Three organizations of Mother Teresa, founded for the purpose that has been questioned on many occasions – Missionaries of Charity, Missionaries of Charity Brothers and Missionaries of Charity Fathers have received more than 750 crore rupees of the foreign fund in last ten years. One of the highest among those NGOs who received foreign fund through FCRA route in India.
The breakup of this amount of Kolkata based centers of MC, MC Brothers, and MC Fathers is Rs 637 Cr, Rs. 111 Cr and Rs 1.41 Cr respectively. The submitted records for the public tell that the missionaries have used the more substantial portion of this fund for social services, but there has a significant part of the money used for purchasing lands and carry-out the religious discourses. These missionaries of charity and missionaries of charity brothers were founded by Mother Teresa in 1950 and 1963 whereas missionaries of charity fathers were established in 1984 by Mother Teresa with Fr. Joseph Langford as a co-founder.
This vast fund flow has always been questioned for its utilization. Though there has been a massive bulk of medicines, milk powder boxes, clothes, etc. being supplied directly to the missionaries besides monetary donations and Mother who principally used to tell that miniscule expenses are done upon sisters and operations of missionaries. Then where this fund has been utilized? For realty or incurred in proselytization as alleged by former fellows and mother’s critique.
Susan Shields, a former Missionaries of Charity sisters who played a crucial role in Mother Teresa’s organization at the overseas location until she resigned, writes in her book- “Mother Teresa’s House of Illusions” that she was assigned to record donations and write the thank-you letters. This kind of flood of donations for that she used to write receipts for checks of $50,000 and more on a regular basis, was even unable to remember the sum how large it was and who has sent it. Susan tells that sisters of charity didn’t have any idea about how much money the congregation was amassing. After all, they were taught not to collect anything from it.
She further describes her miser condition during the stay at missionaries-
“The donations rolled in and were deposited in the bank, but they did not affect our ascetic lives and minimal effect on the lives of the poor we were trying to help. We lived a simple life, bare of all superfluities. We had three sets of clothes, which we mended until the material was too rotten to patch anymore. We washed our own clothes by hand. The never-ending piles of sheets and towels from our night shelter for the homeless we washed by hand, too. Our bathing was accomplished with only one bucket of water. Dental and medical checkups were seen as an unnecessary luxury. Airlines were requested to fly sisters and air cargo free of charge. Hospitals and doctors were expected to absorb the costs of medical treatment for the sisters or to draw on funds designated for the religious. Workers were encouraged to labor without payment or at reduced rates. We relied heavily on volunteers who worked long hours in our soup kitchens, shelters, and day camps.”
Another Sister Virgin who has served the missionaries remembers that one year there was about $50 million in a New York bank account. $50 million in one year! — In a predominantly non-Catholic country. How much then, were they collecting in Europe or the world? It is estimated that worldwide they received at least $100 million per year — and that has been going on for many many years.
It has been that raising fingers over income and expenses of mother’s organizations in her lifetime. Utilization of money has been entirely secret and mysterious as the above memoirs explicitly tell about how money was amassed?
These are India’s records only those are telling about such huge amount of foreign funds, but one can think how much money her missionaries have collected at her other centers across the world while her motives of social services always being questioned.