Responses to criticisms of Mother Teresa

[Bradski]

We all know we are going to die and the circumstances under which that will occur may be very unfavorable for some of us. Certainly, it would be a great gift if one person helped another to forestall that reality, but an even greater gift would come from another who could truly place that angst-filled reality into eternal perspective, give true meaning to it and enable the personal strength to face whatever current temporal conditions conjure up with aplomb, courage and dignity.

So you and a friend both have what could be a life threatening illness. Your friends wife is spending the family savings and sending him to Bethesda to get the best possible treatment. But your wife has good news as well and has ‘an even greater gift’.

She’s going to send you to a hospice where someone, in regard to the reality of your situation will ‘truly place that angst-filled reality into eternal perspective, give true meaning to it and enable the personal strength to face whatever current temporal conditions conjure up with aplomb, courage and dignity’.

I’ll bet your friend is really jealous.

 

[Rosebud77]

Some of these posts make me very sad

Kelner speaks fact yet many are unwilling to accept this and without truth we have less than nothing

Google Mother Teresa’s millions etc

I have family working in many of the areas where the srs work and they are not caring properly for the childen. This is widely known among aid workers all over the world. If you look at the reviews of Hitchens book on amazon…
When I frsit heard the news of it all I contacted aid workers in many lands and learned the same t; money and help given but babies starved to death.

She was just a woman who got seduced by fame etc. And went sideways re holy poverty.

Nirmala who took over had a conviction for child abuse; hitting a child with a red hot poker for stealing bread

And freely admitted that there are untold millions in the Vatican banks, yet the srs are kept short of food and the TB rate there is high as they are so poorly cared for… here in Ireland they beg claiming they have nothing yet the Order is the richest in the world

All that money was given for feeding and caring for the poor. That is sin and crime.

Time to face hard truths and it all shcoked me as much as it would anyone as I was enthralled by her as so many were.

Sorry. This so upsets me so will leave this thread
NB word is that she will never be made saint as too much is known now.

 

[Rosebud77]

Why? What he did or didn’t do is irrelevant, as much as whatever I do and don’t do is irrelevant.

I’m not arguing what he did or didn’t do compared in any way to Mother Teresa. In fact, I don’t think I mentioned him at all.

I have no idea of his accomplishments while he was on this earth, and I’m not particularly interested.

One can do a lot of good, and a lot of harm, at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive.

I’m not interested in Mr. Hitchens.

I guess we all see things differently. The account of Lundon, who I have no reason to think is neither credible nor prone to exaggeration, is a lot more than casting aspersions.

Failing to provide the medical care needed for a simple infection and to allow suffering and death to follow, on the basis ‘‘if you do it for one they’d all expect the same treatment’’ is not a feeble aspersion to me.

And it’s certainly not treating people as individual human beings with dignity and respect.

Again, I disagree.

Why would I need to?

Have you walked in the shoes of everyone you’ve ever criticized?

Is highlighting concerns only valid now if you’ve walked in the person’s shoes ‘‘every minute of [their] life to justify’’ the concerns?

If that were the case, nobody could ever criticize the conduct of anybody, ever again.

This is really what fascinates me when it comes to talking about Mother Teresa.

The incredible double standard applied.

This doesn’t surprise me in the least, given the status she had acquired.

However, yes, I do, personally, think it is an issue that when she developed health issues, she attended the best hospitals and clinics and received the best medical care possible, while at the same time her sisters and volunteers were making good on reusing needles over and over again and washing them in cold water.

She was absolutely entitled to the best care available.

Her human dignity, worth and respect demanded it.

So too, in my opinion, were those she took the on the responsibility to look after.

When there’s millions sitting in the bank, there’s no need, in my opinion, for needles to be reused!

I have no idea and I’m not interested so why would I or should I be able to provide a list of his accomplishments. I’m not discussing him.

But this does, once again, highlight nicely for me, what happens when any criticism of Mother Teresa is raised.

