Rooting for Mother Teresa

From The New York Times-

POPE FRANCIS last week approved two of his predecessors for sainthood — John Paul II and John XXIII — fast-tracking the latter in spite of his having only one miracle to his credit rather than the usual two. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, has not been given the same exemption (she also has just one miracle) and remains merely beatified.

Having volunteered for a time with Mother Teresa, I find myself rooting for her cause as if for the home team. And on principle I’m disappointed by the message sent when two men with complex legacies outpace a woman who devoted herself completely to serving others.

To many Roman Catholics, Mother Teresa, who was born Agnes Bojaxhiu in 1910 of Albanian heritage, was the religion’s best ambassador. “She was one of the only things we learned about in Catholic school that I thought made total sense,” a friend of mine recently told me.

Two years before Mother Teresa died, I saw her work firsthand. I was 18, traveling around the world alone for the better part of a year. After spending time in Bangladesh, I entered India via what was then Calcutta (now Kolkata), staying at a dollar-a-night dormitory called the Hotel Maria. I slept on the roof, and there met some Australians who were volunteering for Mother Teresa. One day I joined them.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/13/opinion/rooting-for-mother-teresa.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130713&_r=1&