest of all Maltese
that there should be close liaison between
our Federation and any committees set up
by the Government in Malta.
Maurice Cauchi ■
Imnarja Celebrated in London
The Maltese Cultural Movement, based in
London, sponsored a large Imnarja feast for
the Maltese community there. Imnarja is the
feast of St. Peter and St. Paul and
traditionally celebrated on June 29th.
Visitors toured Maltese stalls offerring
traditional treats such as imqaret, pastizzi,
bigilla, and hobż biż żejt, as well as Maltese
beers and soft drinks. There was also a
petting zoo for the children.
Among the special guests at the event was
Dr. Joseph Muscat M.P., leader of the
Opposition in Malta. The Maltese Cultural
Movement is headed by Bernard Scerri, a
member of the FMLA Committee. ■
Mr. Bernard Scerri, Mrs. Susan Zammit Tabona, H.E. High Commissioner Mr. Joseph Zammit Tabona, Mrs. Michelle Muscat, and the Leader of the Opposition Dr. Joseph Muscat M.P.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 5
Joe Sacco: Reporting about War, Conflict with Both Words and IllustrationsMost war reporters come prepared to
dangerous areas wearing flak jackets,
carrying heavy camera equipment, and in
recent years, embedded with troops. They
take notes, write articles or photograph the
misery around them and then send the
material back to their media companies.
The story of Joe Sacco, who was born in
Malta, and has covered wars from places as
diverse as Israel's Occupied Territories to
Bosnia to Malta, is a bit different. He creates
what some might call, ―word and image
narratives.‖
With the eyes of a seasoned journalist,
Sacco, now 52, often visits war fields after
the conflict, talking with survivors to get
their stories and views. He'll also talk with
officials and conduct more research.
Then, he writes what he calls a script. From
that he draws in comic book style, the story.
It is this style that has earned Sacco the
title of ―creator of war-reportage comics.‖
First Australia, then the U.S.
When he was an infant, Sacco emigrated
with his parents to Australia, but the family
soon decided to relocate to the United
States. He grew up in California and went to
the University of Oregon to earn a degree in
journalism. He also was passionate about
drawing cartoons.
Initially, there seemed little possibility of
combining the two. He had dull journalism
jobs and drew cartoons on the side.
Some of those early cartoons focused on
humor, satire, and human interest topics.
His work was being noticed.
One comic, in particular, turned out to be
especially crucial in his professional
development: ―More Women, More Children,
More Quickly‖ which is published in the
collection of his early works: Notes from a
Defeatist. This is the story of Carmen,
Sacco's mother who lived through World War
II. The story is seen through her eyes.
Sacco traveled in the Middle East in the
1990s and wrote a series of comic books
about the conflicts he saw and the stories he
heard. Those individual comic books were
combined into the book, Palestine, which
earned an American Book Award in 1996.
Another graphic novel Safe Area: Gorazde
about Sacco's time in war-ravaged Bosnia,
won the Will Eisner Award for best original
Graphic Novel in 2001.
Sacco's most recent book, Footnotes in
Gaza, a sequel to Palestine, was nominated
for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Graphic Novel Award. Footnotes in Gaza is
the culmination of a seven-year
investigation into two long-forgotten 1956
massacres in the Gaza strip, one in the town
of Khan Younis, the other in the neighboring
town of Rafah. Close to 450 people died.
His work also has been published in
magazines including, Time, Details, Harpers,
Virginia Quarterly Review and the New York
Times Magazine.
The Maltese Link caught up with Sacco while
he was on the road, and he was gracious to
speak with us. Our conversation follows.
Joe Sacco Photo © Michael Tierney
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 6
Is there a special reason why you focus
on war issues? Was the story/memoir
of Malta your first work focusing on the
issues of war beyond the battlefield?
Readers would want to know if you
write the material first and then draw,
or do you do it simultaneously?
The story I did about my mother's
experiences in World War II on Malta was
probably the first time I tried to tell a
serious story. Before that, I did a lot of
satire and humor.
