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07556
September 6, 2007
India marks 10th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death
by Anto Akkara
Ecumenical News International
KOLKATA, India — People from different walks of life and faiths joined a colorful peace procession to the tomb of Mother Teresa to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her death.
The first gathering on September 4, the eve of her death, remembered the nun who was known as the “saint of the gutters” here and around the world.
The next day, following a solemn early morning service led by Roman Catholic Archbishop Lucas Sirkar of Calcutta, people of all faiths, and carrying flowers and garlands, flocked to Mother Teresa’s tomb to mark the anniversary itself. During the commemoration, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Muslim and Sikh leaders prayed together at the tomb, where they sang hymns extolling the Catholic nun who died aged 87 on September 5, 1997.
“Holly people never die. The Mother is not with us physically. But her spirit is with us,” S.M.A. Ali, coordinator of the September 4 march, told hundreds of participants. Marchers included Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, as well as orphans, children in karate garb, and uniformed youth members of the National Cadet Corps.
The procession ended at Mother House, where the Catholic nun is buried. The house is the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity order, founded by Mother Teresa, who in her lifetime became revered for her humanitarian work in the city.
Following speeches by Hindu, Muslim and Sikh leaders, Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa’s successor as superior general of the order, concluded the march by reminding participants “to promote peace wherever you are.”
A Muslim convert to Catholicism, Ali told Ecumenical News International that the Indian Karate Association he heads has been coordinating the march to Mother Teresa’s tomb on the anniversary of her death since 1998.
“She was a true mother to the orphans and street children,” said Sukhnandan Singh Ahluwalia, a Sikh and general secretary of the West Bengal Minorities Coordination Committee. “We have a duty to pay homage to her on occasions like this,” Ahluwalia told ENI. Still, he said he was disappointed that the Vatican had not yet declared the Albanian nun a saint even though the people “always treated her as a saint when she was alive.”
In 1999, the Vatican initiated the process of canonizing Mother Teresa after waiving, for the first time, the mandatory five-year post-death waiting period. In 2001, the Catholic Church took the first step towards the nun’s canonization by declaring her “Servant of God.” Then, Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, was beatified in 2003 as “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.”
The Vatican has, however, yet to take the final canonization step for the nun who was born in Skopje in what is now the Republic of Macedonia, and who received part of her training in Ireland.
Asked when the 5000 Missionaries of Charity nuns and brothers were expecting Teresa’s canonization, Sister Nirmala told ENI, “We are praying for that.” |
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