In July 1965, the Missionaries of Charity opened their first home out-
side India in Cocorote, Venezuela. Mother Teresa, accompanied by five
sisters, came to the small town. Working in Cocorote also presented the
Missionaries of Charity with a very different situation. Not only were they
dealing with a different language, but also with a different culture. While
in Cocorote, the sisters, for the first time, began cooperating in religious
education. Because priests were in such short supply, the sisters took on
the duties of preparing children to receive their First Communion and
Confirmation, which were important Catholic rituals for children be-
tween the ages of 8 and 12.
By 1970, the duties of the sisters had expanded even more. After open-
ing a house in Caracas, they received permission for three of their nuns to
administer Holy Communion, a duty previously reserved for priests. This
relaxing of rules allowed the Missionaries of Charity to offer Holy Com-
munion to the sick and the dying. In addition, the sisters were busy con-
ducting funerals, washing and cleaning for the elderly, and feeding the
hungry. In 1972, the Missionaries of Charity helped with roof repairs
when strong winds damaged several homes, leaving many without ade-
quate shelter. In return for their many labors, the nuns might be rewarded
with something simple: an egg from someone’s hen, or a banana. The sis-
ters accepted the gifts with gratitude.
AN APPEAL FROM ROME
In 1968, Mother Teresa received another invitation, this time to work
among the poor in Rome. The invitation came as a bit of a surprise. Rome
already had more than 22,000 nuns belonging to 1,200 separate religious
orders. Why, Mother Teresa thought, would the Church need yet another
group to work with the poor? But this invitation was different; it came
from none other than Paul VI himself.
Three years earlier, in July 1965, Mother Teresa was among a group of
40 persons granted an audience with the pope. Although Mother Teresa
was overwhelmed at meeting the pope, as were the six other Missionaries
of Charity who accompanied her, it appears Paul VI was taken with her.
Asking for her prayers, he told Mother Teresa to write to him. Now, the
pope was asking her directly for her help in working with Rome’s poor.
That August, Mother Teresa and a handful of her nuns arrived in Rome
to begin work. The area in which they were to work, known as the bor-
gate,is located on the outskirts of Rome. Here live the city’s poorest resi-
dents, many of whom could not even begin to pay the city’s high rents.
The area was home to thousands of immigrants from Sicily and Sardinia.
THE GROWTH OF A MIRACLE 97