Anyhow, I think I’m done with this conversation now as I can see it becoming very repetitive.

I’ve raised the issues I think are interesting for me in relation to looking at someone like Mother Teresa, and I’m fascinated with how any criticism is so heavily downplayed in favor of highlighting the publicly known works.

This fails to address some essential questions that I think deserve an answer, because at the end of those questions, are or were real suffering people.

Just my opinion of course and nothing else.

Hundreds of millions of faithful will of course, disagree.

I think this conversation as gone as far as it’s likely to go now for me as I have no wish to cause offense to anyone who holds Mother Teresa in an untouchable position of veneration.

Sarah x

Sarah; truth is of God and you speak truth , You are right of course; bless you! If you want to message me I will try to sort that out… not good tehnicaly!

 

[Peter_Plato]

So you and a friend both have what could be a life threatening illness. Your friends wife is spending the family savings and sending him to Bethesda to get the best possible treatment. But your wife has good news as well and has ‘an even greater gift’.

She’s going to send you to a hospice where someone, in regard to the reality of your situation will ‘truly place that angst-filled reality into eternal perspective, give true meaning to it and enable the personal strength to face whatever current temporal conditions conjure up with aplomb, courage and dignity’.

I’ll bet your friend is really jealous.

I have long ago worked out that this life is not completely and sufficiently the happifying place many so desperately want it to be. Certainly it has its perks, but most of what modern western culture esteems as highest goods are clearly devoid of substance and meaning. I am not clear that it is worth trading in a complete realization of the truth for a few more years of empty promise. So, yes, I would side with true meaning and peace rather than be offered the opportunity to endure a longer brief moment under dissipating temporal conditions. To be clear, I do not support euthanasia as a corollary to this, but regard unnecessary medical attempts to extend someone’s life by artificially keeping them alive to be a symptom of fear of death.

 

[Peter_Plato]

Some of these posts make me very sad

Kelner speaks fact yet many are unwilling to accept this and without truth we have less than nothing

Google Mother Teresa’s millions etc

I have family working in many of the areas where the srs work and they are not caring properly for the childen. This is widely known among aid workers all over the world. If you look at the reviews of Hitchens book on amazon…
When I frsit heard the news of it all I contacted aid workers in many lands and learned the same t; money and help given but babies starved to death.

She was just a woman who got seduced by fame etc. And went sideways re holy poverty.

Nirmala who took over had a conviction for child abuse; hitting a child with a red hot poker for stealing bread

And freely admitted that there are untold millions in the Vatican banks, yet the srs are kept short of food and the TB rate there is high as they are so poorly cared for… here in Ireland they beg claiming they have nothing yet the Order is the richest in the world

***All that money was given for feeding and caring for the poor. That is sin and crime. ***

Time to face hard truths and it all shcoked me as much as it would anyone as I was enthralled by her as so many were.

Sorry. This so upsets me so will leave this thread
NB word is that she will never be made saint as too much is known now.

Let’s be candid, here. Is the following statement a reflection of what your real issue with Mother Teresa is?

***All that money was given for feeding and caring for the poor. That is sin and crime. ***

Is it that money was “wasted” on the poor? It would be informative to have a complete picture of your motives for having the perspective you do on MT.

 

[choose_to_love]

@Peter Plato: Peter, that is an unfair reading of rosebud’s post. I take the meaning to be that is a sin and crime to receive millions for the care of the poor and then not actually spend it on the poor.

 

[Peter_Plato]

@Peter Plato: Peter, that is an unfair reading of rosebud’s post. I take the meaning to be that is a sin and crime to receive millions for the care of the poor and then not actually spend it on the poor.

You are correct. I should have read more carefully. My apologies.

 

[Bradski]

To be clear, I do not support euthanasia as a corollary to this, but regard unnecessary medical attempts to extend someone’s life by artificially keeping them alive to be a symptom of fear of death.

I’m sure that you are aware that is a very fine line indeed between actively ending someone’s life and withholding treatment that would prevent their death.

