[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 137 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

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                       HON. STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 1, 2003

  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring recognition to 
one of the 20th century's greatest public servants, the Honorable 
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose birthday was August, 27 and who will 
be beatified by Pope John Paul II in Rome on October 19, 2003. Her life 
was a steadfast devotion to providing needed assistance to the most 
destitute of her fellow neighbors.
  Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania, August 26, 
1910. She decided to become a Roman Catholic Sister at the tender age 
of 18. She left home to join a community of Irish nuns in Calcutta. 
Here she took the name `Sister Teresa,' after Saint Teresa of Lisieux, 
the patroness of missionaries. She spent the following 17 years 
teaching and being principal of 500 students at St. Mary's High School.
  In 1946, she fell ill with suspected tuberculosis and was sent to the 
town of Darjeeling to recover.
  ``It was in the train I heard the call to give up all and follow him 
to the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor,'' she 
recalled. Pope Pius XII would later grant her permission to leave her 
order. She arrived in the slums of Calcutta to start a school for 
children. It was there that she was first addressed as Mother Teresa.
  Her impact was mostly felt in her adopted home, Calcutta. Over time, 
the work of her order, the Missionaries of Charity would spawn a global 
network of homes for the poor reaching from Calcutta to New York, 
including one of the first homes of AIDS victims. Missionaries of 
Charity continues its service to this day in locales across the United 
States and throughout the world. By 1996, she was operating 517 
missions in more than 100 countries.
  Mother Teresa was a paradigm of humility. When Pope Paul VI gave her 
a white Lincoln Continental, she auctioned the car, using the money to 
establish a leper colony in West Bengal. Despite her humble nature, 
even she was not without critics for holding steadfast positions 
against abortion, divorce and war.
  Mother Teresa was undeterred by criticism stating, ``No matter who 
says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work.''
  After an increasing frequency of heart problems, she passed away on 
Sept. 5, 1997.
  When asked how she managed to do all she did, Mother Teresa 
responded, ``What matters is why you do it. If you do it out of duty or 
obligation, it will deplete you; but if you do it out of love, it will 
not; it will energize you.''
  These words should be taken to heart by all public servants, in the 
House of Representatives and beyond.

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