Random Disturbing Facts and Stories That Will Change How You See Mother Teresa (12 items)

(#11) She Placed A High Priority On Converting People To Christianity

Mother Teresa spent a substantial part of her life ministering to and helping people in India. However, some Indian citizens found her work manipulative and self-serving. In fact, Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh claimed Mother Teresa only helped people to create more Christian converts. In 2015, the chief of the group, Mohan Bhagwa, noted:

"It’s good to work for a cause with selfless intentions. But Mother Teresa’s work had [an] ulterior motive, which was to convert the person who was being served to Christianity... In the name of service, religious conversions were made. This was followed by other institutes, too."
(#1) She Did Not Have Stringent Standards For Baptizing Dying People

Some who worked with Mother Teresa claimed that she was somewhat lax with standards applied to dying people baptized in her care. Fr. Leo Maasburg discussed this in his book, Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait. Fr. Maasburg was Teresa's "close companion for many decades" and said the dying did not need to know the entire history of the Catholic Church; it was enough to ask them if they "would like to go to the God who sent the Sisters." If the answer was yes, they could then be baptized.
(#5) She Seemed To Suffer A Major Crisis Of Faith During The Latter Part Of Her Life

Many people view Mother Teresa as an incredibly pious figure. Her work and words seemed divinely blessed. However, the religious figurehead seemed to struggle immensely with her personal faith. Reverend Michael van der Peet served as Mother Teresa's comrade during those times of wavering spirituality. In fact, in September of 1979, the woman who the Vatican wanted sainted wrote van der Peet a letter confessing the emptiness surrounding her spiritual life.

She wrote::

"Jesus has a very special love for you... [But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear, the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak... I want you to pray for me, that I let Him have [a] free hand."
(#7) Hygiene At Her Clinics Was A Major Issue

Mother Teresa's clinics were run by volunteers, and despite providing medical care to the poor, they were not hospitals. As such, there have been widespread claims of "haphazard" conditions at some of the clinics.

Hitchens posited in his book that the decision to to run a "haphazard and cranky institution which would expose itself to litigation and protest were it run by any branch of the medical profession is a deliberate one," meant to promulgate Teresa's "cult" of death and suffering.
(#4) She Accepted $10,000 From A Known Cult Leader

Hitchens posits in his book that Mother Teresa once accepted $10,00 from Roger "John-Roger" Hinkins, leader of Insight Transformational Seminars – a known cult. Hinkins claimed that he had a "spiritual consciousness" superior to that of Jesus Christ. As Christopher Hitchens notes, Teresa lent Hinkins "the lustre of her name and image" and accepted a $10,000 check as the recipient of his organization's "Integrity Award."

Hitchens argues that even if the Calcutta saint only knew about Hinkins' blasphemous claims of spiritual superiority, that should have been enough evidence for her to refuse his check.
(#8) She Received Her Personal Medical Care In California – Not Her Clinics

Despite access to a wide range of her own clinics across the globe, Mother Teresa herself "checked into some of the finest and costliest clinics and hospitals in the West during her bouts with heart trouble and old age," preferring a clinic in California.