What would your definition of ‘unnecessary’ be in this case?

 

[Peter_Plato]

I’m sure that you are aware that is a very fine line indeed between actively ending someone’s life and withholding treatment that would prevent their death.

What would your definition of ‘unnecessary’ be in this case?

Defined as “extraordinary” measures that would only prolong the inevitable and not provide even a negligible possibility that the course of the condition or disease would be improved. However, that does not entail actively taking someone’s life, but only that the illness or condition be allowed to run its inevitable course.

This article comes close to my position:

osv.com/OSV4MeNav/WhattheChurchTeaches/WTCTEndofLifeIssues/ExtraordinaryMeansofCare/tabid/491/Default.aspx

 

[fred_conty]

Rosebud, thank you for your thoughts.

Would you do me the kindness of a little favor and present the articles or persons from which you received your info?

Thank you so much.

 

[atheistgirl]

Rosebud, thank you for your thoughts.

Would you do me the kindness of a little favor and present the articles or persons from which you received your info?

Thank you so much.

Watch here, from the 6 minute mark: youtube.com/watch?v=30XdrOLT7J4

Sister Nirmala admits the incident of holding a red hot knife to the skin on the hand of a tiny child as punishment, by a nun, happened, and calls it a ‘‘character measure’’

That nun should have got prison time for abuse

Sarah x

 

[GWright]

The best response is to simply list the various major awards she received for her work:

The Padma Shri (1962)

Ramon Magsaysay Award (1962) - thsi is a Phillipines-based award for charity work in asia

Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding (1969)

Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971)

**Bharat Ratna (1972 and 1980) - this is Indians highest civic award

Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975)

Pacem in Terris Award (1976).

Balzan Prize (1978)

Nobel Peace Prize (1979) - she donated the prize money to the poor of India

Order Of Australia (1982)

Order of Merit (1983) - a US award

Golden Honour of the Nation (1994) - an award from her Albanian homeland

Honourary US citizenship (1996)

**In 2010, the Indian Government issued a 5 rupee coin with her image on it, to honour her. 5 rupees is the exact amount of money she arrived in India with, to start her work. **

Also, she featured routinely in international polls of the most widely admired people in the world. The fact that many nations from across the world saw fit to honour her shows what great esteem she was held in. If only the Catholic Chruch had honoured her, then it would be reasonable to question this -but not when the entire world holds her in great esteem.

Many people like to sneer that the level of care provided was at times basic or rudimentary. This was because (at first) the main source of funding was Theresa and her colleagues begging on the streets for money to look after the sick with.

And do not listen to criticism of this amazing women, from the likes of the alcoholic, narcissistic, performing monkey Christopher Hitchins.

He would have said anything - anything - about anyone, no matter how absurd or outrageous, if he thought it would have brought him attention and, more importantly, funds to buy his next bottle of whisky.

He was more of an act - a malicious comedian - rather than an informed commentator.

 

[atheistgirl]

Many people like to sneer that the level of care provided was at times basic or rudimentary. This was because** (at first)** the main source of funding was Theresa and her colleagues begging on the streets for money to look after the sick with.

Sure.

And later, when she had many many millions in the bank, there was no need to make people take medicine from reused needles or spend their final months/days/years on a canvas bed

Sarah x

 

[_Abyssinia]

Sure.

And later, when she had many many millions in the bank, there was no need to make people take medicine from reused needles or spend their final months/days/years on a canvas bed

Sarah x

James Martin, S J, responding in an letter to an article in which Mother Theresa was criticised:

nybooks.com/articles/archives/1996/sep/19/in-defense-of-mother-teresa

To the Editors:

So Mother Teresa isn’t perfect. She has, as Murray Kempton noted in his review of Christopher Hitchens’s book “The Shadow Saint,” NYR, July 11], accepted donations from dictators and other unsavory characters. Mother also tolerates substandard medical conditions in her hospices. Still, Mr. Kempton’s hysterical attack on her is unwarranted and not a little unfair.

