by Gordon Nary
Gordon: Where and when were you born? Tell us something about your family.
Father Andrew: I was born in Lisbon in 1943 where my father was working for the British Council. He was Catholic; my mother Protestant, but she always came to Sunday Mass with us. And we always prayed for her conversion. She became a Catholic shortly after my father’s death. We are five children, three girls and two boys and fourteen grandchildren. My parents put a lot of effort into educating us, for which we are very grateful.
Gordon: Where else were you educated?
Father Andrew: Until the age of eleven I was educated abroad. Then I went to Farleigh House prep school and from there to Ample forth College, where I was taught to love the faith and the liturgy, to study hard, mainly French and Spanish Literature, and to get on with the teachers and fellow pupils. I have fond memories of the teachers, both lay and monks. I admired and loved the monks but did not feel called to become a Benedictine.
Gordon: And after that, to Oxford University?
Father Andrew: I was given a place at Oxford. There I met many good things. Daily Mass in the Catholic chaplaincy was very important. And I learnt so many good things from my tutors in Magdalen College. The College is named after St Mary Magdalen and she is a favourite saint of mine. From the College, I am especially grateful to Austin Gill who taught me French Literature. Although not a Catholic, he was very respectful of my faith. This was not true of everyone in Oxford. There seemed to be an intellectual atmosphere, perhaps especially among the philosophers, seeking to destroying Catholic faith in the students, which was seen by some as dogmatic and inimical to freedom.
Gordon: What did you do about that?
Father Andrew: Thanks to Stephen Reynolds I was introduced to Opus Dei, at Grandpont House. The house was pretty ramshackle, but the friendliness of the people there – I remember in particular Charlie Duran a very talented heart surgeon – was a wonderful tonic contrasting with a certain academic “everyone out for himself” attitude which I found elsewhere.
Gordon: What did Opus Dei teach you?
Father Andrew: That I had to be a saint. That God calls everyone to holiness. And, for most people, this means seeking holiness, Christian perfection, in one’s ordinary activities. It was marvellous to realise that I could do mental prayer in my room; that I could work hard at my studies and offer them to God; that other people, though different and often not favourable to religion, were equally called to holiness and that it was my job, as an ordinary Catholic layman, to try to win them over to Christ, through personal apostolate with them.
Gordon: What is holiness?
Father Andrew: For a Protestant – and I have a great appreciation for Protestants, especially for those who really seek to centre their lives on Christ – it is Christ who saves us, with his death on the Cross. God alone is good and Protestants understood this in the sense that Christ alone – who is both God and Man – saves us. His death takes away our sin by covering it up. Inside, we are still the sinners we were. Christ’s death covers our imperfection but does not heal it. Catholicism, instead, believes we are really called to holiness, to change from a life of sin to one of holiness, to live in a way that is truly pleasing to God, because it is like his.
Gordon: But does that not go against the teaching that God alone is good?
Father Andrew: It would, if we thought we could manage it on our own. Jesus says: “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But with him we can become saints.
Gordon: Isn’t this unrealistic? We remain with faults as long as we live.
Father Andrew: True. But God gave us Mary to answer that objection. In Mary, God proves that he can create a human being who is perfect. And by Mary’s free response – this freedom of hers is fundamental – she proves that human beings can become perfect as Jesus taught, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
Gordon: Perfect?
Father Andrew: Yes. Mary leads us to Jesus, to that perfection, by showing us our weakness and, at the same time, that God really wants us to be saints and gives us the grace to be such.
Gordon: Isn’t it hypocritical to preach holiness when we are full of weakness and prone to sin?
Father Andrew: Hypocrisy is certainly a constant temptation, and many seem to practise Christianity with an element of hypocrisy. They seem to say, “Be saints, but – nudge, nudge – let’s admit we’ve all got faults and we can’t really change”. The answer to that is that there are saints. I think of Mother Teresa, and John Paul II (with that cry of his: “Do not be afraid!)”. And, for me, St Josemaría showing us a very practical way: “All with Peter to Jesus through Mary.” The Pope is necessary to keep us in the Church and linked to Christ. The goal is Jesus, and Mary, Mother of God but our Mother as well, takes us to her Son.
Gordon: Is that all?
Father Andrew: Well, we mustn’t forget Confession. That is the great remedy for our constant closeness to sin. Confession takes us to contrition, to be really sorry and to make a resolution to begin again in our journey to imitate Christ. St Josemaría used to say that the best devotion is making acts of contrition.
Gordon: What did you want of this interview?
Father Andrew: I didn’t ask to be interviewed by you, but now that I’m here perhaps I should say something more about Opus Dei.
Gordon: Why did Opus Dei attract you when it seems to have so many antagonists? Aren’t you all sinners?
Father Andrew: Yes, we are sinners and… perhaps… great sinners. But who are those antagonists? I’m reminded of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees attacked her as a sinner. She did not deny it. But they were attacking her sin. Jesus responds: “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7). Those critics were man enough to admit that they themselves too were sinners. One would like to see those who attack the Church today asking themselves honestly: “Are we too sinners?” And, if they answer positively to that, they should not slink away, but come to Jesus: “You, Lord, can make us clean” (see Matthew 8:2).
Gordon: How does one become clean?
Father Andrew: I mentioned Confession. I should add: “frequent confession”. In Opus Dei we are asked to go every week. Again, some hypocrites point their finger at Catholics, saying: “You Catholics go to confession and this justifies you in continuing to sin.” We answer: “No: it strengthens us.” Also it opens us to spiritual direction, which is a great way to tackle the hurdles along the path to holiness.
Gordon: And Mary?
Father Andrew: Yes. We said that Christ is the Redeemer, the one Mediator. We are at one with Protestants on this. Christ did it all and could have left it at that. But, as Catholics, we believe that, in becoming man, Christ also wanted to associate us men with the redemption. Had he redeemed us without our cooperation there would have been something missing. We would still, in some way, be alien to God. But he wants us to be his, to be children of God, of one mind and hear with him. In order to bring this about, Jesus starts with Mary. He wants her to redeem with him, to co-redeem. But he does not leave it there. Having proved that Mary helps him (“Do whatever he tells you”, she says at Cana – John 2:5), he asks the rest of the human race to participate as well. Mary teaches us that we too can become fully sons and daughters of God, co-redeemers with her in the marvellous bringing back of the human race to happiness with God. We must not chicken out from this responsibility. This is something I have learned from Opus Dei.
Gordon: Thank you for an exceptional interview.