Mother Teresa: A Life of Devotion

For over 50 years, Mother Teresa dedicated herself to the "poorest of the poor." The order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, grew to encompass over 4,000 members working in 25 countries. She earned countless accolades and awards, yet as her fame grew, she remained unchanged, giving all she had to help the least fortunate. Mother Teresa: A Life of Devotion would be useful for classes on Women's History, Political Science, Religion and Ethics. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• accolades
• aura
• austerity
• autonomous
• callousness
• canonize
• charismatic
• contemplative
• devout
• dispensary
• exacting
• hospice
• humility
• incarnate
• obscurity
• palatable
• papacy
• pontificate
• promulgate
• radiate
• relentless
• revere
• synonymous
• vocation

1. Mother Teresa said that she was a pencil and that "God did the writing". What did she mean by this?

2. Religious life is not just a vocation, it is a calling. How did Mother Teresa discover her "calling"?

3. Mother Teresa was born and raised in Eastern Europe. How and why did she make her life in India?

4. Why did Mother Teresa need to create a new religious order to fulfill her mission?

5. Mother Teresa had a firm belief in respecting authority. How did this belief influence her order, the Missionaries of Charity?

6. Mother Teresa toiled for years in India before the western world discovered her. How did she come to the attention of the west?

7. Why was the media so enamored of Mother Teresa?

8. Why were Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity thrown out of Bangladesh? What does this reveal about the sensitive nature of religion and politics?

9. Mother Teresa was first and foremost a nun and a firm believer in the tenets of the Catholic Church. How did Mother Teresa uphold the teachings of the church despite the unpopularity of some of her views?

10. The Missionaries of Charity, unlike many other religious orders, has no trouble finding new members. What is the appeal of this order? Why would young women wish to live a life of toil and poverty?

11. Should the Catholic Church canonize Mother Teresa?

1. Write an essay in which you compare Mother Teresa with other great figures of the twentieth century.

2. Research the disease of leprosy. Use your findings to create a poster that charts the medical, religious and political history of this ancient disease.

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Air Dates

• March 05, 2002