I'd heard many of my mother's stories
before, but not all of them. I asked her
about different topics, like life in the shelter,
and the time she was strafed by a German
aircraft. She would write letters to me in
response. After I'd collected enough of these
letters, I started putting her words into a
form I could use -- basically a script. And,
after the script was written, I started
drawing. That's the way I always work.
I believe many readers
understand what a
photojournalist does but
might not understand what
you do...could you explain
this?
Well, I'm a cartoonist. I happen
to have a degree in journalism.
At some point, I combined my
two loves -- journalism and
comics. I didn't develop a theory
for this. I simply went to the
Middle East -- to the Palestinian
Territories, to be exact -- to have
a look around with the notion
that I would do a series of comic
books about my experiences.
While I was there I started
interviewing people and
gathering information because I
suppose I see everything
through a journalistic filter. And
then, I wrote and drew a series
of comic books. So I call it
―comic-book journalism.‖
Has your Maltese background
influenced your work? If so,
how? Do you visit Malta
often? I believe you did a
graphic novel about
Malta...and it was one of the
first in Malta. (I don't
remember if that one was the
one with the World War II
story).
I can't say my Maltese
background has influenced my work except
insofar as my parents' stories about the war
really stayed with me and probably got me
interested in the notion of how civilians live
through times of cataclysmic conflict.
I don't visit Malta as much as I should or
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 7
would like to. The last time I was there it
was to work on a story about the African
migrants who have landed there and the
Maltese response to that situation.
What new project are you working on
now?
I am working on a book with a journalist
friend, Chris Hedges, about pockets of
postindustrial blight in the United States.
We are looking at regions and cities where
corporate and other interests have been
allowed to exploit the land and people
without giving much of anything back. I am
doing illustrations which emphasize
landscape and some comics, and Chris is
writing prose. We hope to mesh our
impressions as best we can.
Anything you want to tell us about your
family?
My parents, who are retired, are living in
southern California. My dad was an
engineer, and my mother was a school
teacher. My sister lives in Virginia and works
as a researcher in the field of occupational
therapy.
My dad and I were born in Kirkop; my
mother and sister were born in Mqabba. So
there's a friendly rivalry within the family
over which village has the best feast.
Actually, I'm kidding about that!
Claudia Caruana ■
Books Authored by Joe Sacco Here are some of Sacco's books that are
available from on-line booksellers or from
their respective publishers:
Notes from a Defeatist, Seattle, Wash:
Fantagraphics Books, ISBN: 1-56097-510-
5. 2003.
Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern
Bosnia 1992-1996. Seattle, Wash:
Fantagraphics Books, ISBN: 1-56097-470-2.
2000.
Palestine. Seattle, Wash: Fantagraphics.
Books, ISBN: 1-56097-432X. 2001.
His most recent book was published in
2009: Footnotes in Gaza: Metropolitan
Books, New York: ISBN: 0805073477.
Malta, Again a Topic in Sacco Comic In recent years, Sacco had been working
on a piece about African immigrants
trying to gain entrance into the European
Union using Malta as their point of
entrance. Readers can see some of that
work in the Winter and Spring issues of
the Virginia Quarterly Review
(www.vqr.edu).
To see the entire work, a subscription to
the Virginia Quarterly Review must be
purchased, as noted on the website where
portions of these comics are published.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 8
Bongu! Kif intom? Nittama li Kulhadd tajjeb
u…
Chances are if your Maltese language skills
are languishing, limited, or non-existent,
and you are reading this, you might want to
know more about Professor Lydia Sciriha's
work.
Sciriha is Professor of Linguistics at the
University of Malta, where she has directed
the University‘s Language Laboratory
Complex. She has authored or co-authored
11 books, including the language course
Beginning Maltese (Book and two CDs), The
Maltese Interactive Picture Dictionary: An
Interactive Multimedia Computer Program
for Teaching Maltese Spelling, Vocabulary
and Pronunciation (Book and CD ROM) and
Continuing Maltese: A Lower Intermediate to
Intermediate Level Course (Book and two
CDs).
Many readers may have used her Beginning
Maltese; Continuing Maltese was released
earlier this year.
