nered for her mission, it may also have set her on the slippery slope that is
the price of success: Mother Teresa was becoming famous and all that she
did, every word that she uttered, was now for public consumption. For
good or ill, she was no longer a devout nun laboring in obscurity.
In its appetite for a saintly celebrity, the media scrutinized every aspect
of Mother Teresa’s life and work. When charges of wrongdoing surfaced,
public opinion, the fickle engine that drives the cult of celebrity, turned
against Mother Teresa. Some were dismayed; others were angry and dis-
appointed. Cynics everywhere rejoiced that another icon had been
smashed. Common faults and foibles were magnified in the public persona
of Mother Teresa that the media now brought before the court of public
opinion. How could a saint also be stubborn, controlling, and unrealistic?
Perhaps Mother Teresa had made a devil’s bargain. She had allowed her-
self to become well known to publicize her cause, while personally shun-
ning the worldly trappings that accompany celebrity. Suddenly, she
seemed not only cranky and demanding, but also hypocritical. At the
same time, her unswerving belief in the doctrines of the Catholic Church
and her traditional view of the subordinate role of women within it made
her a target of liberal doctrinaires. Nevertheless, with all the twists and
turns that celebrity brings, Mother Teresa was unswerving in her belief
that she was an instrument of God.
So, for all her apparent simplicity, and with all that has been said and
written about her, it is still easy to misunderstand Mother Teresa. People
in the United States and Europe mistook her for a social reformer, deter-
mined to rid the world of poverty and injustice. They were disappointed
to find out that she was not intent to bring about social change. She
doubtless wanted to help and comfort the poor. More important, Mother
Teresa sought to bear witness, to show that even on the wretched streets
of Calcutta under the worst imaginable conditions, one could encounter
God’s grace and love.
In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa, the final stage on
her journey to sainthood. For many who admired her, canonization was a
mere formality; Mother Teresa was already a saint. But her beatification
has not silenced critics. Many have, in fact, become more strident, hoping
to delay or halt her canonization. There is thus considerable justification
for additional study of her life and her work. This biography, then, is not
only an examination of Mother Teresa’s life, but of the beliefs that shaped
it. The two are so closely intertwined that not to examine them together
is to risk missing some essential aspect of this ordinary extraordinary
woman.
xii INTRODUCTION