[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 125 (Thursday, September 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE CENTENARY OF MOTHER TERESA

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                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 16, 2010

  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhi 
and of Albanian descent, for over 45 years ministered to the poor, 
sick, orphaned, and dying, first in India and then to other countries. 
She died in 1997 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II as Blessed 
Teresa of Calcutta.
  On the centenary of her birth, we celebrate the great work of this 
wonderful woman, who gave so much as an advocate for the poor and 
helpless that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
  When she arrived in India, she became increasingly disturbed by the 
widespread poverty she saw in Calcutta. She began her missionary work 
in the slums in 1948, wearing a simple white cotton sari with a blue 
border. She began looking after the needs of the destitute and starving 
by begging for food and supplies.
  In 1950, she received Vatican permission to start the congregation 
that would become the Missionaries of Charity with a mission to care 
for, in her words, ``the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, 
the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, 
uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the 
society and are shunned by everyone.'' It began with 13 members and 
today has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices and 
charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, 
disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of 
floods, epidemics, and famine.
  She went wherever there was suffering. At the height of the war in 
Beirut she rescued children and brokered ceasefires; she helped the 
hungry in Ethiopia; radiation victims of Chernobyl; and earthquake 
victims in Armenia. She even opened a center in the South Bronx.
  Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack in Rome in 1983, while visiting 
the Pope. After a second attack in 1989, she received an artificial 
pacemaker. In 1996, she broke her collar bone, suffered a bout of 
malaria, and her left ventricle failed. In failing health, she stepped 
down as head of Missionaries of Charity in March, 1997, and died on 
September 5, 1997.
  Mother Teresa showed what can be done through dedication and love. 
She is a shining example of one who rather than curse the darkness, lit 
candles throughout the world to show us the way to help others.

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