Brad McCormick wrote:
> > From: "Edward R Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >
> > > I guess what I'm saying is that systems don't matter, ethics do. The
> > world
> > > will continue to be the trashy and tragic place it is until all of us are
> > > prepared to adopt the ethics of St. Francis and Mother Theresa. I'm not
> > > prepared to do that, are you?
>
> It's probably pretty late in the day to discover who St. Francis "really
> was".
>
> But has anyone done an in-depth analysis of Mother Theresa?
Yes. At the risk of spoiling Ed's point, I dare to forward it. (blasphemy?)
Yours in political discourse,
Chris
___________________________________FWD___________________________________
Mother Teresa's Message: "Poverty is a Blessing"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the September 25, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
HER HOLY MESSAGE: POVERTY IS BEAUTIFUL/ BEHIND THE
RULING-CLASS RUSH TO MAKE MOTHER TERESA A SAINT
By Sara Flounders
Princes, presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors,
celebrities, special representatives of heads of state and
three queens attended the state funeral for Mother Teresa in
Calcutta Sept. 13. Six hours of ceremonies included a
military escort and prayers from a battery of cardinals,
archbishops and top leaders of other religious groups.
This funeral was a highly political event that raises many
interesting questions.
Why did so many of the world's most powerful and
privileged people travel so far to pay their respects to a
humble nun who cared for destitute and sick people? Why did
the wealthiest stratum of society especially love Mother
Teresa?
Why have the major corporate media spent countless hours
urging that the example and the message of Mother Teresa be
followed? Why are so many of the illustrious people who are
paying homage to Mother Teresa notorious for their utter
disregard for the poor of their own countries?
Then there's this: The media had predicted a million poor
mourners would line the street. Why did less than 5 percent
of that number actually turn out?
Aren't poor people grateful?
Mother Teresa was hardly the first or the only person
concerned about the poor. In her lifetime millions of self-
sacrificing people have been attacked, jailed, persecuted
and even killed for trying to change the conditions of poor
people.
What is so moving in Mother Teresa's message that she
gained world fame? Why was she called a living saint? Why
did she receive the Nobel Peace Prize and countless other
humanitarian awards?
`THE POOR SHOULD ACCEPT POVERTY'
The day before the funeral her successor, Sister Nirmala,
reaffirmed Mother Teresa's view that "poverty is beautiful."
She said Mother Teresa was not interested in what causes
poverty or in changing the social environment. "Poverty will
always exist," she said.
"We want the poor to see poverty in the right way--to
accept it and believe that the lord will provide."
This is the message that the wealthy of every corner of
the globe came to honor. For them, it is truly a holy
message.
Mother Teresa never spoke of justice. She did not organize
poor people to fight for their rights or to demand a better
life for themselves or their children.
She and the religious order she founded in Calcutta, the
Missionaries of Charity, sacrificed themselves caring for
destitute, dying people and orphans. But the rich and
powerful loved her because she did not demand health care,
pensions, a minimum wage, schools, unions or an end to
vicious caste discrimination against "untouchables."
Pope John Paul II embraced Mother Teresa and the Vatican
secretary of state led her funeral mass. However, within the
Roman Catholic Church many priests and nuns who are deeply
involved in working with the "poorest of the poor" are
purged or suppressed.
The popular religious movement in Latin America called
"liberation theology" organizes for radical political and
economic change. Militant priests and nuns support the
demands of landless peasants and impoverished urban workers
allied with communist-led liberation struggles and armed
guerrilla movements.
They do not agree with Mother Teresa that "suffering and
disease are gifts from God." They see grinding poverty as
the result of a corrupt economic system that puts the drive
for profit before people's needs.
Mother Teresa was an outspoken opponent of liberation
theology. She was also a friend and supporter of such
dictators as Duvalier in Haiti.
[cf. the 1994 British television documentary
"Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta"]
She first came to prominence as an opponent of Pope John
XXIII and the more liberal ideas of the Second Vatican
Council in the 1960s. She was a strong opponent of abortion,
birth control and all forms of family planning.
When Ireland was holding a referendum on whether to lift
Europe's only constitutional ban on divorce and remarriage,
Mother Teresa hurried there. She lectured poor Irish women
on the sinfulness of demanding change.
RED CALCUTTA
Calcutta, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity,
has a population of 11 million people. It is a city of
enormous poverty, chronic unemployment and overcrowding.
One-third of the population lives in slums. People lack
adequate sanitation, running water or electricity. Two
million people are homeless, migrant or "floating."
Calcutta was the capital of British colonialism in India.
The British East Indies Company established the city 300
years ago as a trading center, seaport, site for cheap
textile factories--and the center of the opium trade forced
on China.
Calcutta was also a center of the explosive movement that
ended British colonialism. It has the biggest and most
militant working class in India.
The city is a major industrial center, with India's
largest port. It has a powerful communist movement that has
organized general strikes.
Demonstrations in Calcutta often mobilize hundreds of
thousands of people. Outpourings of over a million are not
unusual. Poor and working people turn out in massive numbers
where there is the possibility of winning rights, improving
their standard of living and forcing concessions from an
unjust society.
In this highly class-conscious city, the angry poor must
have viewed the applause for Mother Teresa's message--
especially coming from the Western media--with deep
suspicion.
While the rich and powerful move to canonize Mother Teresa
as a saint, the "poorest of the poor" are far more likely to
look for leadership that seeks to end poverty, not to bless
it.
- END -
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