Freethought & Rationalism Archive

hinduwoman · 09-28-2005, 11:41 PM

Quote:

http://www.newstatesman.com/200508220019
The nun adored by the Vatican ran a network of care homes where cruelty and neglect are routine. Donal MacIntyre gained secret access and witnessed at first hand the suffering of "rescued" orphans.
…Earlier in the day, young international volunteers had giggled as one told how a young boy had peed on her while strapped to a bed. I had already been told of an older disturbed woman tied to a tree at another Missionaries of Charity home. At the orphanage, few of the volunteers batted an eyelid at disabled children being tied up. They were too intoxicated with the myth of Mother Teresa and drunk on their own philanthropy to see that such treatment of children was inhumane and degrading.
…
I first learned of the plight of the Kolkata children from two international aid workers, both qualified nurses and committed Catholics. They came to me after working as volunteers for the Missionaries of Charity last Christmas. Both made the comparison with images that emerged from Romanian orphanages in the early 1990s after television news teams first gained access.

"I was shocked. I could only work there [Daya Dan] for three days. It was simply too distressing. . . We had seen the same things in Romania but couldn't believe it was happening in a Mother Teresa home," one told me. In January, she and her colleague had written to Sister Nirmala, the new Mother Superior, to voice their concerns. They wrote, they told me, out of "compassion and not complaint", but received no response. Like me, they had been brought up in Catholic schools to believe that Mother Teresa was the holiest of all women, second only to the Virgin Mary. Our faith was unwavering, as was that of the international media for about 50 years. Even when the sister in charge of the Missionaries of Charity's Mahatma Gandhi Welfare Centre in Kolkata was prosecuted and found guilty of burning a young girl of seven with a hot knife in 2000, criticism remained muted.
…
The Missionaries of Charity have said that they welcome constructive criticism, and that the children we saw were tied for their own safety and for "educational purposes". Sister Nirmala even welcomed our film: "Our hopes continue to be simply to provide immediate and effective service to the poorest of the poor as long as they have no one to help them . . . May God bless you and your efforts to promote the dignity of human life, especially for those who are underprivileged."

For too long Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity have been blessing critics, rather than addressing justified and damning condemnations of the serious failings in their care practices.

I find it a bit difficult to believe that international volunteers would ignore such blatant mistreatment. Or does the drug of religion keep them on a perpetual high?

Plognark · 09-29-2005, 04:16 AM

That's pretty chilling. I've read a bit about the horrid stuff Mother Teresa promoted in the past, and Penn & Teller did a passable job deconstructing her sadistic outlook and organization.

RaymondR · 09-29-2005, 12:34 PM

What bothers me most about this is that the conditions are deplorable, yet the government is reluctant to act due to the popularity of a dead nun.

The Missionaries of Charity either need to start putting their own money into helping the poor, as they claim to do, or give it up altogether. There is nothing more sickening than profiting from the needless suffering of others.

The Penn & Teller episode was very informative. I had no idea what she was really about, and I think that her status as a humanitarian is a common misconception for a great deal of us.

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09-29-2005, 04:16 AM	#2
Plognark Contributor Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 14,952	That's pretty chilling. I've read a bit about the horrid stuff Mother Teresa promoted in the past, and Penn & Teller did a passable job deconstructing her sadistic outlook and organization.

09-29-2005, 12:34 PM	#3
RaymondR Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: E Posts: 146	What bothers me most about this is that the conditions are deplorable, yet the government is reluctant to act due to the popularity of a dead nun. The Missionaries of Charity either need to start putting their own money into helping the poor, as they claim to do, or give it up altogether. There is nothing more sickening than profiting from the needless suffering of others. The Penn & Teller episode was very informative. I had no idea what she was really about, and I think that her status as a humanitarian is a common misconception for a great deal of us.

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