So the editors of The Maltese Link decided
to contact Professor Sciriha about these
audio language programs and why learning
Maltese is important.
Why did you decide to create your first
language audio tapes?
As soon as I returned to Malta from my
studies in Canada in 1987, I started
teaching in the Arts Faculty at the University
of Malta. In addition to being a Lecturer of
Linguistics, I also held the post of Director of
the Language Laboratory Complex.
Then, the language laboratory was used
predominantly by foreign students who
wished to use the self-taught courses in
English that were available.
Since a number of foreigners working in
Malta wanted to learn Maltese, Professor
Joseph Aquilina‘s Teach Yourself Maltese
course was available, and they could listen
to the tapes in the sound library.
Unfortunately, these foreigners found
Aquilina‘s course rather difficult, and as the
director of the Laboratory Complex, I often
was inundated with requests for an easier
Maltese course.
I used to feel quite helpless and very
uncomfortable when trying to explain to our
foreign students that there were no other
courses available. The only option I had was
to write a course for foreigners myself, and
this is why I started to write Beginning
Maltese.
It is important to emphasize the fact that
students from different language
backgrounds gave me a lot of feedback as to
Learn Maltese with Prof. Lydia Sciriha
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 9
what should be included in the course. They
specifically asked me to include a lot of
vocabulary, grammar, and exercises to
consolidate what they learned. In fact,
Beginning Maltese includes these three
areas.
What needs did you see for a Maltese
language course for the Maltese
communities living abroad?
When I was writing the lessons for the
Beginning Maltese course I realised that
second and third generations of Maltese
living in countries such as Australia, Canada,
and the United States would probably also
be interested in a first level course, but I
was unaware as to the extent of their
interest in the language.
The dire necessity for such a course quickly
became evident to me in 1997 when I was
invited to teach at Victoria University in
Melbourne for three months. At the time, it
was evident that there was a shocking
dearth of material for learners to learn
Maltese as a foreign language.
When in Melbourne, I browsed through the
shelves of a huge bookshop which
specialises in language courses, and, to my
dismay, there were only a few Maltese
novels on the shelf dedicated to Maltese
works.
I was deeply saddened by this fact
especially since Australia is home to
thousands of Maltese, and only then did I
fully understand the huge stumbling blocks
Maltese parents and educators face when
teaching Maltese to second and third
generation Maltese migrants.
Who are the people who have benefited
most from Beginning Maltese?
Gauging by the positive feedback I have
received over the years and from the fact
that 10,000 copies of the Maltese course
have been sold, I hope that thousands of
people have benefited from this first level
course. I think that the largest proportion of
the users are second and third generations
of Maltese living abroad.
Nevertheless, I have received letters and e-
mails from many people who just like the
language or who are interested in
augmenting their linguistic repertoire by
learning Maltese. Interestingly so, ever since
Malta joined the European Union and the
Maltese language became one of the official
languages of the Union, interest in Maltese
has increased significantly.
Maltese is no longer merely the official
language of a small nation state in the
centre of the Mediterranean, but its status
has risen considerably since it is also one of
the 23 official languages of the European
Union.
What other kinds of people are
interested in the Maltese language
courses? Visitors to Malta? Guest
workers?
As I mentioned, the majority of the users of
my language course are second and third
generation Maltese, though they are not the
only ones. Some visitors to Malta who wish
to retire permanently here also are users of
this course. Beginning Maltese has also been
used to teach Maltese to resident
ambassadors and high commissioners who
need Maltese when making introductory
comments to their speeches in Maltese – a
gesture that is highly appreciated by their
Maltese audience.
Moreover, since Malta joined the European
Union a good number of foreigners are
working here and they realise that it is best
to learn the indigenous language of the
Maltese if they wish to integrate in Maltese
society and also to understand what the
Maltese are saying about them.
Why did you create Continuing Maltese,
the second language course?
Continuing Maltese was published a few
months ago, even though I wrote the course
about eight years ago after being asked by
many individuals who had followed
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 10
Beginning Maltese to write a higher level
course. As with the first level course, a
number of individuals from different
language backgrounds tested and
commented on the course content. Their
feedback, over these long eight years, was
very important as it gave me the
opportunity to revise a number of drafts.
