Mother Teresa: Beloved and scorned on the eve of her canonisation

[rug]

11. I really haven't delved into the merits of the debate about her that's been going on for 20 years.

Too much histrionics. Too much offensiveness and too much defensiveness.

What I have learned is that much of her Order's work is about palliative care not curative care. There's at least one hospice in the U.S. that one can visit or volunteer at to make up one's own mind. Regardless of whether there was outright negligence in the past or not, I can't imagine this hospice in Pennsylvania would stay open if a tenth of what's been claimed is true.

http://www.motherteresahospice.com/#!what-when-who--why/cdvp

My daughter received palliative care at St. Mary's Hospital in Bayside, New York. It's an Episcopal hospital run by Episcopal nuns. It's a very important and necessary work whether it's done by the religious or the secular. The fact that most nongovernmental palliative care is provided by religious organizations doesn't diminish in the least. A room where someone is dying is the last place to debate the merits of religion or atheism.

For the record, my choice in the poll is the last one.