Mother Teresa on 1981 award from Marquette University

When she was told that she would receive Marquette's Discovery Award Medal in 1981, she thought it was a mistake.

"I am too small to discover anything," Mother Teresa said when she came to Marquette. "But then I thought this meant the discovery of the poor, the discovery of the poorest of the poor, of the unwanted and the unloved, the discovery of the rejected. That this was the discovery to make us loving and to come to know the poor in that it is he, Jesus, we are touching. That is the discovery."

Marquette University

Mother Teresa, ora pro nobis!

Image: Marquette

Bonus: Not so good are the images from the "Celebratory Liturgy"

*a repost

Great piece by NPR: How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa's 2 Miracles

from a friend: 

This piece from National Public Radio (of all venues!) on the upcoming canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a delight to listen to, being a totally accurate representation of the Catholic Church's teaching on the intercession of the saints and the process of canonization (the audio link is in the top left part of the page, but the article itself contains some additional information.)

What I found most fascinating is that one of the physicians approached for the documentation of a miracle associated with Mother Teresa's intercession was quite open about her atheism:

"'I revealed my atheism to them,' Duffin says. 'I told them my husband was a Jew, and I wasn't sure if they'd still want me. And they were delighted!'

The group reasoned that if Duffin, as an atheist, found there was no scientific reason the woman should have recovered, who could doubt it was a miracle? In fact, after her investigation of the woman's recovery, Duffin agreed that the woman's healing was — for lack of a better word — miraculous.

Intrigued by the experience, Duffin investigated hundreds of other miracle stories chronicled in the Vatican archives in Rome. She came away convinced that 'miracles' do indeed happen."

Great job, NPR!

NPR: How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa's 2 Miracles

Mother Teresa and her Jesuit spiritual director

Fr. John Hardon SJ and Mother Teresa

Father Hardon participated in various apostolates to religious communities.  In the early 1980s, Pope John Paul II instructed Mother Teresa of Calcutta to have her order evangelize the poor in addition to looking after their material needs.  When she stated she didn't know where to begin such an endeavor, the Pope referred her to Cardinal Ratzinger, who called upon Hardon to instruct her Missionaries of Charity. To fill this need Hardon wrote a catechetical course for Mother Teresa's order. The course later was adapted and used to create two catechetical home study courses for lay Catholics. In 1985 Hardon founded the Marian Catechist Apostolate, an organization that uses these home study courses to provide catechetical formation to lay people in order to prepare them for catechetical ministry.  - wiki

Source

In fact, some had wrote that their friendship would cast doubt on if Mother Teresa would be beatified.

Update:

After the 9:30 Latin Mass at the Shrine this Sunday the Friars will be having public veneration of a 2nd class relic belonging to Mother Teresa of Calcutta "her personal handkerchief"

Mother Teresa on sacrifice

via Orbis

Mother Teresa on award from Marquette Univ.

When she was told that she would receive Marquette's Discovery Award Medal in 1981, she thought it was a mistake.

"I am too small to discover anything," Mother Teresa said when she came to Marquette. "But then I thought this meant the discovery of the poor, the discovery of the poorest of the poor, of the unwanted and the unloved, the discovery of the rejected. That this was the discovery to make us loving and to come to know the poor in that it is he, Jesus, we are touching. That is the discovery."

Marquette University

Mother Teresa, ora pro nobis!

Image: Marquette

Bonus: Not so good are the images from the "Celebratory Liturgy"

Was Fr. John Hardon protecting a pedaphile priest?

McGuire in 2002, shortly before a criminal
investigation into his sexual abuse
of teenage boys began.

January 11th, San Fransisco Weekly published an article Tainted Saint: Mother Teresa Defended Pedophile Priest which went on to report that both Mother Teresa and Fr. John Hardon defended former Jesuit Donald McGuire, who is now 81 and serving a 25 year prison sentence for child molestation.

Upon seeing some evidence against McGuire, Fr. Hardon wrote in a 1994 letter to McGuire's superior:

"I understand how grave is the scandal touching the priesthood in the U.S.A. and how careful we must be to guard the purity and reputation of that priesthood," the letter states. "I must say, however, that I have confidence and trust in Fr. McGuire and wish to see his vital ministry resume as soon as possible."

