Pope Francis Sets Canonization Date For Mother Teresa: Sept. 4

[bananas]

Source: NPR

Making official what was set in motion back in December, Pope Francis has approved the canonization of five new saints, including Mother Teresa. Hundreds of Mother Teresa's followers are expected to visit Rome when she's canonized on Sept. 4.

In addition to Mother Teresa, who was famously a tireless advocate for the poor, Francis approved final canonization plans for four other saints Tuesday. Here are there names, along with the Vatican's brief description of their lives and their canonization date:

Stanisłaus of Jesus and Mary (né Jan Papczynski; 1631 - 1701)) of Poland — "a member of the Piarist Order. After leaving the Piarists, Bd Stanisłaus founded the Marians of the Immaculate Conception." (Sunday, June 5)

Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad of Sweden (1870 – 1957) — "a convert from Lutheranism, founded a new branch of Bridgettine sisters, dedicated to working and praying for the unity of Scandinavian Christians with the Church. She will be the first Swedish saint in more than 600 years." (Sunday, June 5)

José Gabriel del Rosario (1840 – 1914) — "from Pope Francis' native Argentina, known as the 'gaucho priest.' Like the famous Argentinian cattlemen, he traveled on a mule throughout the vast territory of his parish in order to be close to the members of his flock." (Oct. 16)

José Luis Sánchez del Río (1913 – 1928) of Mexico – "Blessed José was just fourteen-years-old when he was martyred by the Mexican government during the Cristeros War, after refusing to deny his Faith." (Oct. 16)

<snip>

Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/15/470495530/pope-francis-sets-canonization-date-for-mother-teresa-sept-4

[CBGLuthier]

1. She was a horrible human being.

Fucked the poor into the ground and didn't really help anyone. So why not make her a saint.

[bananas]

8. Flynn: Mother Teresa was an angel for downtrodden

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/2016/03/flynn_mother_teresa_was_an_angel_for_downtrodden

Flynn: Mother Teresa was an angel for downtrodden

Ray Flynn Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Today will be a glorious day for everyone committed to helping the poor. It will be a day when those who volunteer in soup kitchens, halfway houses and homeless shelters will feel as if their unsung heroism matters.

Their “Angel of the Streets” — my term — Mother Teresa of Calcutta, will be recommended by a special Vatican committee to be elevated to the status of Saint Teresa.

<snip>

At the annual breakfast of St. Vincent de 
Paul at the Boston Park Plaza hotel recently, where I was the guest speaker for some 600 advocates to the poor and needy from throughout the Archdiocese of Boston, I told the group about my work with Mother Teresa over the years, including building housing for unwed mothers with infant children and volunteering in her soup kitchen for the homeless in Rome.

<snip>

Mother Teresa set an example of extreme selflessness that compels you to do something, anything, to help those down on their luck. How could you not take one look at her and not try to match her courage, even if for a brief moment?

That’s what a saint does. They empower strangers to try to make this world a better place. I will never forget Mother Teresa. Making her a saint means so many others will never forget her, too.

Raymond L. Flynn is a former mayor of Boston and a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Flynn

Raymond Leo Flynn (born July 22, 1939), known as Ray Flynn, served as Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He was later appointed United States Ambassador to the Holy See (1993–1997) by President Bill Clinton.

<snip>

[CBGLuthier]

10. Why Mother Teresa is still no saint to many of her critics

The controversy surrounding Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, is far from new. Her saintly reputation was gained for aiding Kolkata's poorest of the poor, yet it was undercut by persistent allegations of misuse of funds, poor medical treatments and religious evangelism in the institutions she founded.


In 1994, Hitchens and British Pakistani journalist Tariq Ali wrote an extremely critical documentary on Teresa titled “Hell’s Angel.” You can see it for yourself below.


The documentary, which drew heavily from the account of Aroup Chatterjee, an Indian-born British writer who had worked briefly in one of Teresa’s charitable homes, listed a catalog of criticisms against her. It found fault with the conditions in the facilities of her Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, which one journalist compared to the photographs she had seen of Nazi Germany’s Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and Hitchens rallied against what he called the “cult of death and suffering.”

