variant 13
December 21, 2003, 12:41 PM
Couldn't find this anywhere else so I thought I'd start it here.
The accepted view (that of the general public) is that Mother Teresa (Agnes Bojaxhiu) was some kind of saint that thought of nothing but the suffering of others.
After doing a bit of reading I realise that this almost certainly crap.
Here are some of the reasons why:
"Christopher Hitchens described Mother Teresa's organisation as a cult which promoted suffering and did not help those in need. Hitchens said that Teresa's own words on poverty proved that her intention was not to help people. He quoted Teresa's words at a 1981 press conference in which she was asked: "Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?" She replied: "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people." "
Please note the "... beautiful for the poor to accept their lot,"
What does that mean that they shouldn't attempt change.
And:
"There have been a series of reports documenting inattention to medical care in the order's facilities. Dr. Robin Fox, editor of the British medical journal The Lancet visited the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta and described the care the patients received as 'haphazard.' He observed that although there were doctors who called in from time to time, decisions about patient care were usually made by the sisters and volunteers (some of whom had medical knowledge). Dr. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for conditions in this home, and observed that her order did not distinguish between curable and incurable patients, so that people who could otherwise survive would be at risk of dying from infections and lack of treatment. Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and kindness, but he noted that the sisters' approach to managing pain was disturbingly lacking."
---
There are a number of allegations about how donations are spent or not spent as the case maybe:
"In the United Kingdom, where the law requires charitable organisations to disclose their expenditures, an audit in 1991 concluded that only 7% of the total income of about US$2.6 million went into charitable spending, with the rest being remitted to the Vatican Bank. "
----
"There have been reports that Teresa encouraged members of her order to baptise people who were dying, without regard to the individual's religion. Susan Shields alleged that Mother Teresa's order engaged in secret baptisms of Hindus and Moslems in its facilities. Teresa herself seemed to confirm this in a speech at the Scripps Clinic in California in January 1992, when she said: "Something very beautiful... not one has died without receiving the special ticket for St. Peter, as we call it. We call baptism ticket for St. Peter. We ask the [dying] person, do you want a blessing by which your sins will be forgiven and you receive God? They have never refused. So 29,000 have died in that one house [in Kalighat] from the time we began in 1952." "
Info from: http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa
and
http://www.meteorbooks.com/index.html
Just wanted to know what people think.
Cheers
The accepted view (that of the general public) is that Mother Teresa (Agnes Bojaxhiu) was some kind of saint that thought of nothing but the suffering of others.
After doing a bit of reading I realise that this almost certainly crap.
Here are some of the reasons why:
"Christopher Hitchens described Mother Teresa's organisation as a cult which promoted suffering and did not help those in need. Hitchens said that Teresa's own words on poverty proved that her intention was not to help people. He quoted Teresa's words at a 1981 press conference in which she was asked: "Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?" She replied: "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people." "
Please note the "... beautiful for the poor to accept their lot,"
What does that mean that they shouldn't attempt change.
And:
"There have been a series of reports documenting inattention to medical care in the order's facilities. Dr. Robin Fox, editor of the British medical journal The Lancet visited the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta and described the care the patients received as 'haphazard.' He observed that although there were doctors who called in from time to time, decisions about patient care were usually made by the sisters and volunteers (some of whom had medical knowledge). Dr. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for conditions in this home, and observed that her order did not distinguish between curable and incurable patients, so that people who could otherwise survive would be at risk of dying from infections and lack of treatment. Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and kindness, but he noted that the sisters' approach to managing pain was disturbingly lacking."
---
There are a number of allegations about how donations are spent or not spent as the case maybe:
"In the United Kingdom, where the law requires charitable organisations to disclose their expenditures, an audit in 1991 concluded that only 7% of the total income of about US$2.6 million went into charitable spending, with the rest being remitted to the Vatican Bank. "
----
"There have been reports that Teresa encouraged members of her order to baptise people who were dying, without regard to the individual's religion. Susan Shields alleged that Mother Teresa's order engaged in secret baptisms of Hindus and Moslems in its facilities. Teresa herself seemed to confirm this in a speech at the Scripps Clinic in California in January 1992, when she said: "Something very beautiful... not one has died without receiving the special ticket for St. Peter, as we call it. We call baptism ticket for St. Peter. We ask the [dying] person, do you want a blessing by which your sins will be forgiven and you receive God? They have never refused. So 29,000 have died in that one house [in Kalighat] from the time we began in 1952." "
Info from: http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa
and
http://www.meteorbooks.com/index.html
Just wanted to know what people think.
Cheers