Mother Teresa: A Biography (19 page)

In India alone, close to 160 million so-called Dalits, or known legally as scheduled castes, were routinely discriminated against, denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused, even killed, at the hands of the police and of higher-caste groups that enjoyed the state’s protection. The discrimination against and segregation of the Dalits has been called India’s “hidden apartheid,” and entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste.

Although the practice of “untouchability” was abolished under India’s constitution in 1950, social discrimination against a person or group by reason of birth into a particular caste remains very much a part of rural India. Untouchables may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by members of the higher castes. They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, drink from the same cups in tea stalls, or lay claim to land that is legally theirs. Dalit children are frequently made to sit in the back of classrooms, and Dalit women are frequent victims of sexual abuse. Most Dalits continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or opportunities for better employment or education. With the exception of a minority who have benefited from India’s policy of quotas in education and government jobs, Dalits are relegated to the most menial of tasks, as manual scavengers, removers of human waste and dead animals, leather workers, street sweepers, and cobblers. Dalit

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children make up the majority of those sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors.

It was the government provision that allowed a small number of Dalits access to government jobs that set off the firestorm. But Dalits who had converted to Christianity were denied this opportunity on the grounds that once a person converted to Christianity, the issue of caste is no longer important. It was also argued that Christian Dalits had other opportunities available such as studying in Christian schools. Christian Dalits argued that, in using these educational facilities, they were being denied the country’s resources that as citizens they should have access to.

But, as others argued, if Dalits are Christians, they cannot be Dalits, as Christianity does not recognize the notion of caste. If they are Dalits, then they are Hindus, and, as far as Mother Teresa was concerned, she had little to do with them.

Mother Teresa’s involvement with the campaign had tremendous repercussions. Accused of trying to introduce the pattern of caste systems into Christianity at the expense of non-Christian Dalits, Mother Teresa called a press conference in which she stated that she had no idea what the prayer meeting was about. Her statements infuriated the organization sponsoring the event. The organization secretary stated that, in fact, Mother Teresa did know the purpose of the prayer meeting as it had been explained to her by the auxiliary bishop of the Delhi archdiocese.

In another time, an incident such as this would have rallied Mother Teresa’s supporters. Instead, she not only antagonized non-Christians, but Christians as well. One church official went so far as to say that Mother Teresa, with her antiquated views on abortion and family planning, had become obsolete. She had, in fact, helped create a greater schism in a country already plagued by numerous divisions.

STEPPING ASIDE

On March 13, 1997, the Missionaries of Charity took a long-awaited step: choosing a successor to head their order. The announcement ended months of speculation not only about Mother Teresa’s future, but about who would succeed her. The discussions over the new leader had been deadlocked for weeks as the order struggled to find an acceptable replacement. Eventually the members were forced to turn to Pope John Paul II who offered a compromise: Mother Teresa would stay on as spiritual and titular head of the Missionaries of Charity, while Sister Nirmala, a 63-year-old member of the order would take over the day-to-day duties of the group. It was also decided that she would hold the post for six years when 1 3 6

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the group would meet again to choose either a new head or reelect Sister Nirmala.

Despite the effort at compromise, the transition did not go smoothly.

Within hours of Sister Nirmala’s appointment, Mother Teresa announced plans to create a number of new homes. Sister Nirmala did not object. She was by temperament timid, and decided to maintain a low profile, even bypassing the title of “Mother” for the time being. Mother Teresa acted as if she were still in charge, while giving her blessing to her successor.

Though her health was failing, Mother Teresa continued to travel, to raise funds, and visit many of the new homes that the Missionaries of Charity established. But in March 1996, she fell out of bed and broke her collarbone. Yet, by June, she was traveling again, though she fell once more, this time severely spraining her ankle. In the meantime, her memory grew worse and lapses became more frequent.

In August 1996, Mother Teresa was once more admitted to the Wood-land’s Nursing Home in Calcutta. She was having trouble breathing and many believed that she was going to die. She rallied, though, and left the facility on September 6, against her doctors’ wishes. She then attended special services marking the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Missionaries of Charity. But two weeks later, she was back in the hospital after having fallen down the stairs at the Motherhouse. More of her days were spent in bed suffering from severe back pain.

Finally, in January 1997, Mother Teresa announced her decision to re-sign as mother superior of the order; her health was too precarious, and even she seemed to realize that she could no longer battle her ailments as she once had. However, in May, she did travel to Rome where she met with the pope and then to the United States where she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom in recognition for her work. She also made time to tour New York City’s the Bronx with Princess Diana.

The untimely death of Princess Diana three months later was one more loss to bear. Mother Teresa had become good friends with the young princess, often offering her advice. The two also talked of Mother Teresa’s work, and Princess Diana had made a point of visiting Nirmal Hriday when she came to India, years before. Mother Teresa’s remarks on the princess’ death were in fact her last public statements. On September 5, 1997, the eve of Diana’s funeral, Mother Teresa’s heart finally stopped.

After a private service at the chapel of the Motherhouse, her body was transferred to a Missionary of Charity ambulance with the word “Mother”

written across it, and taken to St. Thomas Church, which was used by the Loreto Sisters. Here, thousands of mourners crowded among the pews to pay their respects to the tiny nun. A week later, the Indian government

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held a state funeral for Mother Teresa. On September 13, her body was carried through the streets of Calcutta on the same gun carriage used to transport two of India’s greatest leaders and heroes: Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Thousands of mourners lined the streets as the carriage traveled to the Calcutta sports stadium where a state funeral mass was held; numerous dignitaries were in attendance to pay their respects. Afterwards, in a private ceremony, with soldiers firing their guns in a last tribute, Mother Teresa was laid to rest beneath a plain stone slab on the grounds of the Motherhouse located at A.J.C. Bose Road. Here, she is not far from the people she served and helped.