He protests that Mother Teresa books herself into chic hospitals when falling ill, while her own hospices treat clients with only minimal health care. But anyone familiar with religious orders will be aware that a sick superior is, more often than not, urged by the members of her community to treat herself better than she would if left on her own. Conversely, when poverty-minded superiors are allowed to let their own medical problems go untreated, people profess horror. Such was the case with John Paul I, who died in 1978. As John Cornwell pointed out in his book A Thief in the Night, the papal household were far too deferential to the Pope’s instructions not to call for quality medical care even when he was obviously ill. In this case, though, Mother Teresa’s subordinates force her to take better care of herself, perhaps against her wishes. Is this a sin against poverty, a hypocrisy, or, more likely, a demonstration of the deep affection of the Missionaries of Charity for their founder?

More serious is Mr. Kempton’s objection that Mother Teresa actually hastens death by not providing the poor in her hospices with decent medical care.

But primary health care is not what Mother Teresa’s order was founded to do. There are hundreds of Catholic medical orders which generously fill that need (the Medical Missionaries of Mary, who operate overseas, and the Daughters of Charity, who have for decades run numerous hospitals in this country, to name but two). Rather, the charism of the Missionaries of Charity (with whom I have worked)is, quite specifically, to provide solace to the very many poor patients who would otherwise die alone.

Yes, it would be wonderful if everyone living in the developing world had access to modern medical care. And though religious orders and other dedicated caregivers, religious and lay, have struggled for decades to do so, this is not yet the case. But surely this is not Mother Teresa’s fault.

Despite the selfless efforts of caregivers, then, the terrible fact remains that many poor persons still die in wretched conditions, neglected and alone. This situation, of course, is exceedingly difficult for the West to accept, as it demonstrates not only our own human limitations but also our unwillingness to help the poor more fully.

And so regarding the “poorest of the poor,” those who today die neglected, there would seem to be two choices. First, to cluck one’s tongue that such a group of people should even exist. Second, to act:to provide comfort and solace to these individuals as they face death. Mr. Kempton chooses the former. Mother Teresa, for all of her faults, chooses the latter.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Yes, I think you might be correct on this Atheistgirl.

Here is a new study by a team of Canadian researchers that will be published next month in “Religieuses” the journal of studies in religion/sciences, which reports those findings.

articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-02/uk/37389641_1_mother-teresa-vatican-study

theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/mother-teresa-was-anything-but-a-saint-new-canadian-study-finds/article9317551/

Study authors claims Mother Theresa was overly dogmatic on divorce, abortion, and contraception. What is the authors agenda? What has Mother Theresa’s views on this got to do with helping the poor in India?

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

dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2289203/Mother-Teresas-followers-dismiss-critical-documentary-questioning-saintly-image.html

 

[Seeker1961]

Study authors claims Mother Theresa was overly dogmatic on divorce, abortion, and contraception. What is the authors agenda? What has Mother Theresa’s views on this got to do with helping the poor in India?

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

dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2289203/Mother-Teresas-followers-dismiss-critical-documentary-questioning-saintly-image.html

Here we go…right to the victim mentality.

They’re not “picking on” her for her views, they are reporting on her ACTIONS or lack thereof.

You want it to stop? Prove them wrong. Prove that what they are saying about dirty needles is a lie. Prove that she and her order didn’t hoard money from donations instead of using it to make the conditions better. Many of us gave money to her order because we really thought it would go to make the conditions of those poor people better. Bring modern medical care to them, give them real comfort in their suffering. We didn’t do it so millions of dollars could sit in a bank somewhere while people continued to suffer and die in filth.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Here we go…right to the victim mentality.

They’re not “picking on” her for her views, they are reporting on her ACTIONS or lack thereof.

You want it to stop? Prove them wrong. Prove that what they are saying about dirty needles is a lie. Prove that she and her order didn’t hoard money from donations instead of using it to make the conditions better. Many of us gave money to her order because we really thought it would go to make the conditions of those poor people better. Bring modern medical care to them, give them real comfort in their suffering. We didn’t do it so millions of dollars could sit in a bank somewhere while people continued to suffer and die in filth.