Unfortunately, all language courses take a
long time to be published because they need
to be tested and re-tested.
As the name implies, Continuing Maltese is a
second-level course and, it is a continuation
of Beginning Maltese and the format is
similar to the first level course. Continuing
Maltese comprises a textbook with 10
lessons. The recorded material is found on
the accompanying two compact discs. Each
lesson is split into two sections: Section A
comprises the analytical part of the lesson,
in which grammatical and phonological rules
are given; Section B is the experiential part
of the lesson and includes dialogues based
on everyday situations, such as greetings,
asking for directions, going shopping or
phoning a government department.
The sequence followed in the recorded
material is the same as that found in the
accompanying textbook: Word List A,
Dialogue and Word List B. While Word List A
incorporates the new vocabulary in the first
part of the lesson (Section A), Word List B
includes the vocabulary in each Dialogue
(Section B).
Furthermore, to help the learner understand
the dialogues, in the first five lessons, an
English translation accompanies each
dialogue.
The translations, however, are omitted in the
second half of the course, since the learner
would, by then, have amassed enough
vocabulary to understand the dialogues.
Feedback is very important. Thanks to a
comment made by a British student
regarding the difficulties he encountered
when accessing the different word lists on
the CDs of Beginning Maltese, the producers
of Continuing Maltese have placed each
word list and dialogue on separate tracks to
ensure quick access by the user of these
CDs.
Who are the people most interested in
the second program? Continuers from
the first program or others who want to
jump into the learning of Maltese
language?
Second and third generations of Maltese
migrants and foreigners who work in Malta
and who would like to continue learning
Maltese would benefit from Continuing
Maltese. As the title of the course implies,
Continuing Maltese also is meant for those
people who already have some knowledge of
Maltese and would like to sharpen it further.
Moreover, the dialogues included in each
lesson help them to practise speaking
Maltese. The dialogues are all spoken by
native speakers of the language, and users
have the opportunity to repeat each
dialogue at their own leisure.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 11
Rosetta Stone, to my knowledge
doesn't have a Maltese language
program. (Rosetta Stone is heavily
promoted in the United States) Is your
program similar?
Rosetta Stone produces language courses
which one accesses via the internet. If one
were to have a look at the languages which
Rosetta Stone offers, what is striking is the
fact that most of these languages are
ranked among the top 10 languages of the
world, as regards the numbers of native
speakers of the languages. Maltese is a
small language, numerically speaking, and
publishers are not usually interested in
producing a Maltese language programme
since the costs incurred to produce such a
programme (paying the authors of the
language courses, the computer
programmers, and specialists manning the
internet site) are financially not feasible. So
I doubt whether Rosetta Stone would
consider including Maltese as one of the
languages.
In fact, I recall that on the first of my three
visits to Australia, Protea Ltd, a Melbourne
based Australian software company,
accepted to produce the Maltese Interactive
Dictionary. While I wrote the Maltese text,
the rest was in the care of the computer
programmers.
When this CD ROM was published in 1997,
the selling price at 25 Maltese liri
(equivalent to about 60 euros) was
considered far too expensive even for some
schools, even though as the author I did not
even get royalties. Production costs are
exceedingly high for a Maltese language
course since the numbers of potential
buyers are very small, and as a result, the
selling price is much higher than for a
language such as Italian and German, which
have millions of speakers.
Moreover, a language course does not
merely comprise a textbook. It is also
accompanied by audio material, the
recordings of which are very expensive to
produce in professional studios, and then, of
course, the cost of marketing the product.
Rosetta Stone produces language courses
over the internet, and these are accessible
only to those who have a computer linked
by internet. An interesting M.A. thesis has
been written by one of my students on
internet language courses. Her evaluation
reveals that although at first sight such
courses are popular, judging from the
numbers of those who access the courses,
unfortunately, the bounce rates are very
high.
How would you respond to people who
say, "Learning the Maltese language is
foolish. What's the point?"
