Mother Theresa article

[Northumbrian]

I am betting that Mother Teresa will be exonatated.

And the press and pseudo intellectuals will profit from that too.

 

[Tony2255]

Supposing this is true, given the option of dying in the “poor” conditions of her facility or dying in the nightmarish conditions of garbage and filth on the streets, I’d take the poor conditions.

You would think if the conditions were that bad in her facility it would have been common knowledge on the streets. Yet the sick kept coming???

Better yet ask the Indian government what they are doing to help their people.

 

[Walcot]

Supposing this is true, given the option of dying in the “poor” conditions of her facility or dying in the nightmarish conditions of garbage and filth on the streets, I’d take the poor conditions.

You would think if the conditions were that bad in her facility it would have been common knowledge on the streets. Yet the sick kept coming???

Better yet ask the Indian government what they are doing to help their people.

I am not here to demonise Mother Theresa but to point out that while she had a love of the poor she also had failings too. She wasn’t the meek little lady that the myth has portrayed, she was human. She was fixated on bringing in the dying off the lonely streets and to save their souls. This was laudable. BUT her mission attracted lots and lots of money - given to her to help her do her work and extend it.
By the state of the hospitals we can see that the money did not go to cleaning them up or providing enough beds.
From the lack of medicine (even the dying need medicine) and lack of basic healthcare knowledge, the money was not being spent on that either.
So where WAS the money going? I’m not pointing the finger anywhere, I’m asking the question.
Mother Theresa’s homes should have been in the position to provide all this once the money started pouring in.
Not referring young people with treatable conditions, just through ignorance, when medical help was accessible, is no excuse and is neglect, whomsoever is responsible. I’m sure we wouldn’t accept that it’s OK for a person to die of something like appendicitis if a referral to a doctor and treatment was possible!
If you are ill/dying you take any comfort you can get and are in no position to argue.
I don’t deny the good things Mother Theresa tried to do but I also don’t deny her shortcomings.
And there is still the mystery of the money.

 

[GaryTaylor]

If you can’t trace the money why would you expect another too? And more important why would you automatically assume there was an issue? This is a myth and a witch hunt to show a sacred institution in less than its intended light through non factual accusations. Your clinging to your last straw that’s dangling in thin air with no support.

SOURCE! and no I don’t to want read the multitude of drival such as the OP based on a quick google search and lacking research. Facts or it didn’t happen but in someone’s creative mind.

I read the original article…nothing to it.

 

[mercytruth]

I think the doctor just kept her thoughts to herself. As health care practitioners, we are taught that pain relief is a basic human right. Mother Theresa could have loved the dying just as I care for the sick but once I neglect my duty to my patients it’s going to be malpractice. Why do people brush it off that she didn’t upgrade her facilities to meet some sort of standard? Even if the people who sought her just wanted to be comforted, why not in a nice warm bed or in a comfortable environment?

Shouldn’t we admit that there is neglect on her part? What do guys you think?

Mother Teresa was a complex person. Her own mother was a very inspiring example in the development of her Catholic faith with regard to reaching out with material assistance to the poor and the neglected. Her mother continued to be such an example even after her own prosperous husband had died, and she alone was to provide for her family as a seamstress. Her mother was frugal and generous, and a spotless cleaner of their home.

From what I have read of Mother Teresa, she was a contemplative who desired union with God through detachment from the ‘things of this world’. She also believed that she was to minister to the ‘poorest of the poor’, namely the forgotten poor who were dying on the streets of Calcutta. Mother Teresa and her sisters were most dedicated in their spotless cleaning…even in the most filthiest of conditions, while at the same time being vessels of the spiritual love of God to the dying.

She may have assumed that the poorest of the poor were on their way to union with God by being detached from the things of this world, and that it would be detrimental to their spiritual salvation to remove them from this state.

Her committment to loving the poorest of the poor under these circumstances was an inspiration to many people who generously wanted to be of financial assistance in bringing material assistance to the poor. This in effect, was contrary to her own personal committment of detachment from the things of the world. She literally did not know what to do with the material assistance that she was receiving, so it was deposited in the Vatican bank.