THE MAKING OF A SAINT

Six years after her death, Mother Teresa was back in the news. In 2003, it was announced that John Paul II, to help commemorate his 25th anniversary of his election to the papacy, would beatify Mother Teresa on October 19. The event marks the final step before canonization, or official sainthood. It was a remarkable process in that no one has ever been beatified in so short a time as Mother Teresa. Yet, Vatican officials worked rigorously to treat her case as they would any other.

Even before her death, some officials in the Vatican thought she ought to be canonized without the usual investigation. Pope John Paul II even waived the usual five-year waiting period to see whether a candidate’s reputation for holiness is justified. For Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the task ahead was even more daunting; he was charged with coordinating the team that eventually put together 67 volumes arguing that Mother Teresa met all the requirements for sainthood. In addition, the church lawyers held 14 tribunals all over the world to hear testimony from people who knew Mother Teresa well. Nearly all were friendly witnesses who had to answer 263 questions that were used as evidence that Mother Teresa had manifested the virtues required of a Roman Catholic saint: faith, hope, and charity, as well as humility, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance to an extraordinary degree. Mother Teresa also had her critics: three non-Catholics testified against her, among them Christopher Hitchens.

In the end, Father Kolodiejchuk’s team concluded that Mother Teresa’s willingness to work with those who were morally and financially corrupt was in keeping with her own philosophy: using ill-gotten money to do good for the poor and also provide spiritual benefits for the donors. As to her failure to take a more aggressive stance against institutionalized injustice, the team sided with Mother Teresa. They argued that her mission 1 3 8

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was to help individuals and bear witness to the Divine presence in the world, not fight for social change.

As with all candidates for sainthood, the church required a divine sign in the form of a posthumous miracle. Many claims were submitted; the one chosen concerned a Hindu mother, Monika Besra, who came to the sisters suffering from a life-threatening stomach tumor. The sisters prayed to Mother Teresa for a cure and pressed a religious medal that she had touched to Besra’s abdomen. Five hours later, the tumor had completely disappeared.

The beatification ceremonies in Rome were only the beginning of a media and merchandising frenzy surrounding Mother Teresa’s eventual canonization. In Calcutta, Mother Teresa’s legacy was to be honored with an international festival of films. The event was a first; no saint in the history of the Catholic Church has had an international festival of films held in their honor. Among the films scheduled to be shown were Malcolm Muggeridge’s
Something Beautiful for God,
two-time Emmy Award winner Anne Petrie’s
Mother Teresa—Her Legacy,
Japanese director Shigeki Chiba’s
Mother Teresa and Her World,
Anna & Folco Terzani’s
Mother
Teresa’s First Love,
and Dominique LaPierre’s
In the Name of God’s Poor.

The controversial 1994
Hell’s Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta
was also to be shown, but in the end was pulled.

In addition to the film festival, the Vatican issued special commemorative stamps of Mother Teresa. Factories churned out additional merchan-dise, including Mother Teresa rosaries, crucifixes, and key chains.

According to one vendor, his factory is working full time to make 10,000

Mother Teresa rosaries, key chains, and other trinkets. A stage musical and an animated cartoon based on her life and works were to be presented as well. In one of the more bizarre, but also more historically familiar, ways of honoring a holy person, a display of Mother Teresa’s blood was planned.

Today, Mother Teresa’s thoughts can still be found in the more than 20

books she coauthored to offer spiritual advice and guidance to people. Her order continues to be active and hard at work. Both the sisters and the brothers continue to thrive, though not experiencing the rapid growth of homes and foundations that marked the last 25 years of Mother Teresa’s life. More than 3,000 volunteers come to Calcutta every year, hoping to make a difference at least for a little while.

At the same time, the Missionaries of Charity have shown themselves to be a little more worldly, as they successfully copyrighted the name of Mother Teresa in 2003. The nuns said they sought the rights to Mother Teresa’s name, the name of their order, and its rosary-encircled globe logo

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to prevent them from being exploited by commercial interests. It is difficult to say what the future holds for the order; like many other religious orders, the changing climate of the times often forces changes if a religious group hopes to survive. There may be changes in the way the community lives or is administered. There may even be a subtle shift in how best to help the poor, but, as Sister Nirmala comes from a contemplative background—as opposed to a medical or social work emphasis—the direction of the Missionaries of Charity is carried out as Mother Teresa had originally envisioned it.

THE LEGACY OF MOTHER TERESA

When asked to explain the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa once remarked, “We are first of all religious; we are not social workers, not teachers, not nurses or doctors, we are religious sisters. We serve Jesus in the poor.”14 With that statement, Mother Teresa made clear the mission of the order and to the best of her abilities lived her life following that simple premise.

Still, there is no question that for the last 20 years of her life Mother Teresa and her work were at times seriously misunderstood. She inspired many people not through powerful speeches or magnificent works but because she exemplified a way, imperfect as it was at times, of using the power of love to heal and save. As journalist Mary Poplin pointed out, the key to understanding Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity is the sacredness with which they treat all people and their humble way of carrying out their work. To the Missionaries of Charity, Jesus is present in everyone they meet whether it is a young volunteer from New Jersey or an old Muslim woman starved and half-eaten by rats and worms, or the deformed infant just born and left in a garbage heap. Christ is present in everyone, but most especially in the poorest of the poor. From the very beginning, Mother Teresa and her order reached out to treat each person they encountered as they would Jesus Christ. Thus, they performed each task for the benefit of the poor as they would do it for Christ. In other words, it is Jesus’ diapers they wash, his meals they prepare, his ailing body they tend, and his hand being held.