Fr George Pattery, SJ,
Provincial of South Asia and
President of the Jesuit
Conference of South Asia

What does Good Friday mean to you? ‘My God, my God, why did you forsake me’ is the cry from the cross, what does it tell the Christians?
Good Friday means the full flowering of the human person, in the agony and death of Jesus. Full-flowering or utmost flourishing of the human takes place in total self-gift; total self-gift occurs in total self-surrender to the one whom you love even when that love seems to be not certain at that point. Self-gifting to the beloved – in the case of Jesus to His Father – not simply for mutual love-affair but in that self-gift include all those who are in the similar condition – the excluded, the lonely and the marginalized. In the cry of Jesus, every believer recognizes a profound solidarity with all those who are denied of their dignity; it is a cry of deep communion in spite of the seeming absence of love. Doing good/loving to the point of breaking oneself.

Is the crucified Christ the unique character of Christianity which makes it different from other religions? What does the crucified Christ tell us?
I recall reading an editorial article in The Statesman (Kolkata) in the context of Khandamal violence, wherein a professor of Jadavpur university (can’t recall his name) wrote: “as long as the Christians have a crucified God, the crucified of this world will flock to them.’ There is much truth in it. In a sense we could say that Cruci-form defines Christianity. Cruci-form is the other word for self-less-ness, self-emptying. The crucified Christ symbolizes total self-giving. In the birth, life, ministry and death of Jesus this cruci-form is present. This in a sense distinguishes Christianity. The earliest picture of Christ is found in the catacomb in the form of a crucified donkey. However this is not a matter of ‘privilege’ for Christianity as a religion. Cruci-form is written all over the creation: unless the grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it will not produce. Michael Dowd says: “Without the death of mountains, there would be no sand or soil. Without the death of plants and animals, there would be no food. Without the death of old ways of thinking, there would be no room for the new. Without death, there would be no ancestors. Without death, time would not be precious.” The crucified Christ explicitates the logic of the creation: Let go; Let God (wholeness) in.

The suffering person was considered a sinner, and hence suffering was justified; what does suffering of the just mean to the world?
The Jewish world appropriated the religious justification of suffering due to sin. And in turn it defined ‘sin’ in terms of violation of ‘purity-pollution’ theories of religion; this in turn covered all the poor people who could not observe the elaborate structures of religious laws. The poor, the lame and the blind – all physical deformities, are signs of God’s curse. The suffering of the poor is thus religiously justified and structurally multiplied.

Suffering is part of letting go, of dying to self-will, self-interest and self-love. Suffering is part of building up of kingdom of righteousness and justice. Choosing the kingdom of God entails suffering as we fight for justice and peace. Standing for justice and wholeness implies suffering. Jesus’ Kingdom is NOT a gospel of prosperity – of abundance of riches, status and power. Jesus’ Kingdom is a Kingdom with all and creation, creating a world of fellowship through the way of the cross, through relentless suffering. It is suffering in order to ‘flourish in God’s way; it is suffering for the sake of the Kingdom; it is suffering of the just knowing well that it is in God that we find true reconciliation. There is also the inevitable suffering of sickness and aging as part and parcel of living. Because the fullness of life is through death.

What is the Christian attitude to suffering in the world? How must Christians understand it in the context of the situations of daily life?
This is a true dilemma in today’s Christian world. Jesus is NOT promising a ‘gospel of prosperity;’ riches and power are NOT necessarily signs of a true believer; often it is the opposite. Consumerist and fundamentalist ideology uses religion to spread its wings by depicting a ‘gospel of prosperity’ for those who believe. Genuine Christian faith includes daily suffering i) to die to ego and self-love; ii) to reach out in service and love to the needy, iii) to fight structures of injustice and oppression, iv) to consume less, v) to struggle for an ecologically sound environment. This is not suffering for its own sake, but suffering for and with love of the other, to build a Common Home for everybody. It is to flourish as genuine humans, growing up to the well-being of all creation, allowing God’s dream/our dreams come true. As Jewish Rabbi said: the stairways to heaven always goes down.

When we stand with Christ or are with Christ it means to be with the victim. And what does it mean for the Church?
In the international universal context, the Church is concerned about the victimised, especially, victims of sexual abuse. But there is misunderstanding about the ways to tackle it. We should be able to respond to provide justice to them. At the same time, we should also do justice by taking steps to prevent such abuse by the use of clerical power. As Pope Francis says, respond to those victims with kindness and justice.

What about the migrant who are exiled?
Today we have social andpolitical victims. The migrants and the refugees are not simply victims of economic and political systems; they are victims of a particular mindset. They occupy nothing, nobody organizes them, they have no power or right. I think today we need to include with the victims the migrants and refugees who live away from their place of birth because of their stand or political side. They cry for justice and mercy. In that context it is very important to include the victims of all types – victims of sexual abuses, and those who are refugees for political, social, ethnic, linguistic, and nationalistic agenda.

What do you think about the attitude of Hungary’s Prime Minister as well as of American President, Trump, who is raising walls to close borders to prevent migrants?
This is a result of the marriage between the market economy and fundamentalist thinking, whether it be religious or political. I think that, that marriage is the most illegal and most dangerous combination in today’s context. They don’t have a social philosophy that can challenge them, and therefore they are raising walls to protect the partnership between market economy and religious fundamentalism. I think Pope Francis is referring to it when he talks about models of development and new social thinking. Laudato Si tells us that it is time to think of alternative models. Those who believe in the resurrection and believe in a different world are capable of a new philosophical thinking that is opposed to the protective ideology of exclusiveness.

Christ was made a scapegoat and killed. Is not the scapegoat mechanism prevalent in our culture? How do we get out of it? What does the crucified tell us of scapegoating?
Scapegoating happens every day. Politicians, religious heads and rulers of every shade take to scapegoating in order to reflect their sin. Rene Girard has tried to articulate this in his works. Victimization of the less powerful enables the mighty ones to disown the crime. ‘The crucified’ tell us that by choosing to be the victim, rather than being helplessly retaliatory, and by not letting violence to perpetuate itself, we can diffuse violence and unwind the cycle of violence. Gandhiji practiced this in satyagraha, by letting oneself suffer rather than taking to violence and thus defeating the power of violence. The underlying principle is that love and non-violence is more powerful than hate and violence.

Mary Magdalene remains the first witness of Christ’s resurrection. In Jewish culture a woman’s witness has no legal validity. What is the significance to Jesus flouting it?
Mary Magdalene is a paradox. The first witness of the risen Christ is a woman and yet excluded from the inner circle of the followers of Christ. For the Jewish establishment, Mary Magdalene as a feminine witness justified their incredulity. This is the paradox of faith. From what we are logically certain, ‘faith’ wriggles itself out. Pope Francis is fond of saying: God is not contained in the maximum, but in the minimum. Mary Magdalene challenges Jewish certainty; through her, ‘woman’ of our times challenges the Church and its clericalism. Mary Magdalene is the counter-point of clericalism that Church inherited from Jewish religion. Pope Francis has identified clericalism as the worst enemy of Christian faith by raising the status of the feast of Mary Magdalene. Its symbolism is there for all to see. The empty tomb and Mary Magdalene remain the ‘source and foundation’ of Christian faith, but patriarchy and clericalism that the Church has inherited, could not accept their apostolic significance. To accept the risen Lord and to dishonour the first witness due to her feminine status amounts to mutual cancellation. ‘Let it be done to me’ (fiat) of Mary culminates in ‘He is risen’ of Mary! Both Marys are overshadowed by clerics. The significance of Mary Magdalene today is to free ‘faith’ from clericalism.