The documentary also argued that Teresa was an “ally of the status quo,” pointing to her relationships with dubious figures all around the world, most notably Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and scandal-hit American financier Charles Keating. “She may or may not comfort the afflicted, but she has never been known to afflict the comfortable,” Hitchens explained.

“Hell’s Angel” sparked an international debate, and Hitchens soon followed it

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/25/why-to-many-critics-mother-teresa-is-still-no-saint/

[bananas]

17. RSS and Cristopher Hitchens: Right-wing nationalists and war-mongering neocons

The WP article you linked uses Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh and Christopher Hutchens as sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh abbreviated as RSS (Rāṣṭrīya Svayamsēvaka Saṅgha; IPA: [rɑːʂˈʈriːj(ə swəjəmˈseːvək ˈsəŋɡʱ], lit. "National Volunteer Organisation"[12] or "National Patriotic Organisation"[13]) is a right-wing volunteer, Hindu nationalist,[5] non-governmental organisation.[4][1]
...
The organisation initially drew inspiration from European right-wing groups during World War II.[17]
...
Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member,[20] assassinated Mahatma Gandhi
...
During World War II RSS leaders openly admired Adolf Hitler.[17][38]
...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens

The September 11 attacks "exhilarated" him, bringing into focus "a battle between everything I love and everything I hate" and strengthening his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy that challenged "fascism with an Islamic face."[10] His numerous editorials in support of the Iraq War caused some to label him a neoconservative
...
he was attracted to the foreign policy ideas of some on the Republican-right that promoted pro-liberalism intervention, especially the neoconservative group that included Paul Wolfowitz.[85] Around this time, he befriended the Iraqi dissident and businessman Ahmed Chalabi.[86] In 2004, Hitchens stated that neoconservative support for US intervention in Iraq convinced him that he was "on the same side as the neo-conservatives" when it came to contemporary foreign policy issues.[87] Hitchens had also been known to refer to his association with "temporary neocon allies".[88]
...
Christopher Hitchens argued the case for the Iraq War in a 2003 collection of essays entitled A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq
...

[TipTok]

21. Instead of attacking the messenger...

... why don't you point out the parts that are factually incorrect.

[Bradical79]

23. If those were the sole sources of criticism, I'd be inclined to agree with you

But they're not.

[haikugal]

26. Yes she was....

These people are nuts.

[bananas]

2. Jerry Brown worked with her

https://www.gov.ca.gov/m_about.php

<snip>

Brown was elected Governor in 1974 and reelected in 1978, by a margin of 21%.

<snip>

After his governorship, Brown lectured widely, led delegations to China and the Soviet Union, studied Spanish in Mexico, spent six months in Japan studying Japanese culture and Buddhist practice, worked with Mother Teresa in India at the Home for the Dying, and traveled to Bangladesh as a CARE ambassador of good will during the devastating floods of 1987.

<snip>

Governor Brown was elected for his third gubernatorial term in 2010.

<snip>

[bananas]

4. 2010: Brown talks of his spirituality, charity work

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/01/local/la-me-brown-20100801

ELECTION 2010

Brown talks of his spirituality, charity work

August 01, 2010|Seema Mehta

<snip>

Brown spoke for more than half an hour at the event, taking questions from moderator Claybon Lea, vice president of the National Baptist Convention, and from the audience.

Many revolved around spirituality, such as when Lea asked Brown to recall times when his faith had a major effect on his life. Brown recounted his decision to join the seminary (which he later dropped out of, a fact he did not mention) and his time volunteering for Mother Teresa in India, when he helped care for the destitute and dying.

"She would take your hand and say, 'What you do to the least of these, you do to me,' " Brown said of Mother Teresa. "When I would pick up someone and help them shower or shave, I could actually sense this is Jesus in my hands. That faith came from encountering that, but also being in the environment that Mother Teresa has created and the Missionaries of Charity. The power of their faith was very contagious, and made it much easier, made it actually a joy to be in that special place."

