Posted on 08/05/2005 8:11:31 AM PDT by petconservative
Yes, I think that is at the root of it. The author mentions 'helping' women. Did she mean helping them to abortions and contraception while they starved? And so now they exact their vengeance at a time when none can defend, as though they need defending, their words and actions. Cowards. Heinous.
The donations rolled in and were deposited in the bank, but they had no effect on our ascetic lives and very little effect on the lives of the poor we were trying to help. We lived a simple life, bare of all superfluities. We had three sets of clothes, which we mended until the material was too rotten to patch anymore. We washed our own clothes by hand. The never-ending piles of sheets and towels from our night shelter for the homeless we washed by hand, too. Our bathing was accomplished with only one bucket of water. Dental and medical checkups were seen as an unnecessary luxury. Mother was very concerned that we preserve our spirit of poverty. Spending money would destroy that poverty. She seemed obsessed with using only the simplest of means for our work.
She missed the point entirely and apparently her head was turned by the money. Mother Teresa wanted the sisters to live like the very poor of India that they helped, and it seems they do.
As a Missionary of Charity, I was assigned to record donations and write the thank-you letters. The money arrived at a frantic rate. The mail carrier often delivered the letters in sacks. We wrote receipts for checks of $50,000 and more on a regular basis.
Sounds like her head was turned by the money.
She became disillusioned and left the community. Only speaking out now long after Mother Teresa's death and shortly after Pope John Paul II's passing, he being a great friend of hers and admirer of her work. How cowardly. Truly someone who doesn't get it. And to slander Mother and her sisters so long after her death, at a time of increased violence against the Christians of India, wow. She has added to the misery of the poor Christians, and other poor, of India. Pathetic.
Kool Aid cooler talk...
Forget the theological musings, which amount to about five or six lines of the whole piece. Can anyone refute the facts that are alleged? These are not new issues, and have been raised for years, well before Mother Theresa's death. The only way to answer the critics is through transparancy, something Mother Theresa went to great pains to avoid. Get beyond the PR and look at what she really did. Much of it was good, some of it was not.
A vow of poverty is one thing, having to beg for your food is another.
And even if this is 100% true, I don't see that as such a big deal. People are imperfect.
Mother Teresa practically rose to saint hood (in my eyes) when I heard the story of how she sat with a dying woman in an alley in Calcutta. The woman was beyond help, had maggots in her mouth, and had been an Untouchable. MT sat with her, soothed and comforted her, until she passed on. I doubt Hitchens, or the dimwit who wrote this other piece, would have the mercy to do that.
When Hitchens implied that she embezzled donations, although he offered no substantial proof. Takes a big tough guy to make such a claim, especially when the subject of the piece can't fight back.
You haven't been here very long, have you?
Christopher Hitchens was a commentator during coverage of her funeral and spent all his time bashing her.
Sounds very much like the Clinton Administration and liberals in general.
Oops, see #21, not 17. Hiccup!
Right! "Luxuries" such as basic medical and dental care. I'm glad I'm not your spouse.
You are a moron of the first water.
When donations are solicited for helping the poor, and are not used for that purpose, that's what we call fraud. That's just as true whether the funds are used for gambling sprees or just sit around in a bank. Mother Theresa took money under false pretenses, pure and simple.
Why thank you very much. I take that as a compliment from the likes of...
Agree. But it does raise an eyebrow. It'd be interesting to see if any others step up to address this "from within." Also, I had no idea that her "organization" was that large. I was always under the impression that she operated with a much smaller number of people out of a single location overseas.
Based on ever-evolving news, I also wouldn't be shocked if this were in fact true. Who knows, we may never find out.
What I do know is that while very generous charity wise, I only give to organizations where I know the money is going to "end causes." I won't give a dime to any organization without a high degree of visibility and tangible/visible results.
Samaritan's Purse and the Marine Christmas program are two such charities.
You have not a shred of evidence that these funds were not used to help the poor.
Mother teresa's been dead for years - nobody's discovered her Maserati collection yet. No word about any private islands or all-night cocaine binges either.
The woman was a saint, you'll never do as much for the poor, neglected and suffering in your life as she did in one week.
"Mother teresa's been dead for years - nobody's discovered her Maserati collection yet. No word about any private islands or all-night cocaine binges either"
rotflmao... now that's funny! Mother Theresa doing 90 mph in a maserati flinging loafs of bread to the road side poor. Shame on you for fueling my imagination.
Sorry, it's diet coke not scum. I do drink to many of them. Thanks for the concern.
400 million of her 500 million collected donations when into the Vatican Bank. 75% of the remainder fed her staff.That can be verified.
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