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print pageSr. Nirmala, Mother Teresa’s Successor, Visits CRS World Headquarters
Sister Nirmala and five other Missionaries of Charity visited Catholic Relief Services World Headquarters this week. The diminutive but captivating Sr. Nirmala briefly greeted staff in our atrium, and then handed out mementos honoring the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, Blessed Mother Teresa.
Sr. Nirmala has led the Missionaries of Charity since the death of Mother Teresa in 1997.
Sister Nirmala and other members of the Missionaries of Charity visit CRS Headquarters, Nov. 29, 2007. Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS
The Missionaries of Charity have a long and close relationship with Catholic Relief Services, dating back to the earliest days of Mother Teresa’s ministry to the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. Shortly after she founded the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa was looking for a way to transport the gravely ill and dying people lying on the streets of the city to her hospital. And we were able to help. The archives of CRS India from the early 1950s provide this account:
Mother Teresa was given permission by the Calcutta authorities to open a hospital for the dying in one of the more crowded sections of this most populous city. Through a private gift, supplemented by help from Catholic Relief Services-N.C.W.C. [National Catholic Welfare Council], she has now been given an ambulance which her sari-wearing sisters use to pick up the dying bodies of the destitute who are brought to her ‘Hospital of the Immaculate.’
CRS still partners with the Missionaries of Charity in virtually every country in which we both work.
Sister Nirmala distributes medals of Blessed Mother Teresa. Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS
One of the Missionaries of Charity, passing out a small prayer card of Blessed Mother Teresa. Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS
Sister Nirmala and CRS President Ken Hackett. Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS
December 1st, 2007 at 1:48 am
Lane,
How goes everything over there. Great job of reporting. Keep up the great work. Hello from Astoria.
Cheers,
Ryan