Mother Teresa

A:

Yes, a number of times, sometimes for medical treatment. In 1985, Mother Teresa had cataract surgery in St Vincent's Hospital , New York, having, because of cost, publicly declined the same treatment from the St Francis Medical Centre in Pittsburgh the previous year, although the earlier offer would have cost only $5000.

On another occasion, Mother Teresa planned to convert a building in New York that had been donated to her order into a shelter for homeless men. The Misionaries of Charity could easily have afforded to modify the building and install an elevator as required by state law, but refused. The City of New York offered to fund installation of the elevator, but Mother Teresa still refused on the grounds that an elevator was a "luxury", and that the sisters of the order could easily carry disabled men up and down the stairs. Her order cultivated an image of ostentatious humility.

A:

Most people long for Mother Teresa to become recognised as a saint, even when they no nothing more about her than reputation and information from the Catholic Church, which has exaggerated her achievements. There are two reasons for the Catholic Church to canonise a person as a saint, and it sems that Mother Teresa has failed both of them.

The first reason for canonisation is an exemplary life of suffering or achievement. There is nothing known about the life of Mother Teresa that suggests she suffered for her faith, and the Catholic Church has exaggerated her achievements:

• Mother Teresa travelled first class when flying around the world, which she frequently did. When faced with illness, she sought out and enjoyed the most modern medical treatment in world-renowned clinics in the United States, Europe, and India although the poor in the facilities that the Missionaries of Charity operated could not receive even basic treatment. Mother Teresa dedicated her life to the Church, but this had its limits.
• Mother Teresa is on record as having said that her order fed 4000, 5000, 7000 or 9000 people in Calcutta every day but Aroup Chatterjee, in a Deposition submitted before the committee for beatification of Mother Teresa, stated that her soup kitchens (numbering between two and three) in Calcutta did not feed more than 300 people daily, even as a generous over-estimate.

A:

Mother Teresa encountered litle or no resistance or opposition. Her very first hospice was established in a temple annexe building donated to the Missionaries of Charity for the purpose. Any resistance soon vanished as the temple accepted that the hospice was really established for a charitable purpose and not to undermine its own religious activities.

She faced some indirect resistance in New York, of all places. Mother Teresa planned to convert a building in New York that had been donated to her order into a shelter for homeless men, but was required by law to install an elevator if it would be housing disable persons. The Missionaries of Charity could easily have afforded to modify the building and install an elevator, but refused. The City of New York offered to fund installation of the elevator, but Mother Teresa still refused on the grounds that an elevator was a "luxury", and that the sisters of the order could easily carry disabled men up and down the stairs. Her order cultivated an image of ostentatious humility, incompatible with the secular requirement to ensure the safety and dignity of its inmates.