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Mother Teresa of Calcutta on abortion
The Catholic Exchange ^ | September 3, 2007 | JosephMary

Posted on 09/03/2007 7:35:43 PM PDT by koinonia

A Lesson from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta on Abortion

by JosephMary

Mother Teresa on Abortion:

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters"

"And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

(Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14)

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?

"How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

"By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. "

"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

February 1997 - National Prayer Breakfast in Washington attended by the President and the First Lady. "What is taking place in America," she said, "is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

"Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Mother Teresa with a Rosary in her hand was unafraid to stand before the United Nations or the President of the United States or any personage in the world and deliver the message of the dignity of life. May we follow her example as best we can in our own lives. Ave Maria!


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; clinton; guiliani; motherteresa

1 posted on 09/03/2007 7:35:47 PM PDT by koinonia
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To: koinonia
May we follow her example as best we can in our own lives.

Agreeing with you, koinonia. We have grown nearly desensitized to the idea of abortion in America and our very consciences have been deadened to this sin. May the Lord awaken in this nation a new love for every unborn child and a desire for each to be brought safely through the birth process. May these innocent creations be afforded life and may they live it abundantly with love as the Lord desires.

2 posted on 09/03/2007 7:57:49 PM PDT by Faith
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To: koinonia

WOW!!!!

RIGHT ON!!

This woman IS a Saint, if anyone ever was.


3 posted on 09/03/2007 8:45:05 PM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: koinonia

Thanks for the positive Mother Teresa thread, she really hit the nail on the head regarding how horrible abortion is.


4 posted on 09/03/2007 9:01:05 PM PDT by HerrBlucher (Tack it up and shut em down Fred!)
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To: koinonia

We lost Mother Theresa around within a week or two of Princess Diana.


5 posted on 09/04/2007 1:23:34 AM PDT by MonicaG (In hoc signo vinces)
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To: Coleus; nickcarraway; narses; Mr. Silverback; Canticle_of_Deborah; TenthAmendmentChampion; ...
Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

6 posted on 09/04/2007 8:05:52 AM PDT by cpforlife.org (A Catholic Respect Life Curriculum is available at KnightsForLife.org)
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To: MonicaG

I liked Princess Di; always thought that she was a genuinely decent person who really tried hard to help. That being said- Mother Theresa’s death should have received a lot more coverage than it did.


7 posted on 09/04/2007 9:08:12 AM PDT by SoKatt
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To: SoKatt
Agreed ! Princess Di gets all the attention while Mother Teresa got nothing. Mother Teresa should get all the attention ! She stood up to the previous occupant of the White House.

I liked Princess Di; always thought that she was a genuinely decent person who really tried hard to help. That being said- Mother Theresa’s death should have received a lot more coverage than it did.
8 posted on 09/04/2007 9:11:43 AM PDT by CORedneck
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To: SoKatt

What’s sick about it, is that if Mother Theresa were hotter, she’d have got more press. Period.

Princess Di was a lady of privelege, who ultimately chose her life, and when you look at the sum total of it, it really didn’t amount to much, especially relative to Mother Theresa. She married a moron, who proves again why monarchy is an obsolete form of government.

Princess Di got the Elvis treatment. Mother Theresa was a Christian, and she helped the poor. That’s two strikes against you, I guess. As such, they are now taking out contracts against her reputation as a Christian. They’re making movies about Princess Di.


9 posted on 09/04/2007 9:15:06 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: RinaseaofDs

You’re absolutely right. It’s a sad commentary on what our priorities are.


10 posted on 09/04/2007 9:42:54 AM PDT by SoKatt
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To: cpforlife.org

Thanks for the ping!


11 posted on 09/04/2007 5:18:01 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: koinonia; nickcarraway; sandyeggo; Lady In Blue; NYer; american colleen; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; ...
Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

12 posted on 09/04/2007 5:19:24 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: koinonia
Pray for an end to abortion and
the conversion of America!

13 posted on 09/04/2007 5:21:50 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: koinonia

Great thread. Great quotes. Good job.

The unborn have inalienable rights bump!

Freegards


14 posted on 09/04/2007 5:27:35 PM PDT by Ransomed (Son of Ransomed says Keep the Faith!)
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To: Salvation

“Pray for an end to abortion and
the conversion of America!”

I do each day, and include the entire world.


15 posted on 09/04/2007 8:41:25 PM PDT by Sun (Duncan Hunter: pro-life/borders, understands Red China threat! http://www.gohunter08.com/Home.aspx)
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To: koinonia

It’s statements like this that make it clear why people like Christopher Hitchens HATE this woman.


16 posted on 09/05/2007 10:39:11 AM PDT by Antoninus (The greatest gifts parents can give their children are siblings.)
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To: koinonia
American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

 .

September 5, 2007
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(1910-1997)

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests.

Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by an aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of the most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good Samaritan.” Her life, he said, was “a bold proclamation of the gospel.”

Mother Teresa's beatification, just over six years after her death, was part of an expedited process put into effect by Pope John Paul II. Like so many others around the world, he found her love for the Eucharist, for prayer and for the poor a model for all to emulate.

Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death.

During her years in public school Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.

In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and, instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”

After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) she soon began getting to know her neighbors—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know their needs through visits.

The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Other helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and street people.

For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home.




17 posted on 09/05/2007 10:54:15 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: koinonia

Saving this one. Thank you.


18 posted on 06/18/2009 1:51:29 PM PDT by BillyKess (Please help spread the truth: http://exposeplannedparenthood.com/)
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