Before answering your question, I would like
to quote a very famous American linguist
Leonard Bloomfield, who once said that
‗language learning is doubtless the greatest
intellectual feat any one of us is ever likely
to perform‘. It is not easy to learn a
language. One needs to have a positive
attitude and a determination to succeed.
Undoubtedly, I would never consider
learning a language ‗foolish‘. Learning a
language opens windows to different
cultures and however knowledgeable about
a country one is, it is the language spoken
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 12
in the particular country that makes one feel
part of that country. Learning a language
requires courage and commitment but once
a language has been mastered, it is such an
overwhelmingly rewarding experience.
Only recently I had the opportunity to
attend an intensive course in German in
Hamburg. I really love Germany and had
visited it many times before, but it is only
when I started learning the language and
reading and understanding the notices on
billboards, trains, and buses that I realised
that I could understand the Germans better
and feel that I could better appreciate their
culture.
Are ambassadors and high commissioners
foolish to learn Maltese even though they
are posted in Malta for only three or four
years? Is it worth spending so much time to
learn a language only to leave the country
and forget the language after a few years?
The answer is a resounding 'NO'. I have had
the opportunity to teach some of these
people, and they repeatedly remarked how
the fact that they could understand and
speak some Maltese, made them feel more
at home in Malta and understand the
Maltese better.
Why are people learning Maltese?
Maltese is the indigenous language of the
people of Malta and is co-official with
English. In 2002, Maltese was also given
official status within the European Union.
Like any other language, Maltese is not easy
and those who embark on learning this
language usually have instrumental reasons
for doing so.
Maltese is now taught in some schools in
Brussels and Luxembourg, and in both of
these countries, the Directorate General for
Translation now includes Maltese personnel
who translate documents usually from
English or French source texts into Maltese.
As a result, beyond the Maltese shores,
there is now a demand for Maltese
translators and interpreters as well as
teachers of Maltese. In view of its newly
acquired importance, more individuals have
started to add Maltese to their linguistic
repertoire. ■
R.I.P. Angelo Vella
We have learned and are sorry to report
that Angelo Vella, the Canadian-Maltese
centenarian whom the editors of the Maltese
Link profiled in the May 2011 issue, died
June 14. A Mass of Christian Burial was said
for Vella at St. Wilfrid‘s Roman Catholic
Church in Etobicoke, Canada.
We offer our condolences to his family. ■
Malta Book Bag Returns Next Month
You are reading a double issue of The
Maltese Link, so we have decided to
postpone the Malta Book Bag until next
month.
You'll find a great selection of new books by
Maltese authors and others about Malta. ■
We'd Like to Hear from You
In a few months, Albert Vella and I will have
been writing and editing The Maltese Link
for one year. It's been an amazing
experience and we appreciate hearing from
readers.
We've covered a variety of topics we believe
would be of interest to Maltese living
abroad. From what we have heard from
readers, we appear to be on target as to
what they want to see in the newsletter.
Toward the end of the summer, we hope to
conduct an e-mail survey that will tell us
which articles you liked best and which you
liked least.
Meanwhile, if you have thoughts about what
you want to see in The Maltese Link, please
don't hesitate to write either of us:
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 13
Meet Father Julian Cassar: From Malta to
Oregon via New York
[Editor‘s Note: Readers who participated in
the Malta Emigrants Convention in 2000,
like me, will no doubt remember the
presentation made by Father Julian Cassar,
of New York. I did know Father Cassar
before the Convention, as he was a diocese
priest in a parish close to where I lived.
Recently, I made contact with Father Julian
who was pleased to know about The Maltese
Link and the progress the FMLA is making in
organizing the Maltese community outside of
Malta.]
Father Julian writes:
―After spending 22 years in New York
parishes, I ventured to a more missionary
territory, ending up in the Diocese of Baker
in eastern Oregon in 2003. Our Diocese is
one of the smallest in the number of people
(37,000 Catholics) but huge in size at
66,000 square miles - the size of Great
Britain!
