Mother Teresa
...nd loving society. Home Students Parents Staff Trustees Site Map Schools Curriculum Services About Us News Search Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School (secondary)40 Sewells Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1B 3G5· School-designed web site· School Profile and Course Listing· School NewsTotal enrollment 915 Principal Michael McMorrowTel: 416-393-5538 Fax: 416-393-5479 Superintendent Richard ToneTel: 416-222-8282 ext. 2353 Parish St. Bede52 Valley DriveScarborough, OntarioM1X 1H2 Local Trustee Oliver CarrollTel: 416-512-3408; Fax: 416-512-3408e-mail: oliver.carroll@tcdsb.org CSAC Chair Kham PersaudVoice Mailbox: #88538 Another good example of Mother Teresa’s dedicated work is the education she has given to children in poorly developed areas. Both of the above schools were named after Mother Teresa. After her setting an example of building schools and orphanages for the poor. Many schools and orphanages are now named after her. For the astounding work she has done for them or for others. Many say the best gift you could give a child, is the gift of education. The following is a picture of the school, which Mother Teresa created, for the poor children in India. Another reason that acts against the criticisms is that Mother Teresa only helped herself. This is the image all the criticisms are trying to reflect. By saying Mother Teresa did not help people in the most desperate poorest areas of Calcutta and deceiving others, thinking money was donated to charity, when however there is no proof to suggest it was. Mother Teresa by now should have been financially well off, there is no denying it. This means she could afford things other could not and get the best things. Mother Teresa's health was deteriorating, partly from her age, partly from the conditions where she was living, and part of it was from her trips all over the world, opening new houses and raising money for the poor. In 1985, she suffered from a heart attack while in Rome visiting Pope John Paul II. In 1989, she suffered another almost fatal heart attack and had a pacemaker implanted. In 1991, she suffers pneumonia in Tijuana, Mexico, which leads to heart failure. In 1996, Mother Teresa suffered malaria, chest infection and undergoes heart surgery. If this was the case, and she had this much money then why did Mother Teresa decide to submit herself to a hospital for the dying in Calcutta. When she could afford to go privately? It was quoted that “nobody would go there except to check out, in one way or another”. Though after researching all the criticisms and tributaries, I have made my own conclusion. In some aspects I do believe that Mother Teresa was a Saint, but a majority of me believes that she was not a sinner but neither a Saint. If I had to choose I would say her importance was exaggerated. Obviously, I have reasons to support my argument. My first reason is what a journalist used in his article concerning Mother Teresa. “The missionary position in which reviewed Mother Teresa’s career, discovered that she had taken money from Rich dictators like the Duvalier gang in Haiti, never given any account of the huge sums of money donated to her and had railed against birth-control in the most over populated city on the planet.” I think the media and its power exaggerated her importance and work, and many think Mother Teresa’s reputation could have been due to her public relations. Numerous people have disagreed with this and praised Mother Teresa, an example Mr John Donahue, a member of the Catholic Defence League. He debated that she had built hospitals. Though actually she was given tens of millions of pounds but unfortunately never built any hospitals. A lie exaggerated by the media, to which everyone believed and was this how Mother Teresa gained her “Saint” image, through lies, which millions believed at the time? Mother Teresa then claimed to have built over a hundred and fifty convents for nuns joining, previously like her, in several countries. Surely, hospitals would be more important and beneficial than a convent. Though it would be interesting to hear from the money donors, did they know where their money was going, or did the influential media also deceive them? If you look at Mother Teresa’s gallery of Photos, there are hundreds available on many websites. A reviewer of Mother Teresa’s career made one good and strong argument concerning her photos. He claims: “Doesn’t everyone know that she spent her time kissing the sores of lepers and healing the sick? Ah, but what everyone knows isn't always true. You were more likely to run into Mother Teresa being photographed with Nancy Reagan, or posing with Princess Diana, or in the first-class cabin of Air India (where she had a permanent reservation). You could see her in Ireland, campaigning against a law, which would permit