Evangelicals Now
<< October 1997 >>

Mother Teresa

Discussion of the beliefs of Mother Teresa

The tragic death of the Princess of Wales was followed by the announcement of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
After the vast coverage by the press of every detail of the royal funeral came a deeply contrasting, yet in some ways strangely similar theme. Here, in contrast with the beautiful young woman involved in charities, was the old woman with the steely determination to fight for the poor. It is not surprising that one broadcaster referred to them both being in heaven!
Let me comment briefly on these events with an introductory qualification. It is not my concern to evaluate the medical and social work of the elderly nun. There are critics ready to do that, witness the very critical TV broadcast some time ago. I am in no position to judge since I have little knowledge of Calcutta save what I read in the papers or hear on radio or TV.

Common grace

However, I am reminded of the biblical doctrine of common grace: 'God makes his sun to rise on the righteous and the wicked and sends rain on the just and the unjust'. God ministers graciously through all kinds of people - we possibly have honest caring neighbours who are cheerfully pagan. So we must distinguish between the sympathy, concern and loving care for the destitute on the one hand, and (on the other) the teaching that claims that good works is the outward evidence of godliness. So it is important to ask where Mother Teresa stood in relation to the dogmas and teaching of Roman Catholicism.

Purgatory

She was steeped in the notion of purgatory as a place of final purification through suffering for which masses might be offered. So much for the notion that she was in heaven. Her own teaching could only take her as far as purgatory. This tragic denial of Scripture was highlighted on BBC Radio 4 when a priest spoke of her attitude to photographers. She hated having her photograph taken but counter-attacked by praying each time for the deliverance of one more soul from purgatory - this is a far cry from the assurance of the apostle Paul's gospel. To him, to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5.8).
Even more disastrously astray was her adoration of Mary.
This of course, fitted in with Hinduism with its multitude of deities. Roman Catholicism in India is very syncretistic, having adopted Hindu practices. I recall being in Bangalore when a Roman Catholic festival was on at the cathedral. It seemed very similar to a Hindu temple. I recall vividly one woman putting her hand devoutly on the glass-covered statue of Mary and then applying it to her own head.

Trinity re-think?

It is not surprising, therefore, that Mother Teresa's signature was a very important one in the petition recently submitted to the pope. With well over four million signatures it urged him to use his claimed infallible powers to declare Mary as the Co-Redemptrix, that is, as sharer with Christ in the work of redemption. The further request was that all saving graces from Christ must be obtained through Mary. Here is a blasphemous denial of the doctrine of the Trinity. A secular magazine commented with incisive words that the dogma, if it were enforced, would deny the basic doctrine of the Bible: 'There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Timothy 2.5). The further comment was so true: 'In place of the Holy Trinity it would offer the world a kind of holy quartet, with Mary playing the multiple roles of daughter of the Father, mother of the Son and spouse of the Holy Spirit' (Newsweek, August 25 1997).
The panel of theologians commissioned by the pope to examine the petition unanimously rejected it. However, in Rome, the pope does not need to bow to them. His own obsession with Mary gives hope to the supporters of the petition. The voice of the people may tip the balance. But the 'voice of the people' is unreliable. What we need is a return to the Word of God, where a 'saint' is simply another name for a Christian, where Christ is the sole mediator and where good works cannot merit heaven.

H. M. Carson