[Holiday]

The Missionaries of Charity is an international religious group that was founded by Mother Teresa. The Missionaries of Charity are dedicated to helping "the poorest of the poor."

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Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.

Mother Teresa was really awesome. She left home to join a group of nuns as a missionary at age 18, and never saw her family again. She experienced poverty herself, and wrote about it, and she used it to empathize rather than to feel sorry for herself.

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-When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.
Mother Teresa

I'm not sure how much of their work now is actually really focused on helping the poor, to save and enrich their lives, or to win their souls. But I'd like to believe that the main focus is actually helping people, not converting them.

This post has been edited by Holiday: 18 January 2010 - 04:46 AM

[Einder]

Can understand your concerns there Holiday, however, that second quote holds some universal truth to it. Take a look at America right now. If you take a 10 minute walk outside of Washington, d.c. and ask about a homless shelter, they will tell you that the waiting list is a year or more long and that they aren't taking anymore applications at this time. That's a 30 second drive from the US Capital! Yet somehow we can afford 20 billion dollars for Haiti. Now I'm not saying Haiti can't use the help, but at the same time, we have homeless people on the streets, making due how they can, and NO ONE is talking about donating 20 Billion dollars towards seeing homeless people get off the streets. Instead Jobs are being lost, and more homeless people created. What if everyone just helped everyone? What would the world be like then?

[Nightblade]

What do you think about those who are 'professionally impoverished'? I mean like people who basically choose to be poor beggars and aren't really interested in improving their lives?

[Shadout]

Refusing to help the worlds poverty problems by opposing abortion uner all circumstances.

Thanks but no thanks Mother Teresa - I'll leave the good ol' boys in Rome to cannonise you, they like that kind of cretinitude.

This post has been edited by Shadout: 19 January 2010 - 06:31 PM