―I came from one of the smallest islands in
the world to one of the biggest cities in the
United States, and then to one of the
smallest and remotest towns in the high
desert of Oregon. The town where I started
as a pastor was John Day, with a population
of barely 2,000 people. Only 10 percent of
them were Catholics. I quickly went to work
and within 2 years, I had brought back to
church 25 people, in addition to 15 converts
I helped to enter our parish community. One
can easily say that the parish population
increased by another 10 percent in 2 years.
―The Bishop soon asked me to go to another
parish, the Cathedral parish in Baker City
with a large, 98-year-old-church. I quickly
read the writing on the wall. The bishop
knew that coming from Malta, I had a
special love for history and church
architecture, and since the Cathedral was to
celebrate its centennial in 2008, I started
work on a big renovation project, restoring
the inside of the Cathedral. The Cathedral‘s
stained glass windows, installed in 1923,
were still in very good condition.
The Baker City Cathedral in spring.
―I arrived at the Cathedral parish in June
2005, and the renovation took the entire
summer of 2007. We celebrated the
centennial on April 9, 2008, exactly 100
years from its original dedication.
―A lot of the work was done by parishioners
who were skilled craftspeople and artisans.
We did save a lot of money this way; the
finished product was beautiful as we brought
back the glory of the past and created a
sanctuary that is conducive to a prayerful
atmosphere.
―When I first arrived, I had an assistant
priest to help me, but he only stayed two
years. I have been alone for the past 4
years, taking care of another small chapel
where we say daily Mass, a hospital chapel,
a prison chapel where we say Mass, and a
mission church in Halfway, 54 miles away,
where I have to go every weekend to
celebrate Mass. Round trip, it is 108 miles!
―Through all of this, I have enjoyed the
scenery, which is spectacular, as my
thousands of photos testify. Baker City is
nestled between two mountain ranges, the
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 14
Elkhorns and the Wallowas, both of which
are close to 10,000 ft. above sea level.
There‘s plenty of snow from September until
July. Wildlife is abundant, and I frequently
come across deer, elk, bald eagles, blue
Joining the parishioners 2004.
herons, and so many other birds that always
are showing off, but fly away when a
photographer approaches them.
―Most of my parishioners here are ranchers
and farmers, while others work in local
schools and government offices. The largest
numbers of residents actually are retired,
and they moved here because of the
excellent climate: little humidity, cooler
temperatures most of the year, with just
some warmer days in July and August.
―I have not met Maltese people in these
areas, and many of the people here did not
know about Malta (except, of course, the
Maltese Falcon). I frequently give illustrated
PowerPoint talks to various groups on Malta,
and everyone now knows where Malta is.
And if anyone dares ask me, ‗Where is
Malta?‘ my response is: ‗Malta is in the
Bible.‘
―Today, our diocese is like the United
Nations, with priests from Nigeria, Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda, Poland, Mexico, Sri Lanka,
India, Argentina, and myself from Malta, in
addition to a few from the United States.
The latter, alas, are becoming fewer and
fewer.
―I keep a website for our parish with plenty
of photos which I take:
www.saintfranciscathedral.com. I also have
a personal website:
http://fatherjulian.homestead.com/fatherjuli
an.html Recently, I started a link for a page
dedicated to our famous Maltese artist
Emvin Cremona. Most people would be
surprised what one artist has produced, just
from the various churches I visited over the
past four years in Malta.
―On a very personal note, this past year has
been a sad one for me, as I lost my mother,
a younger brother, and my friend Bishop Joe
Grech, from Australia, with whom I kept in
touch after the 2000 Malta Emigrant‘s
Convention. [Editor‘s
note: see Bishop
Grech‘s obituary in The
Maltese Link, January
2011, p. 6]
―I look forward to
hearing again from the
many friends I met at
that meeting in Malta
and other friends I‘ve
met over the years. I
can be reached at:
Celebrating Chrism Mass 2008.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 15
Mr. Joseph S. Micallef, Maltese Emigrant Cited for Outstanding Work in the U.S.
It was 1949 when a 16-year-old Joseph S.
Micallef, his mother, and three brothers left
their Paola home and boarded the S.S.