<snip>

[Brickbat]

3. "Famously a tireless advocate for the poor..."

Yeah, no.

[Orrex]

5. Hmm...

Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith

[snooper2]

6. Mother Teresa was an asshole and we will remind people at every turn

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Most of the negative things about Mother Teresa

Last edited Tue Mar 15, 2016, 11:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Come from a single source, a hatchet job written by Christopher Hitchens. He made his living writing hatchet jobs about people. And he had absolutely no credentials except a long ago college degree. He ran with a bunch of philosophers who were all very anti religion.

You might want to investigate this a little further because there are tons of other sources out there written by people who actually knew and lived with Mother Teresa.

Believe me, the church investigated all those allegations.

[bananas]

9. Thank you. nt

[CBGLuthier]

11. Hitchens, not Hitchings. If you are going to smear someone at least spell their name right.

Yeah, the church is worldwide famous for investigating allegations about its people. Damn, that's some funny shit.

[LanternWaste]

15. Much as Hitchens dutifully spelled Teresa's name correctly.

" If you are going to smear someone at least spell their name right..."

Much as Hitchens dutifully spelled Teresa's name correctly.

[potone]

28. She did spell it correctly.

And, in fact, I heard an interview with him in which he discussed being appointed by the Vatican as the "Devil's Advocate" to testify against Mother Teresa when she was considered for Beatification, the first step before being canonized as a saint.

I am not Roman Catholic, so I don't have a dog in this fight, but I would view Hitchens' allegations with a huge grain of salt. For him, anyone who did not agree with him was a bad person with bad motivations. He never could seem to accept that one could disagree with him for perfectly honorable reasons. This was the case with the Iraq war: he viewed anyone who opposed it as a cowardly appeaser of Saddam Hussein and an "Islamofascist," a term that he invented and loved to throw around.

None of this is a defense of all of Mother Teresa's actions or statements. I certainly don't agree with her stance on birth control, for instance, but she was a nun and a devout Catholic, so to expect her to oppose the Church's stance on that issue, as some people did, is unrealistic to the point of absurdity. But I do think she helped a lot of people, and those who worked with her can attest to that.

[TipTok]

22. Golly... If the church investigated...

... then it must have been a-ok!

They have such an amazing track record.

Do you read what you post? Why would anyone believe anything that the church says about anything let alone something they have a vested interest in?

[Bradical79]

24. That's not true

He wasn't the "sole source" but he did bring much wider attention to someone else's accusations.

[TacoD]

12. Hitchens disciples always come out of the woodwork when Mother Teresa is mentioned.

They hate when you bring up his despicable cheerleading for the Iraq invasion.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Not a "Hitchen's Disciple", thank you,

but the last thing we need is another cult of personality from an organization that if they were not a religion would have been prosecuted under RICO statutes for trafficking in children.

[Bad Dog]

18. I think Hitchens was a bloody arsehole,

But he was spot on about Mother Theresa. She supported the brutal Duvalier regime in Haiti and viewed abortion and birth control as twin evils. Anyone serious about reducing abortion should be supporting birth control not denigrating it.

She was a truly awful woman.

[AlbertCat]

13. Canonization

Lordy!

Why would anyone over 5 years of age believe in this silly supernatural bologna?

[trusty elf]

14. ...

[img][/img]

[Bradical79]

25. LOL -nt

[Nitram]

19. How to stay in the news and get frree publicity?

Make new saints! Invent new miracles!

[HelenWheels]

20. She added to the poor people's problems

She was against the poor using contraception to cut down on them having child after child. Many babies for the poor is not a good idea and will keep them in poverty not to mention the hardships put on the children who live in poverty.

[Mike Nelson]

27. n' recall any of her miracles being televised...

...now that she's gone, at least she won't be raising Hitchens.