Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Decorations and Persecution.

Juan José Tamayo, a theologian and general secretary of the Association of Theologians John XXIII, reflects on the official neglect of Teresa’s more radical Latin American counterparts.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the object, or better still, the subject- of the highest decorations that a person can receive from the powerful of this world. Political leaders representing the most different of ideologies feted her with every type of welcome. The economic powers aided her social work. The Catholic hierarchy blessed her charity work placing it before us as an example of unquestioning love of Christ and the church. Even dictators honoured her with their friendship and she responded with uncritical acceptance of their respect. Herself and the Pope were on the same wavelength.

We have before us an admirable woman, an exemplary Christian who in her journey through history left an indelible mark. But such a Christian example is not unique. There are other Catholic contemporaries of hers that opted unconditionally for the poor and marginalized and risked their lives struggling for their liberation. Here are a few names: Helder Cámara, Monsignor Romero, Ignacio Ellacuría, Pedro Casaldáliga, Samuel Ruiz, Leonardo Boff and Ernesto Cardenal.

However none of these have decorations. Quite the opposite: they have been accused of being revolutionaries and instigators of violence. The Catholic hierarchy has accused them of being heterodox and rebellious and warned them and sanctioned them and even excluded them from the ecclesiastic community.

Do you remember that accusing finger of John Paul II, during his trip to Nicaragua, pointing at Ernesto Cardenal on bended knee? Such treatment turned them into easy prey for the military powers and the death squads that have killed non-conforming Christians like Romero and Ellacuría.

The questions spring up spontaneously. Why did such a humble and selfless nun attain the unanimous recognition of the powerful, while her contemporary prophets and fellow Catholics were subjected to condemnations and assassinations by the economic, political, military and paramilitary powers, and were also pursued and controlled by the Catholic hierarchy?

Would it be because Mother Teresa dedicated herself to the poor but didn’t denounce the causes of poverty? Would it be that the awards prevented her from criticising her "benefactors"? Would it be because she limited herself to putting a new facade on the ruined house of the poor but left intact its rotten beams and never bothered with the weak economic infrastructure which held it up. Would it be, that far from bothering the rich, she did the dirty work of cleaning the faeces that savage capitalism throws into the outskirts of so many Calcuttas in the world? Would it be that she preferred "welfare" to the transformation of structures? Would it be because, at the end of the day, the Jesus she committed her life to was the patient and sacrificial Jesus that submissively accepted God’s will and went meekly to his death without saying a word, instead of the subversive Jesus that was on the side of the poor and denounced the powerful as the cause of poverty and, for that, was killed?

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