cal Mission Sisters for too short a time. He had fully expected her to stay
much longer: at least six months, even up to a year. The archbishop felt
similarly; both men wanted Mother Teresa to stay longer, to make sure she
had taken advantage of every opportunity for her medical training.
Still, her letters kept coming, asking for permission to leave for Cal-
cutta. She had learned all she could, plus receiving knowledge about dis-
eases that she most likely would not encounter in the city’s slums. Further,
she argued, she would learn more about cholera, sores, and other diseases
that were prevalent in the slums if she were living and working among the
poor who suffered from them. The Medical Missionaries agreed with
Mother Teresa; it was time for Mother Teresa to begin her mission.
Not convinced, Father Van Exem traveled to Patna to meet with
Mother Teresa and Sister Stephanie to discuss what was to be done.
When he arrived at Holy Family, he looked for Mother Teresa, but could
not find her in the group of nurses at the hospital. Finally, a small voice
answered, “But Father, I am here.”^7 Father Van Exem, having never seen
Mother Teresa in her sari, completely overlooked her.
Meeting with Sister Stephanie and the sister-doctor who had been
overseeing Mother Teresa, Father Van Exem listened as the two explained
why it was time for Mother Teresa to leave. She was ready to begin her life
in the slums they told him, and they would always be there should she
need advice or direction in medical matters. Father Van Exem then ex-
plained that both he and the archbishop were concerned about the possi-
bility of a church scandal should Mother Teresa fail in her mission. She
would not make a mistake, the sisters assured him, and again they re-
minded him that there were others who would share in the responsibility
of her undertaking. Finding himself outnumbered, Father Van Exem re-
lented: Mother Teresa could go to Calcutta.
NOTES
- Navin Chawla, Mother Teresa: The Authorized Biography(Rockport, Mass.:
Element, 1992), p. 21. - Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1997), p. 24.
- Edward Le Joly, Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Biography(San Francisco:
Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 10–11. - Le Joly, Mother Teresa,p. 12.
- Spink, Mother Teresa,p. 29.
- Eileen Egan, Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa—The Spirit and the
Work(Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1986), p. 35. - Spink, Mother Teresa,p. 33.
38 MOTHER TERESA