Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, the archbishop of bangalore, goes candid on God, religion, Fratelli Tutti, closed churches, diocese’s Covid-19 relief activities, and Christmas as he speaks to saji p mathew ofm.
SAJI P MATHEW OFM
SPM: Covid-19 has made a dent in the timeline of the world. In these uncertain times how is this Christmas different?
AB:This Christmas is going to be different. The pandemic came as a jolt. Though at the beginning it was not expected to last so long, it has lasted so long. Perhaps that has shaken everybody. Shaken the foundations of faith; shaken the foundations of our relationship, with social distancing, at times, not even families are close to each other; and it has also shaken the foundation of the economy of people. People have gone poor and vulnerable. In this contest, I think the Christmas will surely be different. It has to be different. It is a season of knowing that God is closer to us than we often think. There must be a sense of feeling and belonging to each other.
Jesus was born at such a time when people had gone away from their homes to register their names for a census. As far as the experience of Mary and Joseph goes, in many sense that was another Covid like experience. People did not want to be close to each other. As Mary, Joseph and eventually Jesus himself did not find a home in the inn. There was no social distancing that time, there was more of mental distancing. Now we have physical distancing and also psychological scare and fear.
At this difficult time, the birth of Jesus is a sign of hope. He is close to all, especially to the poor, to people who are distanced, to people who are bearing the burden. For them the light shines bright. The light of Christ, the star of Bethlehem will always lead them to a sense of hope, to a sense of a better relationship, and to a sense of better values. People can no longer believe in the power of money, power of possessions and property. God is a higher value than all the other things we value. Therefore Christmas will be different this year. This will be a unique Christmas.
The archdiocese is at the forefront of Covid-19 relief work in Bangalore. How do you assess the Covid-19 relief activities of the archdioceses? How many families were you able to reach out to? What impact factor did the reach out have?
Yes. In the beginning it was very frightening. All of a sudden the government imposed the lock down. People were not allowed to go out, even the markets were closed. People were just left to fend for themselves. At this time our eyes opened up. We did not have all the resources; we reached out to general public and asked for support in order to help the Covid affected families. Fortunately there was a lot of good will. And many people and many associations and many congregations helped us and we were able to help 28000 families, across religions, with food stuffs lasting for a long duration of the severe lockdown.
The religious of the city also did marvellous works. Some organised help around their surroundings. The bigger congregations, like, the Jesuits, the Salesians, the Franciscans etc. moved out in different directions to help the slum dwellers, the migrants, families who are at the peripheries, the transgender community, and all who were in difficulty. It also taught us many lessons.
Tragedies bring humans naturally closer to each other than our joys. When the deaths were increasing in the city, people abandoned the dead. They were not even ready to claim the bodies. To my surprise, our Muslim brethren called the ‘Mercy Angels’ were very active. And they were even ready to bury the Catholics who died. The supreme act of charity of burying the dead cannot be forgotten by us. Gradually our Christians were able to form a group of 100 people to bury the dead. They would claim the bodies from the morgue and give it a decent burial. They have buried about 200 bodies.
How has Covid-19 impacted people’s idea of God and religion?
It is a nice question. Covid-19 has made us ask questions about our eternal identity and our future security. People have suddenly realised that money, assets or properties are not the only things that matter. In moments like these, we are helpless. The greatest industrialist who is lying in the hospital bed is equal to a daily wage worker on the next bed. We have come to a stage where nothing is stable, nothing is permanent; it has made many people think and revaluate the values of life, relationships and God. Of course the churches were closed in the beginning and there was a big hue and cry. But when people realised that churches also could be places where diseases could spread people cooperated. Now it is strange that it has come to a certain stage that the churches are opened, the temples are opened but we hear that people are not coming easily. We need to understand that the institutional religions and rituals are important but more important is one’s own conscience and closeness to god. Therefore people not coming to church is not to be taken in a negative sense that they have abandoned the church. I will be happy if the situation changes and people come back to churches. But even otherwise we can reach out to them.
What we noticed especially in catholic circles is that when a door gets closed, God opens a window elsewhere. Our church doors were closed, but windows of online masses and activities opened. What we call the territorial parishes -our parish, my parish, my zone etc. - were just broken and we opened up to the whole world. It is just one common family. Though we were not visible to see each other there was a wider and greater audience. For examples, for the feast at St. Mary’s Basilica, usually a two or three lakh people would come to visit the shrine, but this year we had around 600000 visitors to the shrine online. In that sense religion still matters, institutional rituals were less but personal devotion, personal respect and honour to god continue to be there.
Fratelli Tutti, the recent encyclical from Pope Francis comes at a time when we need each other more than ever before. What are your comments on the encyclical?
This pope is a prophetic pope. He comes out with innate wisdom that at times are necessary for us. For example the previous encyclical, Laudato si, was a revolutionary one, telling people that we need nature. And Fratelli Tutti taught that we need everyone. No one is excluded; and no one is extra. We must build bridges instead of putting up fences. Fratelli Tutti repeatedly says that we are one humanity; we are one world; in which everyone lives for everybody. The selfishness of certain countries of being parochial, nationalistic is questioned. We for ourselves and God for everybody is not the right thing. On the other hand when we are together God is also with us. As a world together we stand to gain than being separated.
With Covid-19 still around and people from almost all sections of humanity are facing an ambiguous future, what is your message for the New Year 2021?
I am happy to greet you for Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021. We are still in the shadow of Covid-19. There will be less sounds, less lights, less boisterous gatherings.
My dear brothers and sisters, I wish you such a Christmas that you feel close to Jesus; that celebrate it with joy and buzz around; and celebrate it also by sharing something with those who are poor and needy. May your Christmas never end. May your celebrations never end. May it continue all through the new year as I wish you a very happy New Year 2021. God bless you.
