Did Mother Teresa make any bad decisions?

Answer 1

A:

It is accepted that Mother Teresa was guilty of a lack of judgement when she failed to provide even low-cost health care in her hostels, but others say she was justified in diverting the majority of her funds to mission work to spread the Catholic faith.

One undoubtedly bad decision was to give comfort and support to a paedophile priest. Documents said to have been obtained by SF Weekly suggest that Mother Teresa knew one of her favourite priests, Donald McGuire, was removed from ministry for sexually abusing a Bay Area boy in 1993, and that she nevertheless urged that he be returned to work as soon as possible. The priest resumed active ministry, as well as his predatory habits. Eight additional complaints were lodged against him in the coming years by various families, leading to his eventual arrest on sex-abuse charges in 2005. Her actions may or may not have been criminal in themselves, but it appears she aided a criminal in Father McGuire, leading to the suffering of even more innocent young children.

Answer 2

Almost since the beginning there have been people who have done their best (or worst) to discredit Mother Teresa. This has intensified even more since she died and cannot defend herself. The worst of these distortions is perhaps the story claiming Mother Teresa knowingly supported a pedophile priest that was released by a San Francisco tabloid a few years ago.

The story was made public by the San Francisco Weekly in January of 2013 with a suitably sensational title "Tainted Saint," the San Francisco Weekly suggested that the scandal might damage the reputation of the beloved Mother Teresa, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. The Weekly stretches the available evidence well beyond the breaking point. At worst, Blessed Mother Teresa was guilty of misjudging a priest: a mistake that many others made, regarding the same abusive cleric.

To place that letter from Mother Teresa in the proper context it is important to keep two crucial factors in mind. First, although she mentions the "scandal touching the priesthood in the U.S.A." she was writing in 1994, long before the sex-abuse scandal had reached its zenith, at a time when it was still unthinkable that bishops and religious superiors would have ignored clear evidence of abuse. Second, there is no reason to believe that Mother Teresa was presented with any solid evidence whatsoever to back up the charges against McGuire. On the contrary, she seems to have heard about the charges only from McGuire himself and from Father John Hardon, also a Jesuit priest, who was convinced that McGuire was innocent. Hardon had been sent by the superiors of the Jesuit order to investigate the charges against McGuire. She no doubt assumed that the hearsay evidence mentioned by these two priests was the only evidence available. Hardon also has a case for beatification pending in the Vatican at this time and it, too,is being threatened by these allegations. Thus in all likelihood, Mother Teresa was told that McGuire had been charged with abuse, but assured-by two priests she trusted-that the charges were false. She was apparently told that he had foolishly left himself open to charges, and she wrote to the Jesuit provincial that McGuire had "admitted imprudence in his behavior." She believed that he was innocent, and she said so. Mother Teresa passed away in 1997 well before the sordid details of Father McGuire's case were made public. Of course, dead nuns cannot defend themselves. Mother Teresa becomes yet another victim of Father McGuire.

Answer 3

It is accepted that Mother Teresa was guilty of a lack of judgement when she failed to provide even low-cost health care in her hostels, but others say she was justified in diverting the majority of her funds to mission work to spread the Catholic faith even if the donations were given in the expectation they would be used to help the poor.

One undoubtedly bad decision was to give comfort and support to a paedophile priest. Documents said to have been obtained by SF Weekly suggest that Mother Teresa knew one of her favourite priests, Donald McGuire, was removed from ministry for sexually abusing a Bay Area boy in 1993, and that she nevertheless urged that he be returned to work as soon as possible. The priest resumed active ministry, as well as his predatory habits. Eight additional complaints were lodged against him in the coming years by various families, leading to his eventual arrest on sex-abuse charges in 2005. Her actions may or may not have been criminal in themselves, but it appears she aided a criminal in Father McGuire, leading to the suffering of even more innocent young children.