Mother Teresa: a biography

MORE CONTROVERSY
Mother Teresa’s final years were touched by controversy. In February
1994, she attended a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. She
did so reluctantly, having been invited by then-President Bill Clinton. She
had been asked to speak and did so with much of her speech focusing on
the topic of abortion. However, when she was finished, no one at the top
table where the president was sitting applauded, though President Clinton
later apologized. Mother Teresa did meet Hillary Clinton, who traveled
with her daughter, Chelsea, to Calcutta the following year to visit one of
the Missionary of Charity homes. With Mrs. Clinton’s help, a children’s
shelter operated by the order opened in Washington in June 1995.
Two other unhappy events in Calcutta ensnared Mother Teresa. In
September 1995, a 15-year-old girl who lived on the city streets was cook-
ing a meal. She overturned the fire and was badly burned. A local doctor
found her some days later lying outside with third-degree burns and severe
damage to one arm. He managed to get the young woman into a state
hospital, but it became difficult to obtain the right medications for her.
Her relatives removed her and she went back to living on the street. After
a month, her wounds became severely infected and so her relatives
searched for another facility.
By this time, the local press had gotten wind of the story. The Mission-
aries of Charity were contacted and they agreed to send an ambulance for
the girl. She was first taken to Nirmal Hriday, but was turned away be-
cause she was not dying. The next stop was to Shishu Bhavan, where she
was turned away again, having been told that she was not an orphan and
moreover was married with a child. Her next destination was Prem Dan,
but again she was refused admission because she was not suffering from tu-
berculosis nor was she insane. In the end, the burn victim was deposited
back on the street.
The story was a sensation and marked the first time any reporting car-
ried a strong bias against Mother Teresa. One reporter asked Mother
Teresa about the young woman’s predicament. To his astonishment,
Mother Teresa said that she would not discuss the issue. Some told the re-
porter that the girl should have been in a hospital, not in one of Mother
Teresa’s homes. But, as the reporter later stated, his intent was never to
ask Mother Teresa to take the girl, but to ask her why—when she had pur-
portedly never refused anyone care or help—she would not admit the girl
to one of her facilities. The young girl was eventually taken to another
state hospital, but the story had done damage and for many caused con-
“ T H E M O S T O B E D I E N T W O M A N I N T H E C H U R C H ” 1 3 3

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siderable disillusionment with both Mother Teresa and the Missionaries
of Charity.
Not more than two months later, Mother Teresa again became em-
broiled in controversy, this time of a political nature. This incident also
was the first time Church officials in India publicly criticized her, and
where she faced the most sustained opposition to her work and philoso-
phy. The situation was one of the few times in which Mother Teresa be-
came involved in a contentious row that had severe international
repercussions.