Mother Theresa would often comment on the ‘poverty of love’ that she saw in the western cultures who are rich in material prosperity. So it seems that Mother Teresa may have been so spiritually minded that she seems to have neglected the physical dimension of being human, not only with herself and her sisters, but also with the poorest of the poor. Later, this included those who were not dying, but the remedial sick who were in need of basic medical care.

We can be very complex human beings

God’s peace

 

[_Abyssinia]

Mother Teresa’s Indian followers lash out at study questioning her ‘saintliness’

Mother Teresa may have been painted as far from saintly by academics Serge Larivie and Genevieve Chenard, but those who knew her dismiss their new study.

“Her intention was to take care of those who had fallen by the wayside; people whom no hospital would admit. She set up hospices and not hospitals because a hospital would have been good for just one city such as Calcutta. She wanted to care for the destitute all around the world,” says former chief election commissioner Navin Chawla, who wrote an acclaimed biography of Mother Teresa in 1992.

“In such a huge ocean of goodness, it’s always easy to find some points of criticism,” he adds.

Chawla says the major claim made by the controversial study is ill-informed.

The work, set to be published in a journal called Religieuses, contends that Mother Teresa’s saintly image is the result of an effective media campaign.

Chawla says the authors of the study have failed to understand that Mother Teresa’s existence revolved around the destitute.

The most shocking claim in the study is that while the donations received by the Missionaries of Charity were not used for improving her hospices, money was not a problem when it came to Mother Teresa’s own treatment in America.

Right to charity

"I was quite heavily involved at the time when she was ill in Calcutta and doctors from San Diego and New York had come to see her out of their own will.

“Mother had no idea who was coming to treat her. It was so difficult to even convince her to go to the hospital. The fact that we forced her to, should not be held against her like this,” says 70-year-old artist Sunita Kumar, who worked closely with Mother Teresa for 36 years and is the spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata.

Chawla agrees. Mother Teresa, he says, was no stranger to allegations.

For instance, accusations about the sources of donations came up even when Mother Teresa was alive.

According to Chawla, her answer was simple: “Everyone has a right to give to charity”.

"I asked her this once. She in turn asked me if I question all the thousands of people who feed the poor in our city every day.

‘It’s not for me to judge people. That’s God’s work,’ she told me," says Chawla.

Dominique Emmanuel, director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church, has another take.

“If the money did not show in her hospices, then where could it have gone? Did it show in her lifestyle?” he asks, elaborating: “She was running more than 500 centres across the world. You need money to take care of the people staying there. That’s not an easy job.”
According to Chawla, Mother Teresa always had an aversion to hospitals. He remembers how she was immediately rushed to a state-of-the-art hospital when she fainted in San Diego.

“So strong was her dislike for expensive hospitals that she tried escaping from there at night. It’s completely unfair to accuse such a person of spending money on her treatment and not on those she cared so much for,” he says.
‘Saint in her life’

The question of the healing of Monica Besra, which the Vatican considers a miracle, is immaterial to Mother Teresa’s supporters.

For them, she was a saint in her lifetime.

“If her church or her faith has a process of cannonisation, then I am nobody to comment. For me and millions of others, she was a saint in her lifetime. That’s all,” says Chawla.

Study claims Mother Theresa was overly dogmatic on divorce, abortion, and contraception. Do the study authors have their own agenda?

 

[Brony4life]

This isn’t the only article.

news.yahoo.com/mother-teresa-actually-sort-jerk-182700128.html;_ylt=AkoHfgax0Byg5NARVlqB8DvQtDMD

This one is titled “Was Mother Theresa actually sort of a Jerk”

Really ?
The insanity of people blows my mind…

I saw that and I am now very sad :’( You can add Yahoo to the list of very anti-Catholic sites, as with many news outlets these days. They just published another article attacking the church’s “taboo doctrines” and “political power” in the Philippines, quoting activists for secularism in the Philippines.

 

[Walcot]

If you can’t trace the money why would you expect another too? And more important why would you automatically assume there was an issue? This is a myth and a witch hunt to show a sacred institution in less than its intended light through non factual accusations. Your clinging to your last straw that’s dangling in thin air with no support.

SOURCE! and no I don’t to want read the multitude of drival such as the OP based on a quick google search and lacking research. Facts or it didn’t happen but in someone’s creative mind.

I read the original article…nothing to it.