How do you know that the people who went there did not feel comforted?

Where did the money come from to operate the clinics for the orphaned, homeless, leprosy sufferers, dying people? It came from donations, these clinics did not operate on air

Here is a response from an agnostic/athiest, pro abortion, pro abortion commentator on the Missionarities of Charity and I reccomend reading the whole article

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

The sick and dying do not receive appropriate care, despite the amount of money donated to the charity each year: this has been an ongoing criticism of the Missionaries of Charity. One simple answer: yes they do care for them appropriately and even if they didn’t, to the risk of sounding extremely harsh to some, it’s better than dying on the street.

First thing I was told by the sisters in Calcutta was that if we didn’t agree with the way they proceeded, they understood it and respected it but then we didn’t have to help. And they were completely right. After all, we were only there for a short period of time when it was their everyday life. They couldn’t possibly adapt to everything that volunteers would complain about, using big words like “human decency” or “truly helping the poor,” when in a few weeks they would be running away from the dirt of Calcutta back to the comfort of their home.

Yes it’s true, Mother Teresa was a Catholic and therefore believed that dying wasn’t such a bad thing. Although I do think dying is pretty bad because I don’t believe there’s such a thing as afterlife, I do not think her attitude was wrong given the context she was working in.

Most of the people the sisters care for are physically and mentally handicapped, or very old and very sick. They live in places of the world where it’s hard enough to survive when you are young and healthy. I have seen the sisters do everything they can to make these people’s lives better and I have seen their heart ripped apart when a little girl died one morning in Cuzco, even though they are so strongly convinced that being with God is so much better than being on this planet. Yes, maybe if that little girl had gone to an expensive hospital in America she would have lived longer. But the fact is that she couldn’t go to that hospital, and ultimately she had a far better life than the one she would have had had the sisters left her in the garbage they found her in.

 

[jonathan_hili]

I don’t know much about the facts in this case, but I do have a question:

Is the criticism of Mother Teresa personally as leader of the Sisters of Charity, of her work in Calcutta specifically, or of the Order in General?

The reason I ask this, is because I am quite familiar with the Sisters of Charity here in Melbourne and they do great work, provide superb services, love and care and could not be the target of any of these accusations.

Do the writers consider that Mother Teresa’s Order is a world-wide one, or just stick to examining the one in Calcutta?

 

[RubyT]

Hitchens and the person cited by the OP aren’t offering constructive criticism intended to encourage and improve the effectiveness of MT’s ministry. They are assaulting her integrity and virtue using a ‘bait and swithc’ tactic whereby mistakes are equated with malfeasance. That’s dirty pool and is classic Hitchens.

Right on …tell it like it is…no human being is perfect, the good she did far outweighed the faults. It is easy to criticize when its not you GIVING YOUR ALL to help the poor.

I say shame on those whose attack virtue under the guise of “improvement” when they, themselves do not have the moral fiber to live a life such as Mother Theresa, nor would they ever consider such a life of sacrifice.

 

[Seeker1961]

How do you know that the people who went there did not feel comforted?

Where did the money come from to operate the clinics for the orphaned, homeless, leprosy sufferers, dying people? It came from donations, these clinics did not operate on air

Here is a response from an agnostic/athiest, pro abortion, pro abortion commentator on the Missionarities of Charity and I reccomend reading the whole article

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

I’m sorry, but with the amount of money in the bank “it’s better than dying in the street” isn’t good enough. I know it came from donations-some of those donations were mine.

I’m not viewing this in black and white-yes, she did a lot of good. Her AIDS hospice in NY was wonderful, I’ve been there. It’s not that she didn’t do good, it’s that she could have done more and chose to hoard the money instead. It’s that she would never have subjected herself to the SAME care that she gave others. Those are the things that do detract from the good she did.

Do unto others as you would have it done to you-that’s the test she failed.