One of the treasured memories I have of my time in Australia was living with - along with the other Tertians - Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ, AC. I was referenced in an article by David McMahon and published by the Jesuits in Australia about him. It is archived below.
The Reverse Interview
By David McMahon, Communications Manager, Society of Jesus in Australia
Days before Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ died, the eminent theologian and Rome veteran was the one asking questions of an interviewer.
It’s one of those late-winter days when Melbourne’s blue sky highlights the blossoms on the almond trees, as well as the first burst of magnolia blooms and golden wattle. I’m on my way to Campion House in Kew to meet Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ (“Gerry”, to his fellow Jesuits) for an interview.
A fortnight earlier, I had emailed him, asking if we could meet. Borrowing a phrase from Lewis Carroll, I asked if we could chat about many things, including “cabbages and kings”.
He replied in the affirmative the next day, saying he would be away at Campion for the first fortnight of August. He suggests: “Lunch there at 12.45 one day? Monday 5 or Tues 6 August? I will meet you at the front door.” We agreed that we would catch up on 6 August.
I’m early, but I wait near the front door and a few minutes before 12.45, he appears, both hands firmly gripping the handles of his wheeled walker. He greets me and ushers me towards the dining room.
He has a bandage across his upper lip because he has suffered a nosebleed. I realise instantly that this is not the most appropriate day to take photographs while we speak, so I discreetly put my camera down, out of sight under the table – or so I think. But he’s as sharp as a tack.
“Did you want to take photos of me?” he asks.
I explain that photographs can wait for another day.
“Yes, that would be better,” he agrees.
He motions me to his right, to the seat at the head of the table. For one shining hour, I have the privilege of being his appointed right-hand man. Fr Matthew Charlesworth SJ, from the Southern Africa Province, who has recently completed his tertianship and is due to leave Australia the next day, takes the seat to his left. He serves Fr Gerry a bowl of soup and after a few spoons, notices that the bandage has worked loose and is now sagging onto his lip, making the task of handling a soup spoon a lot harder.
He suggests to Fr Gerry that the bandage can be removed for the duration of the meal and then stands up to remove – very carefully – the clear surgical tape that anchors it. Fr Gerry does not flinch once during the process, and thanks him when it is done.
He asks me, “So you’re from North Point?”
Yes. I tell him about the Jesuit boarding school in Darjeeling and he nods. “I know the place,” he says. “I spent some time there once. When I arrived at Calcutta airport, I was told that the flight to Bagdogra (the airport that serves the wider Darjeeling area) was full and that there was no place for me. There was a Sikh army officer nearby and when he asked what the airline staff had told me, he told me to wait for him. A few minutes later, he reappeared with not one but two boarding cards. He gave me one, explaining that the second was for his daughter, who I think was returning to her boarding school in Darjeeling, and he asked me to take care of her.”
The conversation ebbs and flows and towards the end of lunch, Fr Gerry suggests gently that it would be best if we did the interview later, virtually. “Email the questions to me, and I’ll send you my answers so that you can put it all together. What areas would you like to cover?”
Deftly, he is now interviewing me. I remember, with a smile, that he once spoke about how he missed working with the BBC. That explains so much about the U-turn in our conversation.
“About your early years at Xavier College. Your decision to join the Jesuits. Your three decades in Rome. Your time at the Gregorian University and also at Newman College. Your deep faith and an explanation to the lay person of what systematic theology is. The fact that you still have your Gregorian University email address. What the Spiritual Exercises mean to you. Your amazing output as an author. And an interesting answer that you once gave an American interviewer.”
He nods. I feel as if I have passed the first test and my homework has received the tick of approval.
He asks one more pertinent question. “When do you want it by?” The experienced author, always attentive to deadlines.
“You can get a photo of me from my publishers,” he suggests.
Fr Matthew, meanwhile, has completed an overhaul of the bandage so that it will remain in place. He suggests that Fr Gerry should wait while he tapes it in place. The process is quick and Fr Matthew is careful with the surgical tape. He reminds Fr Gerry that he has to leave the next day and they say their goodbyes, with a bit of banter about whether they will meet again in this life or the next.
Together, Fr Matthew and I help Fr Gerry up and he bids us goodbye as he departs with his wheeled walker.
A few days later, the questions are ready and I am about to email them when I am advised not to send them yet because Fr Gerry is in hospital.
On Thursday 22 August, I get a call to tell me that Fr Gerry has left us.
My mind goes straight back to the last question on my list.
In 2015, you gave Sean Salai a wonderful answer (for this interview published in ‘America’ magazine) and I wonder if you’d care to add anything to it. He asked: ‘When you meet Jesus in the next life, what do you expect will happen?’ and your reply was: ‘I expect to be simply swept away by the unique beauty of Christ. I hope and pray that he will forgive my sins and perhaps even thank me for speaking up for him in my teaching and writing.’
This was originally published at: https://jesuit.org.au/the-reverse-interview/