Democratic presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy, who was also Roman
Catholic, did not take place. However, while in New York City, Mother
Teresa met with Mother Anna Dengel, the Austrian-born founder of the
Medical Mission Sisters, who had given Mother Teresa her early medical
training in Patna a little more than a decade earlier. She also paid visits to
Catholic Relief Services, and met with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who was
a prominent radio and television personality in the United States. Sheen
was the head of the American division of the foreign mission’s organi-
zation, the Propagation of the Faith, which channeled donations to Cath-
olic missions all over the world. But perhaps one of the most important
contacts Mother Teresa made during this trip was with Marcolino Can-
dau, director of the World Health Organization (WHO). She told Can-
dau of her urgent need to provide for the lepers and their children in
India. Candau told her that if she made her request through the Indian
government, WHO would see that she received the necessary medical
supplies.
From New York, Mother Teresa’s next stop was London, where she
spent one evening at the home of the sister of Indian Prime Minister
Nehru, who encouraged her to expand her work, particularly where vol-
unteers were concerned. Mother Teresa also met with a representative of
the Oxfam aid agency and had her first television interview with a British
journalist on the BBC.
Her next stop was Germany, where Mother Teresa enjoyed a greater
reputation, having been featured in a news magazine Weltelend(World
Misery), published by the German Catholic relief agency Miseror. The ar-
ticle had also shown photos of the terrible poverty in Calcutta as well as
shots of Nirmal Hriday. Another news magazine Erdkreis(Earth Circle)
had featured photos of Kalighat. As she stepped off the plane, wrapped in
a rough wool blanket to protect her from the cold weather, Mother Teresa
was greeted by a horde of German photographers and journalists.
In meeting with Miseror representatives, Mother Teresa outlined her
plans for the construction of a new home for the dying in Delhi. She al-
ready had land set aside, but needed help in building the proposed facility.
The organization, while generally preferring to fund self-help projects,
readily agreed to her request. In return, they asked only that the Mission-
aries of Charity send financial statements to the organization to monitor
how the money was spent. To their great surprise, Mother Teresa flatly re-
jected their request, stating that the sisters did not have time to spend on
preparing complicated financial forms. She assured the officials that they
should not worry about the money; each penny would go to the proposed
project. But her refusal to keep detailed accounts marked the beginning of
94 MOTHER TERESA