Obituary: Good Bye, Mother Teresa! Written in October 1997:
In the wake of Princess Diana devoured by the very tabloids that she cultivated, news coverage of Mother Teresa’s death, sad as it was, brought some sanity. Mainstream media were trying to distance themselves from tabloids forgetting that they themselves were using the tabloids at the bottom of the “news chain.” But they were busy practicing tabloid journalism of unmitigated hyperbole by comparing Mother Teresa with the profligate princess. Mother Teresa, with her simple lifestyle and single-minded dedication to her cause, stood in sharp contrast with the indulgent princess given to a lifestyle of excess.
Mother Teresa, born to privilege, became a novitiate when she was eighteen. Soon she was in Calcutta in the late 1920s and taught in a catholic school for the affluent. But on a monsoon-drenched street, helping a poor, sick man to die in dignity changed her life forever, much the same way Gautama Siddhartha’s encounter with death and disease 2500 years ago did in transforming the Prince to the Buddha (enlightened).
In the midst of the poverty of Calcutta’s mean streets — it could be the slum of any other city — a European nun working with the poorest and the sickest eventually drew the attention of leaders in India and outside, including those perched in the Vatican. With her global reach, one might even say, many indigenously run nonsectarian relief agencies in India did not get the attention and support even within India
It is no wonder that India’s poor, and later, India’s upper crust and its establishment, embraced her cause. For, what is more noble than giving one’s fellow human beings dignity in their death?
Mother Teresa lived among the poorest and the sickest in an overcrowded city where whatever infrastructure was there was falling apart. And, the revered Mother saw no reason for at least tolerating modern family planning methods that excluded abortions.
No doubt, it is noble to give the wretchedly poor dignity at least in their death. An equally noble act is to make people — in particular, the uneducated poor — recognize that if they do not have large fami-lies, they have better chance of getting their children out of poverty: and society may be able give citizens dignity not only in death, but in life as well. And it is here that one believes, Mother Teresa could have had greater impact.
This aside, Mother Teresa’s compassion was, indeed, God-sent for those living a hopeless life facing imminent death.
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On Mother Teresa’s Sainthood Written in October 2016:
On Sunday, September 4, the Vatican ceremonially conferred sainthood on Mother Teresa, based on miracles she is supposed to have carried out in people’s lives. As the Reuters reported (www.tinyurl.com/Bureaucratic-Path-to-Sainthood), the process of conferring sainthood is “more bureaucratic than beatific.” Also read this: www.tinyurl.com/AFP-Story-on-Mother-Teresa. So, we reproduce part of our obituary on Mother Teresa’s death in the October 1997 issue of the Patrika:
“In the midst of Calcutta’s mean streets — it could be the slum of any other city — a European nun — from Yogoslavia, to be precise — working with the poorest and the sickest eventually drew the attention of leaders in India and outside, including those perched in the Vatican. With her global reach, one might even say, many indigenously run nonsectarian relief agencies in India did not get the attention and support even within India.
“Mother Teresa lived among the poorest and sickest in an overcrowded city where whatever infrastructure was there was falling apart. And the revered Mother saw no reason for at least tolerating modern family planning methods that excluded abortion.
“No doubt, it is noble to give the wretchedly poor dignity at least in their death. An equally noble act is to make… … the uneducated poor, recognize that if they do not have large families, they have better chance of getting thei children out of poverty, and society may be able to give citizens dignity not only in death, but in life as well. And it is here that one believes Mother Teresa could have had greater impact.“
If we do not bring these wretched souls into world in the first place, there is no need for somebody to save them after all. Poverty, I concede, has many contributing factors. However, for destitute families, such as those in the slums of Kolkata, Manila, Mexico City, Paris, or Detroit, — or Belgrade in her native Yogoslavia — large family is one major contributing factor. The deprivation Mother Teresa saw every living moment staring at her in the Calcutta’s slums did not move her to question Vatican’s edict on family planning. Her loyalty to the Vatican on this point was stronger than her compassion to the human abject poverty-driven suffering she was staring at every moment in Calcutta.
The Vatican’s intransigence on family planning is astounding, given its global reach. After all, an overwhelming majority of even working class Catholics, not to speak of professional white-collar Catholics worldwide practice family planning, not caring its pastoral injunctions. So, the halo around Mother Teresa’s sainthood is not sublime. It is more like the blemishes we see on the moon. END