Sobieski to join their father in New York.
Like most emigrants, they entered the
United States at Ellis Island. In May,
Micallef was awarded the Ellis Island Medal
of Honor during a ceremony on the island.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor pays tribute
to individuals ―who have made outstanding
contributions to their nation and to the
world.‖
Micallef, a lawyer, is President and CEO of
the Great Northern Iron Ore Properties. He
served in the United States Air Force, rising
to the rank of Captain. At present, he serves
on numerous boards of professional
organizations and charitable foundations,
including the American Foundation for
Maltese Charities.
Micallef has served as Honorary Consul
General of Malta at St. Paul/Minneapolis
since 1967. He also is Founder Emeritus of
the Malta Study Center, established in 1973
at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at
Saint John‘s University in Collegesville,
Minnesota – a center which is replicating for
posterity the archives of Mdina's Cathedral
Museum and the archives of the Knights of
Malta, including the Magna Curia
Castellaniae collection of the Banca
Giuratale.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has
recognized Micallef‘s contributions by
investing him as a Knight Commander, and
the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre
of Jerusalem has awarded him the Knight
Grand Cross. Malta honored him in 1998
with membership in the National Order of
Merit, citing his distinguished service to
Malta.
Micallef and his wife have raised five
children,– a son who is a physician and who
served in the United States Navy as a
lieutenant, two daughters who are lawyers,
and two daughters with advanced graduate
degrees. ■
Joe and Jane Micallef surrounded by their family following the Ellis Island Medal Ceremony.
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 16
The Federation of Maltese Living Abroad newsletter, Maltese Link, is distributed free of charge to members of the global Maltese Community.
Letters to the editor, comments about the Federation, and requests for information should be addressed to the editor at [email protected]
The editor has the right to edit material for style and content or refuse publishing material that is in poor taste or potentially libellous.
If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, please send a note to the Secretary, Albert Vella, e-mail: [email protected]
Opinions published here do not necessarily reflect the views of all individual members or the Executive Committee of the FMLA.
Notes from the Secretary: On behalf of the committee of the Federation of Maltese Living
Abroad, I am pleased to share a few short updates with FMLA
members and the readers of our newsletter.
Albert E. Vella
Maltese Link Circulation
The Maltese Link is now distributed directly and electronically to
close to 650 readers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, Malta, Peru,
Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and Vatican City.
The newsletter is also distributed, either electronically or by mail, to around 2,300 members
of our organizations: Gozo Club, Maltese American
Social Club of South San Francisco, Maltese Canadian
Club of London, La Valette Social Centre, Australia and
Malta Society of New Zealand Inc.
The Maltese Culture Movement, U.K. has all our issues
prominently included on its web site –http://www.malteseculturemovement.com/?p=134
Website
We are pleased to note that the FMLA website
has been launched (see President‘s
comments on page 3). It includes a link to all
issues of the Maltese Link.
We take this opportunity to
thank our sponsors, Bank of
Valletta and the Malta
Tourism Authority for their
generous support.
Member organizations are encouraged to
create a link from their websites. ■
We are on Facebook
We are now on Facebook
and ask people who are
already on Facebook to
look for the "Federation of
Maltese Living Abroad"
page and click "like". ■
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 17
A Special Night of Maltese Music in Paris
In late May, the Embassy of Malta in France
was host to a concert, ―Parcours en
Musique‖ at the Cathedral of Saint-Louis des
Invalides in Paris.
More than 500 guests attended this two
hour concert organised by the Embassy to
celebrate the felicitous state of current
Maltese-French relations.
In attendance were dignitaries from Malta
and France, including Parliamentary
Secretary Dr. Mario de Marco, Count de La
Rochefoucauld-Montbel, head of the French
branch of the Order of the Sovereign Knights
of Malta, Dr. Ray Bondin
Ambassador to UNESCO,
Professor Edward Debono,
Mrs. Camilleri widow of
the late Maestro Charles
Camileri, as well as
several senators and
ambassadors. Many
members of the Maltese
community living in
France also were present.