Oh for goodness sake, it’s a witch hunt of a sacred institution in your mind only.
I have no grudge against Mother Theresa, I’m just saying she was human and the homes were not as good as they could and should have been. The myth is all yours, not mine.
It is NO secret that her mission was given a lot of money. They said as much in the documentary. No I don’t remember the details of the documentary but in it I saw and heard the interviews of sisters, volunteers and local doctors, and saw some of the hospitals. It was not a sensationalist gutter press type piece of journalism and was a couple of years ago, but I’ll see if anyone else can help me find out the details.

 

[Walcot]

Mother Teresa was a complex person. Her own mother was a very inspiring example in the development of her Catholic faith with regard to reaching out with material assistance to the poor and the neglected. Her mother continued to be such an example even after her own prosperous husband had died, and she alone was to provide for her family as a seamstress. Her mother was frugal and generous, and a spotless cleaner of their home.

From what I have read of Mother Teresa, she was a contemplative who desired union with God through detachment from the ‘things of this world’. She also believed that she was to minister to the ‘poorest of the poor’, namely the forgotten poor who were dying on the streets of Calcutta. Mother Teresa and her sisters were most dedicated in their spotless cleaning…even in the most filthiest of conditions, while at the same time being vessels of the spiritual love of God to the dying.

She may have assumed that the poorest of the poor were on their way to union with God by being detached from the things of this world, and that it would be detrimental to their spiritual salvation to remove them from this state.

Her committment to loving the poorest of the poor under these circumstances was an inspiration to many people who generously wanted to be of financial assistance in bringing material assistance to the poor. This in effect, was contrary to her own personal committment of detachment from the things of the world. She literally did not know what to do with the material assistance that she was receiving, so it was deposited in the Vatican bank.

Mother Theresa would often comment on the ‘poverty of love’ that she saw in the western cultures who are rich in material prosperity. So it seems that Mother Teresa may have been so spiritually minded that she seems to have neglected the physical dimension of being human, not only with herself and her sisters, but also with the poorest of the poor. Later, this included those who were not dying, but the remedial sick who were in need of basic medical care.

We can be very complex human beings

God’s peace

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. She certainly did seem to see a ‘beauty in suffering’ as though the poorer they were and even the more they suffered, the closer they were to God. She was only interested in their souls. I think that was indeed the reason she wasnt interested in the money given her.
Whether or not one agrees with this sentiment, she had no right to assume her ‘patients’ would go along with this - to deny even pain relief when she could afford to pay for it, and to deny access to remedial medical care.
If she gave the money to the Vatican, perhaps they should have looked into it? Having been involved with charities, I am very aware that money should go to the cause for which it was given - in this case, Mother Theresa’s mission with the poor in India.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Written by somebody who is pro contraception, pro abortion

A response to critics of Mother Theresa

huffingtonpost.com/celeste-owenjones/mother-theresa-critics_b_2824776.html

 

[GaryTaylor]

No I don’t remember the details, but I’ll see if anyone else can help me find out the details.

Then we could actually discuss what is fact and fiction.

 

[Walcot]

newstatesman.com/node/151370

I think this was it…without seeing it again I can’t say absolutely for sure. It was longer ago than I thought, but then I find most things are these days…
I remember the children tied to the beds. Also I remember the case of the nun burning the little girl’s hand - that’s not disputed - it was discussed with the new head of the homes. Of course that example cannot be held as proof of anyone’s guilt other than that particular nun at that particular time - I’m not suggesting that. It’s just that it was rather shrugged off. I remember the new head(don’t remember her title) answering questions about modernisation by saying they wanted to keep it just the same as when Mother Theresa ran it - no changes.

 

[GaryTaylor]

This comment to the article was telling.

“personally have worked in daya dan orphanage and while conditions there certainly aren’t ideal the cruelty and callousness tat donal macintyre describes was never present while I was there. Each child was looked after to the best of the facilities available I saw no child chained to a wall or anything else. There were bars at the edges of their beds as there is in most cots in western homes also; to protect the children. There were singsongs and each child got shown love and affection by the volunteers. The orphanage itself was brightly decorated and as clean as possible with over 20 children living there. Perhaps there are better homes in Calcutta but daya dan is far from being the worst. In a place where there are limited facilities I believe that the nuns and volunteers are doing as best a job as they can and to criticize them for this is wrong. Maybe Mother Theresa wasn’t as wonderful as everyone believes but the work that she inspired in Calcutta is remarkable, with people from all over the world trying their hardest to improve life, just a small bit, for these children.”

macintyre.com/blog/missionaries-of-charity-deny-allegations-of-abusing-children-in-india-531.html

Where is the film?

