Who did not like Mother Teresa?

Answer 1

Mother Teresa's public communications were generally on the topic of her mission and her work, or about God, and her remarks were typically positive; she rarely spoke about herself or about her doubts and fears. Therefore to speak about Mother Teresa's personal fears would almost certainly require that we move into the territory of the speculative. Nevertheless, it is possible to infer that, as a devout Catholic, Mother Teresa maintained a healthy fear of offending God through sin, either by sinning against the Commandments of God, or by sinning through failure to assist those in need, as described in Matthew 25.

Answer 2

Mother Teresa hated sin in all its forms and all its ugliness, her special cause was abortion, she was constantly pleading with women not to kill their children. She said that saying there were too many children was like saying there were too many flowers. She told women everywhere not to do this, if they did not want their child, to give it to her, she would raise it.

Answer 3

Mother Teresa also faced a diverse range of criticism. These include objections by various individuals and groups, including Christopher Hitchens, Michael Parenti, Aroup Chatterjee, Vishva Hindu Parishad, against the proselytizing focus of her work including a strong stance against abortion, a belief in the spiritual goodness of poverty and alleged baptisms of the dying. Medical journals also criticised the standard of medical care in her hospices and concerns were raised about the opaque nature in which donated money was spent.

Answer 4

If Mother Teresa had any fears, she never showed or expressed them. She knew that God would give her everything she needed. She fearlessly stood up to an angry Hindu mob. She had no fear to confront government officials. She spoke out without fear to the General Assembly of the United Nations against some policies that the organization promulgated. She always had faith that God would care for her. She ignored bombs and bullets to enter Beirut, Lebanon, to search for refugees. She did not show concern for her personal safety when she went to the chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, to offer her help.

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

Late in her life she did express a concern to her personal confessor. After years of almost constant prayer she felt abandoned by God and even doubted his very existence at times. What she suffered was the same trial that many saints underwent such as Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, John of the Cross and Padre Pio. It is described as a "Darkness of the Soul." She persisted in her faith despite doubts. Albert Camus described very well this attitude:

"I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live as if there isn't and to die to find out that there is."

The last thing that Mother Teresa feared was death. She was ready and willing to go years before Our Lord finally called her. She wanted nothing more than to pass the leadership on to a younger, healthier sister from her order but was prevented by the very people she led. Against her protestations her sisters sought out medical care and equipment to prolong her life. When the order finally relented and elected a new Mother Superior, Teresa finally was able to call her work completed and, shortly thereafter, she was called home to her reward.

Answer 5

Most people have nothing but love and respect for Mother Teresa. As with any person of celebrity status, she has her detractors, most of them quite anti-Catholic who dig up half truths and, in many cases, pure fabrications to denigrate her and her work.

Many say she did little to help the suffering in the way of providing medications to alleviate their pain. Mother Teresa was not in the business of providing medical care, she made that clear. Her work was to give the dying some comfort and a death with dignity and surrounded by people who loved them. She was not a doctor and could not provide drugs, even if they had been available. India strictly controls all pain medications so that even registered hospitals find them difficult to obtain.

Others claim she went to bat for a priest friend who was abusing boys. Mother Teresa did nothing more that write a letter of support for the man based on information she had received from the person who investigated the case. It was not until long after Mother Teresa's death that the sordid details of the case were discovered.

Some accuse her of being more interested in making Catholic converts that in helping the poor. Mother Teresa had no intentions of evangelizing as she wanted to concentrate her efforts on helping the poorest of the poor. However, Pope John Paul II ordered that she also must evangelize. Having taken a vow of obedience, Mother had no choice but to comply.

There are allegations that she was friends with gangsters and dictators but these charges are not backed up with a single shred of evidence. Of course, if it is on the internet it has to be true, right? It is just another part of the disinformation campaign to discredit a great saint.

Others claim that, while she ignored the suffering of the poor, she sought the best of medical treatment for herself in foreign countries. It just happens that when Mother Teresa suffered a medical emergency, she was traveling abroad. One heart attack occurred while she was visiting the Holy Father in Rome. Another occurred when she was seriously injured in a fall while visiting Mexico. What was she to tell her hosts? "Don't treat me here, put me back on a plane to India so I can receive treatment there."

There are many more lies out there. All a person need do is a small bit of research to get at the truth.

Even when Mother Teresa was accused of many of these things while she was alive, she would simply shrug and ignore them. She live the beatitudes and one of them states:

"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Answer 6

Mother Teresa never spoke about her private fears. Her public communications were generally on the topic of her mission and her work, or about God, and her remarks were typically positive. We can however infer that she feared death. Most of us, as we grow older, accept the inevitability of death and do not go to heroic lengths to delay the inevitable.

When Mother Teresa suffered age-related illnesses, she sought treatment at renowned medical clinics in the United States, Europe, and India. She even had her bedroom, in the order's Motherhouse, fitted out with with expensive, sophisticated cardiac equipment because of her heart condition. As far as she was able, Mother Teresa took no risks with her life and health, but finally succumbed to a heart attack.