Mother Theresa - The idol of charity

        In 1994 on BBC  channel 4 a documentary titled Hells Angel was aired. The anchor was Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens had to face criticisms for it until the rest of her life. The documentary was about Mother Theresa, an Albanian Nun who spent most of her life doing missionary charity works in Calcutta ,India. She was a Nobel laureate, an globally respected personality, she was often called as a living saint and her followers were not limited to one particular religion. In 1994, 3 years before her demise the documentary which was 22 min long m was aired in which each and every sentence were criticisms of Mother Theresa and none of her good deeds were portrayed, a first of its kind. As expected the documentary did not received any warm welcome.Hitchens had to face criticisms for it until the rest of her life.  In 1995 Hitchens published an extended essay titled The missionary Position: Mother Theresa in theory and practice.Documentary was a precursor to the book. I have to say that book is titled very lightly considering the content, Hitchens once said in an interview that he was actually going to tile it Holy Cow, anyway he didnt, that would have been a different story. I feel it is needed to write an Article about Mother Theresa based on Hitchens work.

"It is past time that she was subjected to the rational critique that she has evaded so arrogantly and for so long".

        This is the last line of the essay, and this one sentence says what the essay is about. A rational critique on the sacred image of Mother Theresa. A listing of arguments against her, A critical evaluations on her views on poverty, abortion and use of contraceptives. The Essay doesnot say anything about the good deeds of Mother Theresa, It is rather a one sided view on Mother Theresa's Charity Works . But millions are there to praise her, so need is to point out the criticisms.

1. '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.' - Mother Theresa

Mother Theresa has a theory of poverty where the poor is supposed to accept their suffering to help the world. The opinion is not one where the poverty is eliminated, but one where it is rather cultivated so that all missionaries can showcase their goodness by caring for the poor. Her opinion is of paramount importance since her actions are guided by this narrow minded view. The poor is the stand  on which she hoped to build the stairways to heaven.

2.  Not providing enough medical care

In the Home for dying, where all the charity works were done, enough medical care was not provided. One can say that there may not be enough money to do so, but  Mother Theresa was receiving large sum of money from all around the world. According to Hitchens she must have enough to provide them with high medical care in Bengal. But She did not provide them with that. Many inmates suffering would have far lessened or many would have escape from disease itself, But no such thing was in the intention of her charity works. Her fundamentalist belief system taught her that suffering is the path to greatness. Adding to that many were not provided with enough pain killers, even for those who suffered from cancer. Such avoidance of suffering were not in her list. The needles they used were re-used over and over again and were not sterilized. That is pure negligence, the lack of responsibility to the inmates.

Mother Theresa: You are suffering like Christ on the cross. So Jesus must be kissing you.

Sufferer: Then tell him to stop kissing me.

Mother Theresa only cared about the spiritual well being of the inmates, a true missionary actually, but  no better than the missionaries of colonial period. The true address of the missionary is always to the self satisfaction of the sponsor and the donor, and not to the need of the downtrodden. She was not any exception.

3. Lost in transition

During my catechism classes there was this one particular story i remember about her, In that Mother Theresa once begged a rich person for money and he spit in her one hand and then she opened her other palm and said " That was for me , now please give money for my children" and he gave a large sum of money to her. Thats what the story say,what a touching story, right? Well the donations never stopped, it kept flowing actually. When her global image has raised the incoming also raised. The money didnot directly reached the poor as per Hitchens, but since no audits were carried out none can be sure of the sum of amount that reached there. Even counting the amount she received publicly was really high. But none questioned her, the handling of account were not so transparent. Either the money were misused or it was left unproductive in the bank account, while it could have helped to give the poor better medical care, maybe new syringes at least.

4.Say no to Abortion and use of Contraceptives

'Let us promise Our Lady who loves Ireland so much that we will never allow in this country a single abortion and no contraceptives.' - Mother Theresa

In 2018 Ireland passed a bill to legalise abortion. In the wake of this lets see the attitude of Mother Theresa, Lets make it clear that she is not the reason for abolishing abortion in the first place, it was part of their constitution itself. Ireland being a highly catholic country has all such strange rules is not much of a wonder. Several lives were lost before this Abortion was legalised. A women experiencing danger in childbirth, for example Her opinion of not using contraceptives is the common opinion of Christian religion. This attitude of not using contraceptives have led to spreading of many STDs in many African counties also, Missionaries are undoing the works of many NGOs in reality. Also overpopulating the planet is not an solution. God will provide for everyone wont hold ,It will actually push many more to poverty.

5. Sources are not so pure

Charles H. Keating who was later prosecuted for money fraud gave Mother Theresa an amount of One and quater million dollars. The Keatings earned the money from about 17,000 individuals whose life savings were plundered. Mother during the trail written a letter to the court asking to consider forgiving Keatings. This act can be considered to be innocent, but the district attorney wrote a letter to Mother Theresa asking to return the money so that the rightful owners will receive it. Mother Theresa never replied to it. The money was never returned and thats what should have been done.

    

        Her much known Kindness easily supersede the allegations, allegations which most of us will found too mild to matter . But it is of high time to check whether any of her actions were really intended to the welfare of the downtrodden. being on fastrack to heaven , sainthood a highly praised public image she was not so concerned with the poor. She was not looking to find a solution to poverty. Neither ever could see a world without the poor. Her opinions were fundamentally driven by the religion, even though she has followers from all religion. Conversion were also said to be taking place in the "Home for the dying". Her status were questioned by many more after her death. Most of them are from India, she is still blamed for defaming Calcutta, it is known to the world as a place where kids where thrown into the drainage. Calcutta is not free of poverty but grotesque images were not much of a realistic nature.

        Mother Theresa and her Congregation founded by her show many missionaries the way missionary activities should be done. But the Ultimate aim should be the welfare of poor. Not using the poor as a fuel to reach the heaven or find meaning in Life. It is easy to feel greatness in providing everyone. But it is no easy to feel good being forced to be wait for charity. Charity should be a temporary solution. We should all look forward for a world where none has to beg for food. The poor is not meant to be poor for all time. Mother Theresa is rightful owner of sainthood title, no doubt about it. But she is not a great influential personality like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela. Her activities were always in the interest of religion alone.