 

[Walcot]

This comment to the article was telling.
Qq
“personally have worked in daya dan orphanage and while conditions there certainly aren’t ideal the cruelty and callousness tat donal macintyre describes was never present while I was there. Each child was looked after to the best of the facilities available I saw no child cha1ined to a wall or anything else. There were bars at the edges of their beds as there is in most cots in western homes also; to protect the children. There were singsongs and each child got shown love and affection by the volunteers. The orphanage itself was brightly decorated and as clean as possible with over 20 children living there. Perhaps there are better homes in Calcutta but daya dan is far from being the worst. In a place qwhere there are limited facilities I believe that the nuns and volunteers are doing as best a job as they can and to criticize them for this is wrong. Maybe Mother Theresa wasn’t as wonderful as everyone believes but the work that she inspired in Calcutta is remarkable, with people from all over the world trying their hardest to improve life, just a small bit, for these children.”

htt****p://macintyre.com/blog/missionaries-of-charity-deny-allegations-of-abusing-childqqren-in-india-531.html
q
Where is the film?

McIntyre says:
" I worked undercover for a week in Mother Teresa’s flagship home for disabled boys and girls to record Mother Teresa’s Legacy, a special report for Five News broadcast earlier this month. I winced at the rough handling by some of the full-time staff and Missionary sisters. I saw children with their mouths gagged open to be given medicine, their hands flaying in distress, visible testimony to the pain they were in. Tiny babies were bound with cloths at feeding time. Rough hands wrenched heads into position for feeding. Some of the children retched and coughed as rushed staff crammed food into their mouths. Boys and girls were abandoned on open toilets for up to 20 minutes at a time. Slumped, untended, some dribbling, some sleeping, they were a pathetic sight. Their treatment was an affront to their dignity, and dangerously unhygienic."

It says there: A special report for Five News.

In the comment you quote he says “the children were looked after to the best of the facilities available”. And “…in a place where there were limited facilities…the nuns did as best a job as they can ( sic)…” This was my point! There is no need for ‘limited facilities’ or for the helpers to ‘struggle as best they can.’ Too right tying up kids with learning difficulties is not accepted practice in the west! It should be there too, as they SHOULD be able to get better ‘facilities’ and training for their helpers. I repeat, why wasn’t the money spent on the homes when it had been given for that purpose? We can trade quotes claiming or denying levels of cruelty but the fact is that while I have never denied that Mother Theresa did good works through her love of God, she was not perfect ( no, I know, no-one is, but there are some who claim it for M Theresa) and there are unnecessary failings in the homes, because the huge amounts of money raised are somewhere else!!

 

[GaryTaylor]

I’m convinced that she did a remarkable job. Personally I thank the lord for the amazing commitment and growth through her effort. I see where she made the world a better place for all she came in contact with, if only for a moment. She served the greater good. Perfect, I’d say some have moments of perfection. Other than that I don’t know perfection as an individual. All Saints have a past in this world. Perfect is reserved for God.

Nevertheless, I’ve seen restraining chairs used here weekly, and some wards one might not think to highly of on first impression. Medication, well I’ve seen that underused, overused and misused, not used and wrongly prescribed, and frankly it often results in another behavior. I tend to believe the original article I mentioned by Fox. I’d love to see the videos though. I assume they must exist? The Man has an interesting reputation for his private investigation work, little tabloid oriented wouldn’t you say? He has approx. 100 videos on You Tube and I didn’t see one of the ward or Calcutta.

 

[isin2]

Mother Teresa was a complex person. Her own mother was a very inspiring example in the development of her Catholic faith with regard to reaching out with material assistance to the poor and the neglected. Her mother continued to be such an example even after her own prosperous husband had died, and she alone was to provide for her family as a seamstress. Her mother was frugal and generous, and a spotless cleaner of their home.

