THE MISSIONARY
POSITION
Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
By CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
http://www.users.bigpond.com/Atheist_Australia/teresa.htm
Review by Norman Taylor (Published by Verso,98pp.)
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, a very successful author living in Washington, has provided many
fascinating revelations about the work of an Albanian nun, Agnes Bojaxhiu, who is better
known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He refers to her as being on the fast track to
sainthood whilst dominating a missionary multinational. He questions the fitness of a very
old virgin to adjudicate on the matters of sex and reproduction, and looks with suspicion
at her genial relations with dictators, corrupt tycoons, and convicted frauds.
His book provides an extremely interesting exposure of
the Teresa cult. As the emissary of a very determined and very politicized papacy she is a
very successful campaigner on behalf of her Missionary of Charity organisation with its
400 nuns and 40,000 lay workers, earning the unending gratitude and support of the
Vatican.
Some people worship Mother Teresa and, most
unfortunately, many will support her fanatical campaign against contraception and
abortion. But nobody can ignore the facts that India's population of nearly one billion is
disastrous; its unemployment is 50%, as is its illiteracy. When Mother Teresa was asked if
she would agree that there are too many children in India she replied: "I do not
agree because God always provides. He provides for the flowers and the birds, for
everything in the world he has created. And these little children are his life. There
never can be enough." The author remarks, "if it were true that God always
provides, then obviously there would be no need for the Missionaries of Charity in the
first place". So what we see is an exercise in propaganda for the Vatican's
population policy. Mother Teresa's support seems grotesque; she must know the suffering
and misery caused by this papal policy.
Mother Teresa has been favored with huge sums of money
during the past 30 years, but patients' illnesses have been wrongly diagnosed by
unqualified sisters and volunteers unable to distinguish between the curable and incurable
. Mother Teresa prefers providence to planning, and the very strictest economy is always
enforced - much to the detriment of the patient's interests. It is interesting to note
that, despite the enormous sums involved ($50 million remains in a cheque account in the
Bronx), needles are used over and over again, and are rinsed under the cold water tap. The
nuns' answer to "why are you not boiling water and sterilizing your needles?"
was simple: "There's no point. There's no time." Perhaps the patients take too
long to die, and hastening death saves money. Cynical as that may be, Mother Teresa's
global income is more than enough to equip several first class clinics like some of the
finest in the West that she herself has checked into. To a person in the last agonies of
cancer, and suffering unbearable pain, she said with a smile: "You are suffering like
Christ on the cross. So Jesus must be kissing you." A sign on the wall of the morgue
of Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying reads "I am going to Heaven today".
Mary Loudon, a
volunteer in Calcutta, was shocked by what she saw there. "It looked a bit like the
photos of Belsen", she said. "All patients had shaved heads, there were old
stretcher beds, no chairs, and not much medical care or painkillers". In another
home, despite the existence of huge sums of money: "The sisters are rarely allowed to
spend money on the poor they are trying to help. Instead they are forced to plead poverty,
thus manipulating generous, credulous people into giving more goods, services and
cash." So great wealth has no good effect on the lives of patients and volunteers. In
a damp house heating remains off throughout winter and several sisters consequently got
TB. This was stated by a woman who left the Missionaries of Charity for the same reason
she joined it, "a love of her fellow humans".
Mother Teresa has a San Francisco hostel named The Gift
of Love; it is for homeless men with HIV. They are not allowed to watch TV or smoke or
drink or invite friends, not even when they are dying, and so, of course, they are
exceptionally depressed. One man said how afraid he was of dying without morphine. It is
hard to find anyone with a good word for The Gift of Love.
Mother Teresa went to Bhopal where thousands were killed and injured as a result of the
Union Carbide chemical spill; when asked for her advice and counsel, she said
"Forgive, forgive, forgive."
Charles Keating was a notorious American swindler now
serving a 10-year sentence for his part in the Savings and Loans scandal. He was generous
with the money he stole from small investors. He gave Mother Teresa 1 1/2
million dollars and the use of his private jet; in return she allowed him to make use of
her prestige on several important occasions and gave him a personal crucifix. During the
course of his trial she wrote to the court seeking clemency for the conservative Catholic
fundamentalist and notorious thief. It was a suspiciously naive letter which did nothing
to influence the judge . It prompted the Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County to
write with some facts about Keating's crimes, about which Mother Teresa knew nothing.
After referring to Keating's conviction
for defrauding 17 individuals of $900,000 he concluded with this statement "You urge
Judge Ito to look into his heart - as he sentences Charles Keating - and do what Jesus
would do. I submit the same challenge to you. Ask yourself what Jesus would do if he were
given the fruits of a crime; what Jesus would do if he were in possession of money which
had been stolen; what Jesus would do if he were being exploited by a thief to ease his
conscience. I submit that Jesus would promptly and unhesitatingly return the stolen
property to its rightful owners. You should do the same. You have been given money by Mr.
Keating that he has been convicted of stealing by fraud. Do not permit him the
"indulgence" he desires. Do not keep the money. Return it to those who worked
for it and earned it! If you contact me I will put you in direct contact with the rightful
owners of the property now in your possession. Sincerely, Paul W. Turley." Three
years later Turley had received no reply to his letter. Nor can anybody account for the
missing money; saints, it seems, are immune to audit. This is not the only example of
Mother Teresa's surreptitious attitude to money, nor of her hypocritical protestations
about the beauty of poverty.
This immensely well-researched book is a great credit to
its author. The prospects of Mother Teresa bluffing more millions has, I hope, been
sharply reduced. There are, of course, Catholics who have worked honestly and selflessly
and sacrificed much without an ulterior motive, but she is not one of them. It would be
reasonable to be suspicious of anyone who is popular with the like of American crook,
Keating, exposed villain, Robert Maxwell, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. And when
the response to those responsible for an avoidable disaster is "forgive" we know
that Mother Teresa remains a constant barrier to progress and justice. Without doubt she
is an extremely successful and shrewd campaigner, but readers seeking for signs of
compassion may find - as I did - that it is secondary to the promotion of religious dogma.
If it is thought that I have revealed too much, please read the book. There is a lot more
damning evidence to provide us with a reminder that "all is not gold that
glitters".
For more on Mother Teresa visit:
Christopher Hitchens On Mother Theresa
(Interview) by Matt Cherry
http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/hitchens_16_4.html
http://atheism.about.com/religion/atheism/msub_xtncrit_teresa.htm
http://www.salon.com/sept97/news/news3970905.html
Thanks
to Albanian
born Mother Teresa - The City of Calcutta, has become the metaphor for
deprivation, destitution and degradation in much the same way as earlier
generations abroad linked the city with the black hole of imagined infamy. Calcutta
was once known for Indian geniuses emerging there like J. C Bose, Vidyasagar,
C.V. Raman ( who had some connection to scientific work in Calcutta ) and
Rabindranath Tagore and dozens of others - and today it is known for Evangelism,
Dirty Poor Marxist Calcutta, Proselytizing Missionary of Charity - in short a
laughing stock of the
world.
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