Regarding the article by Flynn McRoberts on the memorial mass for Mother Teresa (“City bids farewell . . .,” Page 1, Sept. 12):
I fear that Mr. McRoberts missed the point when he wrote: “. . . the controversial issue of abortion isn’t what brings the needy . . . to Mother Teresa’s shelter on the West Side.”
Mother Teresa’s insight was that the many issues that bring people to the Missionaries of Charity all originate in a single root problem, the attitude that some people are disposable. Whether they are unwanted by society because of leprosy, undignified poverty or the inconvenience of being “unplanned,” she taught by word and example that there is no justification for disposing of them.
It would be a serious misunderstanding of Mother Teresa to interpret her message in terms of a public policy debate. Whether it was abortion or poverty or other social ills, Mother Teresa approached these matters as spiritual problems requiring spiritual solutions.
Mother Teresa prescribed a twofold response. She called us to a change of attitude and action. Using a radical gospel approach, she consciously sought to see Christ in every person she met. And she chose to save the world one person at a time.
Archbishop Francis George echoed both messages in his tribute. He called abortion by its real name, the disposal of a human being. And he committed the Archdiocese of Chicago to Mother Teresa’s program of helping any woman in crisis over pregnancy. This second point was not reported in Mr. McRoberts’ article.
