Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The Admiral · 12-02-2002, 05:28 AM

I just received an e-mail from another Atheist friend here in town. He is a regular listener to Paul Harvey which I am not. He said the in last Fridays broadcast Harvey reported that Mother Teresa was skeptical and had doubts about her church and her god. If true, how would Harvey have known this? Can anyone here cast a little light one this subject?

The Admiral

DougI · 12-02-2002, 05:57 AM

It comes from a quote in her journal that the Vatican recently released to the public.

The Admiral · 12-02-2002, 06:17 AM

Doug

I completely missed it. Could you give me a source?

The Admiral

missus_gumby · 12-02-2002, 06:26 AM

Here's a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/29/1038386314539.html" target="_blank">few words</a> about her 50 year struggle with belief.

[ December 02, 2002: Message edited by: missus_gumby ]</p>

Toto · 12-02-2002, 04:16 PM

This does not appear to be new. <a href="http://www.lightwatcher.com/spirit_stars/mother_therese_tellsall.html" target="_blank">This article</a> dates to last year:

Quote:

Excerpts of writings from before she founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1946 to just before her death in 1997 appeared in the March 2001 issue of Vidyajyoti (Light of Knowledge), a journal published in New Delhi by the Jesuit order.

Describing tears of loneliness, and the pain of feeling abandoned, Mother Teresa never stopped writing of her longing for God and her desire to be used completely by him. She also never stopped working, expanding her order to more than 100 countries and winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

"She confesses frequently that in her darkness she was unable to pray," yet she encouraged her nuns to pray through personal union with Jesus, said the Rev. Joseph Neuner, the senior theologian who wrote the article and was a friend of Mother Teresa.

"This cleaving to each other, Jesus and I, is prayer," Mother Teresa wrote in 1966. As she walked about the slums of Calcutta, she constantly told God how much she longed for him.

I think this may also belong in the General Religious Forum

Demosthenes · 12-02-2002, 04:50 PM

Upon reading that quote, what popped into my head was how confused and sick she sounds. She might as well have been describing a mental illness.

chiron64 · 12-02-2002, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Sydney Columban priest Cyril Hally describes Mother Teresa's doubts as the "dark night of the soul". "It is a purification process. Doubt is part of the growth of holiness," he said, adding that it is also a part of sainthood.

By that standard, IIDB must be the holiest board on the internet!

Amie · 12-02-2002, 09:06 PM

well she was human and I think it is normal to have doubts at times and to question things about our own belief systems. She saw horrible things in Calcutta. I recall she picked up a woman off the streets and the woman was being eaten by rats. She took her to the hospital and demanded that they treat the woman...and that was a start of her life long work. I am sure it was difficult to look at the horrible things she saw and understand the why's of the world and the where is God?...

lpetrich · 12-03-2002, 12:45 AM

She'd been mentioned here only a few months ago, and here is what I wish to note about her:

Journalist Christopher Hitchens has made a strong case that she was essentially <a href="http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/hitchens_16_4.html" target="_blank">a fraud</a>, that her image of being a great humanitarian was pure myth.

Also, she had lacked the miracle-working power of many medieval saints, if we are to believe their biographers. Consider the example of St. Genevieve and the numerous miracles that she had allegedly worked, as described by <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/lecture.html" target="_blank">Richard Carrier</a>, and in more detail in <a href="http://mw.mcmaster.ca/scriptorium/genevieve.html" target="_blank">this late-medieval biography</a>.

Given the conditions at Mother Teresa's "hospital facilities", I'm sure that many of her patients would have appreciated it if she had had half St. Genevieve's alleged miracle-working power. But she had none, and Vatican officials are arguing if the spotaneous remission of someone's stomach cancer was really a miracle due to MT.

hinduwoman · 12-03-2002, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by lpetrich:
<strong>
Given the conditions at Mother Teresa's "hospital facilities", I'm sure that many of her patients would have appreciated it if she had had half St. Genevieve's alleged miracle-working power. But she had none, and Vatican officials are arguing if the spotaneous remission of someone's stomach cancer was really a miracle due to MT.</strong>

The remission of a tumor in a woman's stomach is not spontenous. The doctor treating her insists that it was the medicines he prescribed. The woman's husband agrees that she had started to get better after a course of treatment, before the picture was placed on her stomach.

12-02-2002, 05:28 AM	#1
The Admiral Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Racine, Wi. USA Posts: 768	Mother Teresa I just received an e-mail from another Atheist friend here in town. He is a regular listener to Paul Harvey which I am not. He said the in last Fridays broadcast Harvey reported that Mother Teresa was skeptical and had doubts about her church and her god. If true, how would Harvey have known this? Can anyone here cast a little light one this subject? The Admiral

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12-02-2002, 05:57 AM	#2
DougI Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Wichita, KS, USA Posts: 932	It comes from a quote in her journal that the Vatican recently released to the public.

12-02-2002, 06:17 AM	#3
The Admiral Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Racine, Wi. USA Posts: 768	Doug I completely missed it. Could you give me a source? The Admiral

12-02-2002, 06:26 AM	#4
missus_gumby Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: UK Posts: 1,898	Here's a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/29/1038386314539.html" target="_blank">few words</a> about her 50 year struggle with belief. [ December 02, 2002: Message edited by: missus_gumby ]</p>

12-02-2002, 04:50 PM	#6
Demosthenes Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: a speck of dirt Posts: 2,510	Upon reading that quote, what popped into my head was how confused and sick she sounds. She might as well have been describing a mental illness.

12-02-2002, 09:06 PM	#8
Amie Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: New York Posts: 1,626	well she was human and I think it is normal to have doubts at times and to question things about our own belief systems. She saw horrible things in Calcutta. I recall she picked up a woman off the streets and the woman was being eaten by rats. She took her to the hospital and demanded that they treat the woman...and that was a start of her life long work. I am sure it was difficult to look at the horrible things she saw and understand the why's of the world and the where is God?...

12-03-2002, 12:45 AM	#9
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	She'd been mentioned here only a few months ago, and here is what I wish to note about her: Journalist Christopher Hitchens has made a strong case that she was essentially <a href="http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/hitchens_16_4.html" target="_blank">a fraud</a>, that her image of being a great humanitarian was pure myth. Also, she had lacked the miracle-working power of many medieval saints, if we are to believe their biographers. Consider the example of St. Genevieve and the numerous miracles that she had allegedly worked, as described by <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/lecture.html" target="_blank">Richard Carrier</a>, and in more detail in <a href="http://mw.mcmaster.ca/scriptorium/genevieve.html" target="_blank">this late-medieval biography</a>. Given the conditions at Mother Teresa's "hospital facilities", I'm sure that many of her patients would have appreciated it if she had had half St. Genevieve's alleged miracle-working power. But she had none, and Vatican officials are arguing if the spotaneous remission of someone's stomach cancer was really a miracle due to MT.

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