The choice of music and
performers had a strong
Maltese bias, designed to
showcase some of the
best elements of Maltese
artistic talent. The concert
opened with the overture
from the operatic work
Joconde of Maltese-French composer, Nicolo
Isouard. This overture from what is
considered to be one of Isouard‘s best
operatic works was played by the Orchestra
of the Republican Guard and directed by
Colonel Sebastien Billiard.
The overture was then followed by the New
World Symphony of the late Charles
Camilleri. This symphony had been
commissioned by Professor Debono‘s Centre
for New Thinking, and this was only the
second time that this work was played in
public.
Maestro Brian Schembri led the Orchestra of
the Republican Guard in this demanding but
inspired work. His direction was a rare
exception because this orchestra normally is
directed by French Military conductors.
The final performance of the evening was
the much anticipated Beethoven‘s, Emperor
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 5 with
French pianist Brigitte Engerer as soloist.
In opening remarks before the concert,
Ambassador Miggiani mentioned that 20
years ago while reading an article about
Brigitte Engerer in a French magazine, he
had speculated about the possible link
between Ms. Engerer and his mother, the
late Eileen Engerer.
On taking his post as Ambassador to France,
he met with Ms. Engerer and after further
investigation was able to confirm that Ms.
Engerer, was, indeed, of Maltese descent,
directly related to his mother‘s family and
eligible for Maltese citizenship.
A special programme prepared for the
concert was distributed against a voluntary
contribution to the French Association of the
Charitable Works of the Knights of Malta. All
proceeds were donated to this association.
At the concert's conclusion, Ambassador
Miggiani presented the Certificate of Maltese
citizenship to Brigitte Engerer and her
father. ■
JUNE - JULY 2011 Page 18
Malta Pavilion Co-ordinator Mr. Joe Attard, Mayor Hazel
McCallion and Consul General of Malta Ms. Fiona Formosa.
Malta “Stars” in Canadian Cultural Festival Malta was showcased at the 26th annual
Carassauga Festival held in early June in
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. This is the
largest multicultural festival in Ontario and
now is recognized as the second largest
cultural festival in Canada. Malta was one
of 60 countries taking part; more than
298,000 people were in attendance.
The Maltese Pavilion was hosted at the
premises of the Malta Band Club (a
member of the FMLA) in Mississauga, and
this group, plus members of other Maltese
clubs in Toronto, managed it. Here, there
were posters, maps, history, and
geography books.
The Consul General
of Malta, Ms. Fiona
Formosa, made a
presentation about
the Maltese islands
including
information about
their history,
economy, and
traditions.
Dressed up for a
Maltese festa with
its paviljuni, flags,
and other
paraphernalia
the Malta Band
Club opened the
first evening's
events with a
special performance, highlighting typical
Maltese marches.
The Pavilion's stage was set up with the
Gardjola on one side, and the Seven
Arches, typical Maltese mina-franca stone—
all handmade by local, skilled Maltese
carpenters.
Local Maltese artists exhibited their work
and answered questions from visitors.
Another booth was set up with a Maltese
sculptor.
Also on view was a typical karozzin and
dgћajsa, and many photographs and
painting of Malta and Gozo and its
inhabitants.
Karen Polidano, a well-known Maltese-
Canadian singer entertained visitors with
popular Maltese songs.
Throughout the three days, there were
other singers and performers to entertain.
The Malta bandspeople were dressed as
local countrymen and women and had the
audience on the dance floor waving flags to
the beat of the popular march, ―The King.‖
Traditional Maltese dances were performed
by the Melita Dancers dressed in colorful
red and white costumes.
Who could say ―no‖ to a plate of aromatic
fenkata or stuffat tal- qarnit? There also
was bragjoli, and hobz biz-zejt.
At evening's end, the local gћanejja
performed Spirtu Pront, the most popular
and developed form of gћana.
Sharon Pereira, a Maltese national, won
first prize in the Carassauga Singing Star
Contest.
At the festival's conclusion, the Mayor of
Mississauga, Hazel McCallion visited the
club to congratulate Pereira personally and
meet and speak with the Maltese people
present. ■
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