Although Mother Teresa does endorse McGuire, the charge is much less serious I think, and is barely worth mentioning except it makes for a better headline. 

Last week Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture wrote an in depth analysis of the charges.  It's definitely worth a read (he agrees that Mother Teresa was included to sell more than anything).  To put it in perspective, Lawler write:

Certainly it is true that the leaders of the Jesuit order were guilty of lapses far more serious than the apparently imprudent judgment of Father Hardon. (In fact in retrospect it is exceedingly curious that the Jesuit order accepted Father Hardon’s recommendation, with so much countervailing evidence already weighing against it.) At least six different Jesuit provincials were warned that McGuire was molesting teenage boys. His ministry had been restricted, but the restriction had not been enforced. His superiors had been warned repeatedly that he was traveling with teenage boys, yet the travel continued. In 1998, a provincial who had access to all the personnel records wrote to a bishop that McGuire “had never been accused of improprieties with minors.” As late as 2007, Jesuit leaders denied having evidence of abuse beyond the cases for which McGuire had already faced formal charges. Even while he was awaiting trial on federal abuse charges, McGuire was living without restrictions at a Jesuit residence in Chicago, where he was free to entertain young men in his room.

But it still seems unclear how Fr. Hardon could have been so duped by McGuire, and then go onto so ardently defend him.

[Hardon] also had an impeccable reputation for honesty and for looking at facts without blinking. If Father Hardon testified that McGuire was innocent of grave wrongdoing, the Jesuit order seemed prepared to accept that testimony.

So Father Hardon visited McGuire in Pennsylvania, spoke to him privately at length, and—sad to say—he blinked. 

In their long conversation, which Father Hardon later recorded in correspondence that has now been made public, McGuire admitted that he had showered with his teenage companions. He admitted that he had asked the boys to give him massages. He admitted using pornography with them. But he denied the more serious charges of engaging in actual sex acts. Father Hardon wrote that he accepted the veracity of McGuire’s denial: “I do not believe there was any conscious and deliberate sexual perversity.”

The guild for the cause of Fr. Hardon issued a response to the charges:

Any cause which is opened has as its scope “the gathering of proofs in order to attain moral certitude on the heroic virtues or the martyrdom of the [person in question] whose beatification and canonization are asked.”

The postulator is “first and foremost…to conduct research into the life of the Servant of God, which is useful for knowing the reputation of holiness” of the person, which not only includes all that which might affirm his cause, but also which may be negative. The postulator is “obliged to act for the greater good of the Church and, therefore, to seek the truth conscientiously and honestly.”

With all this in mind, if anyone should have any substantive evidence which would assist the Church in her discernment of the cause for the Servant of God John A. Hardon, S.J, he or she should contact the office of the postulator and include his or her name, contact information, and relationship to the Servant of God John A. Hardon, S.J., so that he may present fully, honestly and faithfully what is required of him once the diocesan inquiry has been opened officially.

Father Robert T. McDermott
Postulator

I'm sure these charges against Fr. Hardon will be taken seriously and investigated.  Like Lawler states in his article, it probably depends on how much Fr. Hardon knew.  But for what he did know, it's clear he did not react appropriately.  McGuire should have been removed from active ministry immediately upon his admission.  Another sad tale in the scandal of our generation.

"The bedrock of Mother Teresa's spiritual life"

Fr Hardon with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity

It is a privilege to say a few words about Mother Teresa at this first anniversary Mass, commemorating her death on September the fifth, 1997. I thought I would concentrate on some of the features of her spiritual life that I had come to know in my twenty-five years of knowing her.

Given the magnitude of the subject, suppose I prefix each of my half-dozen observations on her spiritual life with a simple sentence, and then briefly explain how she lived out this feature of her life.

Deep Faith in the Real Presence. In my estimation this was the bedrock of Mother Teresa’s spiritual life. She believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ is really, truly, and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. So deep was this faith that she declared, and must have repeated hundreds of times, “I make a holy hour everyday in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Our holy hour is our daily family prayer where we get together and pray the Rosary the first half-hour and the second half-hour in silence. Our adoration has doubled the number of our vocations.”

No words of mine can adequately explain how deep was Mother Teresa’s faith in the presence of Jesus, now on earth, just as He was during His visible stay in Palestine. Without this faith, there would not have been a Mother Teresa.

Continue at The Real Presence