From what I have read of Mother Teresa, she was a contemplative who desired union with God through detachment from the ‘things of this world’. She also believed that she was to minister to the ‘poorest of the poor’, namely the forgotten poor who were dying on the streets of Calcutta. Mother Teresa and her sisters were most dedicated in their spotless cleaning…even in the most filthiest of conditions, while at the same time being vessels of the spiritual love of God to the dying.

She may have assumed that the poorest of the poor were on their way to union with God by being detached from the things of this world, and that it would be detrimental to their spiritual salvation to remove them from this state.

Her committment to loving the poorest of the poor under these circumstances was an inspiration to many people who generously wanted to be of financial assistance in bringing material assistance to the poor. This in effect, was contrary to her own personal committment of detachment from the things of the world. She literally did not know what to do with the material assistance that she was receiving, so it was deposited in the Vatican bank.

Mother Theresa would often comment on the ‘poverty of love’ that she saw in the western cultures who are rich in material prosperity. So it seems that Mother Teresa may have been so spiritually minded that she seems to have neglected the physical dimension of being human, not only with herself and her sisters, but also with the poorest of the poor. Later, this included those who were not dying, but the remedial sick who were in need of basic medical care.

We can be very complex human beings

God’s peace

Very well said you gave peace to my soul. Thank you.

 

[Walcot]

I’m convinced that she did a remarkable job. Personally I thank the lord for the amazing commitment and growth through her effort. I see where she made the world a better place for all she came in contact with, if only for a moment. She served the greater good. Perfect, I’d say some have moments of perfection. Other than that I don’t know perfection as an individual. All Saints have a past in this world. Perfect is reserved for God.

Nevertheless, I’ve seen restraining chairs used here weekly, and some wards one might not think to highly of on first impression. Medication, well I’ve seen that underused, overused and misused, not used and wrongly prescribed, and frankly it often results in another behavior. I tend to believe the original article I mentioned by Fox. I’d love to see the videos though. I assume they must exist? The Man has an interesting reputation for his private investigation work, little tabloid oriented wouldn’t you say? He has approx. 100 videos on You Tube and I didn’t see one of the ward or Calcutta.

Perhaps the video belongs to Five News and that’s why he hasn’t got it? I don’t know, and as I say, I can’t be absolutely sure this is what I saw. I wish I could see it again as I am well aware of the dangers of taking ‘evidence’ from only one source. However, I feel I have heard too many criticisms over the years for there not to be some truth in them somewhere. I acknowledge M Theresa’s dedication…what I’m concerned about is her back-up. The money was given to her missions and it seems to have gone into a bank somewhere. She herself always said she had no need of worldly things and was not in the least interested in money. She must have been aware of how much people gave to her when she had inspired them though. I guess she was happy to entrust it to the Vatican to know how best to invest it. I believe she and her mission should have had more support from them.
Have you read John Cornwell’s book A thief in the night? In case you haven’t, he was called in to put to rest the rumours around pope Jean Paul I, and he found out a lot about the culture that’s developed in the Vatican - things hinted at by the present retiring pope. This might have some relevance with the Calcutta homes…you may not agree…but it made me wonder whether there were some people there who were more interested in M Theresa’s image value (albeit for the church) than for her compassion and work. I’m not suggesting the money was taken for any sinister reasons - just not for the cause for which it was given.

 

[GaryTaylor]

Perhaps the video belongs to Five News and that’s why he hasn’t got it? I don’t know, .

Noted, I don’t either.

and as I say, I can’t be absolutely sure this is what I saw…

Noted, I’d like to see it once.

I wish I could see it again as I am well aware of the dangers of taking ‘evidence’ from only one source…

Especially in her situation.

However, I feel I have heard too many criticisms over the years for there not to be some truth in them somewhere.

Ever read the history of Constantine and the personal view of him by pagan and Christians who wrote?

I acknowledge M Theresa’s dedication…what I’m concerned about is her back-up. The money was given to her missions and it seems to have gone into a bank somewhere…

No idea, I would be speculating. What goes directly back to charity by the Vatican has been discussed here.

She herself always said she had no need of worldly things and was not in the least interested in money. She must have been aware of how much people gave to her when she had inspired them though. I guess she was happy to entrust it to the Vatican to know how best to invest it. I believe she and her mission should have had more support from them…

This I common, I don’t believe she kept in mind the amounts which went through her hands on a personal level, I’m sure it can be tracked, though on her mind? Can’t read minds and I would go with no, and say no-one can prove me wrong.

