• Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna has appointed Mr Anthony Gatt, psychologist, as the new director of the Church entity, Caritas Malta. Anthony Gatt will continue to strengthen the Church services, offered through Caritas free of charge, most especially in the field of drug rehabilitation, to build on her mission with people and families in need, and to strive for social justice and the development of the person.

    Anthony Gatt was born in 1976, in Valletta. He has been working in the field of psychology since 1999 after graduating from the University of Malta with a degree in psychology. His first employment, as volunteer coordinator, was precisely with Caritas Malta. For a decade, Gatt has also served as volunteer in the Diocesan Youth Commission.

    Gatt obtained a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. On completion of his professional training he worked as a psychologist in the drug rehabilitation with Sedqa. For a number of years, Gatt worked in private practice before re-joining Caritas Malta as clinical coordinator responsible for the wide range of drug rehabilitation services and programmes offered by the organisation.

    Gatt has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta since 2004, where he lectures in individual and group counselling and psychotherapy, humanistic psychology and organisational psychology. He has also sat on various Church and government boards such as the Malta Psychology Profession Board, and the Prison Addiction Rehabilitation Management Board. For a number of years, he has also served on the council of the Malta Chamber of Psychologists.

    Inspired by the social teaching of the Church encapsulated in Jesus’s words “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me”, and Pope Francis’s love for the poor, Gatt feels a deep sense of belonging with Caritas whose doors are always wide open for the lonely, the poor, and those burdened with life’s woes.  In his words, “Caritas Malta is a refuge that provides solace, rest, dignity, hope, and healing. It is a home where a person discovers his or her beauty in communion and fellowship with others.”

    Anthony Gatt is married to Marisa and together they are parents to five children, aged from 3 to 14 years.