Steve, I call that Mother Teresa stuff propaganda, concocted by Hitchens and his ilk. A minimal amount of fact and a maximal amount of "spin." She was an old nun, born in Albania in 1910. You won't find many people born in Albania in 1910, who would be supporters of abortion.

Bhopal? Here (click) is a 1984 NY Times account of Teresa in Bhopal, and here (click) is an account of the same thing, with a heavy dose of "spin" added. The second article derides Teresa for encouraging people to "forgive" those responsible for this disaster. That's a Christian thing, forgiveness - letting go of one's anger after an injury, so that one can go on with life instead of being consumed and destroyed by the anger.

And yes, she told the poor and suffering that their situation was virtuous - certainly more virtuous than that of the rich and comfortable and wasteful, one would think. Many people think that there is dignity and value in a life lived without material comforts. Is that such a horrible thing for a poor or suffering person to discover his/her own dignity and value?

That being said, it's clear that she was a Catholic traditionalist, and I probably wouldn't get along with her very well. She was a product of 1910 Albania, a very inauspicious and traditional origin. Considering that, I think she did a pretty good job of her life.

As for Serra, he built 9 of the 21 California missions, beginning with San Diego in 1769. Note that for the most part, Serra built his missions away from existing military garrisons, apparently to remove his parishioners from the influence of the Spanish army. If his goal was oppression and subjugation, why not locate them near the soldiers so they would be easier to control? Serra died in 1784, so most of the history of the missions took place after his death.

There's no doubt that Serra was a product of his time and culture, so it's unlikely that he could be considered "kindly" in his treatment of Native Americans. Still, California State Parks historians say the greatest suffering among Native Americans occurred after 1833, when the Mexican government secularized the missions and expelled the Franciscan priests.

I don't know why I bother defending Mother Teresa or Junipero Serra. Neither one is an inspiration to me. I'd much rather see Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day recognized as saints. But conservative Catholics do find inspiration in the lives of Mother Teresa and Junipero Serra, so why not let them have their saints?

Frankly, I don't believe the efforts that have been made to demonize Mother Teresa and Junipero Serra. Nobody could be as bad as their detractors make them out to be, so therefore I tend not to believe anything the demonizers say. Say what you may about Mother Teresa, one big thing remains: she brought the world to know about the suffering of the poor of India. The same could be said of Serra - his interest in the native peoples of California was primarily spiritual, not military or economic or political. Most likely, their fate at the hands of military and political powers, might have been far worse.

-Joe-