civil divorce and remarriage (though she publicly defended Princess Diana's right to be divorced). You could encounter her on the podium in Stockholm, accepting yet another huge cheque and telling the Nobel audience that the greatest threat to world peace was... abortion. (Since she added that contraception was morally as bad as abortion, she essentially held the view that condoms and coils were a deadly threat to world peace.” Mother Teresa was very sick, however some theories also discourage her good points. We cannot conflict that Mother Teresa was an intelligent and independent woman. Several people think Mother Teresa used her wise decisions to admit herself to Mayo Clinic or another “temple of American Medicine.” She visited this ancient hospital for the dying in Calcutta; others just see this as another focus for the media to enhance Mother Teresa’s representation as a “Saint”. Take for example Mark Twain and his following quotation: “Give a man a reputation as an early riser, and that man can sleep till noon." Give a woman a reputation for holiness and compassion and apparently nothing she does can cause her to lose it.” Also taking in the hundreds or maybe thousands of people who were in the same situation of Samity. If Mother Teresa used millions of pounds to build convents around the World, would it not make sense to put them firstly and foremost in the most desperate situations? I have been researching Mr Samity’s case, similar to others. Samity a man of around 30 who had no teeth, with a plastic bag in hand, he stands in a kilometre long queue in Calcutta's Park Street. The poor wait patiently, until the helpers shovel some rice and lentils into their bags. But Samity does not get his “grub”, from Mother Teresa's institution, but instead from the Assembly of God, an American charity, that serves 18000 meals daily. Another man, Manik was born 56 years ago in the Rambagan slum, which at about 300 years of age is Calcutta's oldest. What Manik has achieved, can well be called a "miracle" and I personally think he deserves the title of “saint”, more than Mother Teresa. He has built 16 apartment buildings in the midst of the slum, living space for 4000 people. Money for the building materials -- equivalent to 10000 per apartment building was begged for by Manik from the Ramakrishna Mission [a Indian/ Hindu charity], the largest assistance organisation in India. The slum dwellers built the buildings themselves. It has become a model for the whole of India. But what about Mother Teresa? Manik quotes that,” I went to her place 3 times; she did not even listen to what I had to say. Everyone on earth knows that the sisters have a lot of money. But no one knows what they do with it!" In Calcutta there are about 200 charitable organisations helping the poor. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity are not amongst the biggest helpers: that contradicts the image of the organisation. “Mother Teresa saw it as her God given right never to have to pay anyone for anything.” Many also thought that after Mother Teresa’s award for the Nobel Peace Prize, she started to take advantage. This is not surprising after reading the following example: Once Mother Teresa bought food for her nuns in London. (Why not in Calcutta), she spent over five hundred pounds on just food supplies. When she was told she would have to pay at the till, the harmless woman showed her “Balkan” temper and raged for several hours. Continually shouting, “This is the work of God”. In the end a businessman waiting in the queue paid on Mother Teresa’s behalf. If this was the case and many others could get away with this, there would be no need for stealing and many people would save large sums of people annually. Maybe Mother Teresa wanted to keep the money for another reason. A possible reason to believe the previous sentence I will justify now. Whatever happened to the rest of the money? Sister Teresina, the head for England, defensively states, "Sorry we can't tell you that." Every year, according to the returns filed with the British authorities, a portion of the fortune is sent to accounts of the order in other countries. How much to which countries is not declared. One of the recipients is however, always Rome. The fortune of this famous charitable organisation is controlled from Rome, from an account at the Vatican bank. And what happens with money at the Vatican Bank is secret. One thing is sure however Mother Teresa’s outlets in poor countries did not benefit from the largeness of the rich countries. The official biographer of Mother Teresa, Kathryn Spink, writes, "As soon as the sisters became established in a certain country, Mother normally withdrew all financial support." Branches in very needy countries therefore only received “start-up assistance. Most of the money remains in the Vatican Bank. STERN aske...