Well depending what is in fact true with Vatican financial support would only serve to advance her case if in fact funding was lacking. That would be a positive reflection on her, not indicate intentional neglect through her handling of finance. So we are talking medical neglect which in the big picture I fail to see. The financial end being the other.

Have you read John Cornwell’s book A thief in the night? In case you haven’t, he was called in to put to rest the rumours around pope Jean Paul I, and he found out a lot about the culture that’s developed in the Vatican - things hinted at by the present retiring pope. This might have some relevance with the Calcutta homes…you may not agree…but it made me wonder whether there were some people there who were more interested in M Theresa’s image value (albeit for the church) than for her compassion and work. I’m not suggesting the money was taken for any sinister reasons - just not for the cause for which it was given.

No, haven’t read it.

Honestly imho Mother Theresa looks fine to me. As far as the Vatican, I’ve read the history of the Church and all the drama. Truthfully there could be nothing unprecedented, I honestly don’t expect the public revelation of Jesus Christ to ever change.

 

[Dawnia]

Perhaps the video belongs to Five News and that’s why he hasn’t got it? I don’t know, and as I say, I can’t be absolutely sure this is what I saw. I wish I could see it again as I am well aware of the dangers of taking ‘evidence’ from only one source. However, I feel I have heard too many criticisms over the years for there not to be some truth in them somewhere. I acknowledge M Theresa’s dedication…what I’m concerned about is her back-up. The money was given to her missions and it seems to have gone into a bank somewhere. She herself always said she had no need of worldly things and was not in the least interested in money. She must have been aware of how much people gave to her when she had inspired them though. I guess she was happy to entrust it to the Vatican to know how best to invest it. I believe she and her mission should have had more support from them.
Have you read John Cornwell’s book A thief in the night? In case you haven’t, he was called in to put to rest the rumours around pope Jean Paul I, and he found out a lot about the culture that’s developed in the Vatican - things hinted at by the present retiring pope. This might have some relevance with the Calcutta homes…you may not agree…but it made me wonder whether there were some people there who were more interested in M Theresa’s image value (albeit for the church) than for her compassion and work. I’m not suggesting the money was taken for any sinister reasons - just not for the cause for which it was given.

I wonder how much the government had to do with this problem? I think the issue is far more complex than the in and out of money. I remember the huge amounts money & food sent to countries in Africa, yet the people were still starving. Government corruption left that food sitting in docks or sold to line the pockets of the politicians, etc. I can’t say anything about that part of the world, but there could be a lot of factors involved. Or it could be superiors who redirected the funds to other projects. It may never be known.

As to the people complaining about the conditions of the hospitals. If those people in their ivory towers were so concerned for the welfare of those sick and poor in Mother Theresa’s care, they would have gotten off of their duffs and opened clinics to serve those people. Instead they would rather whine and complain that she wasn’t doing it “right”. If anyone wants me to take their griping seriously, then they better be off their lazy bums doing exactly what they are complaining someone else isn’t doing.

Now I can certainly see people who donated money to the cause asking where that money was spent. But that needs to be directed at the person handling the funds, not the people doing the work.

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

If you can’t trace the money why would you expect another too? And more important why would you automatically assume there was an issue? This is a myth and a witch hunt to show a sacred institution in less than its intended light through non factual accusations. Your clinging to your last straw that’s dangling in thin air with no support.

The financial issues are common knowledge and have been publicly noted even by members of the order for a long time. Donations to the Missionaries of Charity were deposited in the Vatican Bank and Mother Theresa did not manage the finances of the order. Problem is that 93% of those donations were not used for charity and, despite raking in enormous sums of money, the order was severely underfunded. They had to rely on donated bread to stock their soup kitchens because the money was not being released to them. In fact, one former sister of the Missionaries of Charity in Los Angeles publicly noted that, despite processing millions in donations, they frequently had to beg local businesses for food, supplies, and even medical care for themselves and their facilities. That is why people ask where all of the money went. The Vatican Bank is hardly a sacred institution; corruption and scandal have been plaguing it for decades.