Revisiting Mother Teresa’s Legacy of Good Works
Words by Nabiha Hossain
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Revisiting Mother Teresa’s Legacy of Good Works by Nabiha Hossain
Long considered a symbol of modern-day Catholicism, Mother Teresa seems to encapsulate everything that a Saint should be; caring, brave and the complete epitome of kindness. Hailed as an inspiration for her selflessness and her devotion to helping the “poorest of the poor,” she is known for building up her order of nuns and lay workers into a global charity, who, even after more than two decades of her passing, operate homeless shelters, health clinics, and youth centres in more than 123 countries around the world.
Born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents, she joined the Sisters of Loreto at the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ireland at the age of eighteen and was sent shortly after to India to teach at one of Loreto’s schools. It is there where she took her initial vows as a nun and experienced what she describes as “a call within a call” to devote herself entirely to caring for the helpless. In 1946, she established the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a hospice mostly aimed at helping the blind, aged, disabled and those diagnosed with leprosy in the slums of Kolkata.
Her dedication in itself was a criticism of the materialistic world she claims to have left. Often risking her own life on the front lines of her missionary work, she perfectly depicts “the white woman coming to save the Indians from their own circumstances, temptations and fates.” Known for often quoting the Bible in everyday conversation, it soon became public knowledge that Mother Teresa was the modern-day image of sanctity and righteousness through her holiness as a nun. This perception was unabashedly bolstered by Church through their aggressive campaigning and confirmed by her many media appearances. Given this, to subject the life of someone like Mother Teresa to scrutiny can be considered unfathomable to some. There is a sense of purity that surrounds her image, one that seems to prohibit any form of criticism. And second, one has to be aware of the inadequacy all of us inherit when it comes to judging her spartan life.
While no one denies that missions or humanitarian trips don’t begin with a genuine intention to serve people, intention alone cannot provide enough. If people want to be able to help disadvantaged communities and in the process interfere with their lives, they have to be able to understand the socio-economic, political and economic barriers that surround these existing communities. The consciousness of the necessary institutional and structural changes within local and federal governments must be considered, as well as thoroughly understood. Most missions revolve around the visitor having an emotional experience that validates both their own privilege and proves to everyone around them that rather than engaging in their own internalized racism, they are a globe-trotting do-gooder who in their own time teaches English to “helpless, little orphans.”
Mother Teresa’s efforts were no different, so, one has to ask the question; were her efforts more for the global enterprise of alleviating white guilt or for the actual amelioration of poor people’s lives?