Mother Teresa

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Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Apologists often view her in a positive light:

"On the positive side, Mother Teresa helped improve conditions in India by challenging the religious beliefs of many in the Hindu culture[1]"

By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God, by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work. Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of Mother Theresa's death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries.

"[Researchers noted] her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce. [2]"

Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. She was declared a Saint by Pope Francis in 2016.[3] However, both religious and nonreligious figures, notably Christopher Hitchens, have criticized her for her beliefs and her view that poverty and suffering are blessings.

Criticism[edit]

"[she was a] religious fundamentalist, a political operative, a primitive sermoniser, and an accomplice of worldly secular powers"

Christopher Hitchens
"For the most part, the care the children received was inept, unprofessional and, in some cases, rough and dangerous.[4]"
"the quintessential image of the white woman in the colonies, working to save the dark bodies from their own temptations and failures.[5]"

Beliefs[edit]

While Mother Teresa remains an important modern religious figure, letters of confession she wrote over the course of 66 years, recently published in the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, suggest that her faith was not as solid as the world believed. In one of the letters she writes of Jesus:

"...the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."

Controversy remains on whether the letters were published against her wishes and whether her faith was as empty as her letters suggest.

"There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering[5]"

References[edit]

Books[edit]

External links[edit]

Criticism[edit]