# The case against Mother Theresa **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194 "2010-02-23T23:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/61 "2010-02-24T17:39:42Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Did they actually use that term? Kinda poisons the well, I would think: > > _And hear, speaking on Lucifer’s behalf, is…_ It’s where the term originates. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/62 "2010-02-24T17:44:43Z")
I guess people like Hitchins are common-it is easy to criticize. The fact is, MT did help a lot of people, and lighting one candle always is more than sitting and cursing the dark. As Indira Ghandi once said, most people do nothing and yet offer criticism. the people who do the work are to busy to indulge. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/63 "2010-02-24T17:45:42Z")
> [@Keweenaw](#): > > [Mother Teresa Opens Home For Infants](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-840086.html) > [Mother Teresa Opens Center for Poor in El Salvador](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19880707&id=9tgTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5gYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2442,1740956) > [Mother Teresa established the first hospice for AIDS victims in New York](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19860105&id=PPwxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FOUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6986,960282) > > Where she specifically said “Each one of them is Jesus in a distressing disguise” [Time Magazine, 1986](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074920-2,00.html) > > Plus hundreds of others. Just use Google. > > Can’t seem to find this quote anywhere. curious… > > I did find this supposed quote on several atheist websites "“It is a just retribution for improper sexual misconduct” Although I couldn’t find when and where this is attributed to her. > > Here is an actual quote from her book “A Simple Path” on the judgement of others. Those hospices and “centers for the poor” did not actually help anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/64 "2010-02-24T17:46:46Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I guess people like Hitchins are common-it is easy to criticize. > The fact is, MT did help a lot of people How so? ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/65 "2010-02-24T17:51:19Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Alas, since Hitchens gave testimony the CC has abolished the long tradition of “Devil’s Advocate”. I was going to mention this as well. One of the last things I found respectable about the catholic church (the institution not individual catholics). As time goes on, it seems to be making itself more and more irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/66 "2010-02-24T17:55:07Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Those hospices and “centers for the poor” did not actually help anybody. They had to have helped somebody, or else there wouldn’t have been such a rush to get in them. At the very least, they provided beds and company for the dying, so they wouldn’t have to die alone in the street. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/67 "2010-02-24T18:01:02Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Alas, since Hitchens gave testimony the CC has abolished the long tradition of “Devil’s Advocate”. They actually abolished it in 1983., before Mother Teresa’s death, when they replaced the adversarial method of canonization, and replaced it with one where one person (the “promoter of justice”), weighs both the arguments for and against canonization. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/68 "2010-02-24T18:01:48Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > They had to have helped somebody, or else there wouldn’t have been such a rush to get in them. At the very least, they provided beds and company for the dying, so they wouldn’t have to die alone in the street. According to Penn and Teller, they didn’t allow friends and family to visit. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/69 "2010-02-24T18:02:16Z")
That’s a pretty low bar for “help.” Yes, she would give people soup and allow them to die in her “hospices,” if they were willing to endure being proselytized, and lectured about how good their suffering was for them. There are millions of people in the world who do more than that. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/70 "2010-02-24T18:07:06Z")
Others have already pointed out what I would have said. She didn’t use her vast resources to alleviate pain and suffering even though she amassed those resources through the expectations of her donors that the money would be used to help the poor in measurable and real ways. Pain meds, leprosy cures, real medical intervention, these were all denied the “patients” in her care. But MT didn’t go without. She was an illusion. People wanted there to be a tiny woman who towered over Calcutta in her piety and strength. But she had enormous resources and did nothing enormous with them. She could have saved lives, but apparently the only lives worth saving were fetal. And the Catholic Church embraces her. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/71 "2010-02-24T18:09:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I guess people like Hitchins are common-it is easy to criticize. Moreover, in a **DEBATE** started specifically to evaluate the positive contributions made by a particular individual and to assess whether popular perceptions of them are accurate, it is **necessary** to criticize. **Superfluous Parentheses** started this thread for the explicit purpose of discussing the “Mother Theresa image” and assessing its validity with respect to the impacts she actually had in the world. Coming into a such a discussion for the sole purpose of pouting that “it’s easy to criticize” and “well, at least she did **some** good” amounts to little more than threadshitting. The question here isn’t whether or not Mother Theresa ever did **anything** good: it’s about whether the amount of good she did justifies the popular image that was built up around her. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/72 "2010-02-24T18:13:05Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > They had to have helped somebody, or else there wouldn’t have been such a rush to get in them. At the very least, they provided beds and company for the dying, so they wouldn’t have to die alone in the street. Homeopathy, crystals, cults, fat burning pills and devices, faith healing, etc. Desperate people clutch at hope. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/73 "2010-02-24T18:21:54Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That’s a pretty low bar for “help.” > > Yes, she would give people soup and allow them to die in her “hospices,” if they were willing to endure being proselytized, and lectured about how good their suffering was for them. There are millions of people in the world who do more than that. She was a Catholic nun. Of course she’s going to proselytize and glorify suffering. That’s pretty much the definition of a Catholic nun. And I don’t even know if it’s entirely a bad thing. These people were dying. Maybe it did them some good to believe that their suffering had a redemptive purpose. It gave what was happening to them meaning and hope rather than making their suffering meaningless and purposeless. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/74 "2010-02-24T18:31:53Z")
The question really isn’t whether it was a bad thing, but whether it was a saintly thing. You don’t have to think she was evil to think she wasn’t a saint. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/75 "2010-02-24T18:48:00Z")
I have no dog in this fight. I want to learn. I’m wondering two things: First, MT’s hospices and whatnot were fronts for money making schemes. This intrigues me. What did the money she was skimming off the top end up going to? > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Yes, she would give people soup and allow them to die in her “hospices,” if they were willing to endure being proselytized, and lectured about how good their suffering was for them. There are millions of people in the world who do more than that. Second, I’m wondering how what she did is so drastically different from a regular hospice, which also focuses on easing the pain associated with death. It seems to me that suffering for godly purpose is more comforting than suffering for no purpose. This might indeed ease the suffering of death. Of course, it would actually be better to _prevent_ suffering and if she had the means to do so and didn’t, it’s kind of despicable. But, that just brings me back to my first question of what she actually did do with her substantial means. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/76 "2010-02-24T18:48:11Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Again back to Hitchens. He was called upon by the Catholic Church as a literal “Devils Advocate” to give testimony regarding her canonization. He related the priests did admit that “Mother could be…difficult at times”. Perhaps after she died her outfit now follows different more noble practices. You know who else was “difficult at times”? St. Peter and St. Paul (especially with each other), St. Francis of Asissi, St. Thomas More, St. Joan of Arc and _pretty much every saint who ever lived!_ Saints are famously unpleasant. They put unreasonable demands on the rest of us. “Difficult” is no barrier to canonization. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/77 "2010-02-24T18:58:54Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Second, I’m wondering how what she did is so drastically different from a regular hospice, which also focuses on easing the pain associated with death. It seems to me that suffering for godly purpose is more comforting than suffering for no purpose. This might indeed ease the suffering of death. > > Of course, it would actually be better to _prevent_ suffering and if she had the means to do so and didn’t, it’s kind of despicable. But, that just brings me back to my first question of what she actually did do with her substantial means. Hospice care is about easing pain. MT’s orgs denied pain meds to patients. As for where the money went, your guess is as good as mine. How much money total is also a good question. It had to be in the millions. Charles Keating sent her 1.2 or so million alone. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/78 "2010-02-24T19:23:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So why aren’t you in India handing out condoms instead of wasting time on the Internet? > > Regards, > Shodan Because there are more efficient ways for me to help people. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/79 "2010-02-24T19:30:00Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > Because there are more efficient ways for me to help people. Also, attacking other posters for what is imagined to be their lack of charity is nothing more than a transparently obvious smokescreen to distract from the actual topic of discussion. **Todderbob** ’s charity or lack thereof is completely irrelevent to this discussion - after all it’s not like he’s claiming to be a Mother Theresa. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194/80 "2010-02-24T19:45:33Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > As Indira Ghandi once said, most people do nothing and yet offer criticism. the people who do the work are to busy to indulge. Sounds like Indira had served on a committee or two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-case-against-mother-theresa/530194.md?page=5)