The Man Behind Caritas Malta: Remembering Dun Victor Grech

The 5th of February marks the anniversary of the death of Dun Victor Grech. He died on 5 February 2025 at Mater Dei Hospital, aged 95.

Grech was born on 19 October 1929 in Bormla and was ordained a priest on 17 March 1956. He served as Vice-Rector of the Seminary between 1956–1962 and Rector from 1962–1977, as well as the National Director for Vocations. During his years as rector, he helped establish a Maltese priests’ community in Brazil and worked with Mgr Dellaport on the Seminary of Europe in Maastricht. He also taught Homiletics at the University of Malta.

In 1977, he was appointed Delegate of the Archbishop for the Church’s Social and Charitable Works Secretariat. In the same year, Caritas Malta records that it absorbed overlapping structures and that Grech was nominated to lead it (after the resignation of Rev. Fortunato Mizzi), with the statute revised and approved in 1977. From there, Dun Victor Grech’s name became inseparable from Caritas Malta, shaping the organisation’s mission and work for decades.

Caritas Malta records the development of its drug-rehabilitation work under Grech’s leadership: contacts with centres abroad were sought from the late 1970s; and in March 1985 the first rehabilitation day programme was launched in Malta after staff training abroad. Caritas opened its first centre in Floriana in 1985.

Grech remained closely identified with Caritas Malta for decades. He was among the “founding fathers” of Caritas Europa, serving on the boards of Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Europa during the period when Caritas Europa’s current legal format was established.

His work also brought formal recognition. In 2012 he received the European Citizen’s Prize from the European Parliament, and later received Malta’s Active Ageing Award (2021), National Worker of the Year Award (2023), and National Special Prize for Voluntary Work (December 2024). For 40 years he also presented and broadcast radio programmes on issues related to youth and family.

After his death, the Maltese government organised a state-arranged funeral, with Saturday declared a day of mourning and a funeral Mass held at St John’s Co-Cathedral. His coffin was carried into the Co-Cathedral by some of the very people he had helped, and the funeral cortege passed through several localities before arriving in Valletta.

Grech was also closely associated with Tal-Ibraġ, where he had served for many years.