Flashback from 1976

                     

I never showed these photos from my diaconate ordination which took place a year before my priesthood ordination. It was June 18, 1976 when the 14 of us classmates were ordained by the soon-to-retire Archbishop Michael Gonzi. He had been a bishop for over 52 years and led the Archdiocese of Malta for 33 years, (1943-1976) after leading the Gozo Diocese from 1924 to 1943, 19 years total, especially the harsh years of World War II. The ceremony took place as usual at the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, attended by our parents and families and other relatives. 

The photos show me with the Archbishop, then our class also with the Archbishop, and then with my family. During my diaconate year I spent a whole year practicing my preaching when I used to go every weekend at the Immaculate Conception parish in Hamrun. As you can see my hair was not fully gone, and it was during 1976 and 1977 that it made its eventual total cataclysmic and catastrophic disappearance. I console myself when I hear some say that God made a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered with hair !