Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service begins by asking one main question.
Can missionary work, whether performed in Calcutta or elsewhere, be done devoid of religion?
Finding Calcutta is a short non-fiction book packed with substance. At the age of 44, Poplin traveled to Calcutta and worked beside Mother Teresa.
Throughout her life, Mother Teresa called her work religious work” and said that she operated religious centers, such as hospitals and orphanages. While not disputing the existence of the shelters or Mother’s involvement, Poplin questions the nature of the work: Couldn’t Mother’s work be performed without religion?
Over two months, Poplin worked with Mother Teresa and the sisters in the missionaries of charity. Upon arriving, Poplin saw men and women, many of whom would return to the shelters every day and who had no intention of repaying the sisters.
Poplin studs arguments for and against the necessity of religion in Mother’s work. She also explores a corollary question. Why help those who do not help themselves? Why would a government help those who felt entitled to free services?
Through the course of the book, Poplin paints images of life in Calcutta: the smells, the sounds, the people and the culture. Each chapter contains reasoned arguments supported by credible sources regarding the psychological development of human interactions, lifestyles of people around the world, and availability of food and medicines to countries such as India.
While explaining the absolute need for caregivers in poorer countries, she discusses why most Americans are not naturally suited for meaningful mission work in third world countries. To the contrary, sometimes the best intentions of westerners can cause more harm than they can cure.
Mary Poplin is a professor at Claremont Graduate University in California. She served as the dean of the School of Educational Studies, the director of the teacher education program, and most recently she taught doctoral students and researched education of the poor.
From her time at Claremont, Poplin had occasion to read letters and other facts about Mother Teresa. As head of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother oversaw and guided several help centers across Calcutta including a home for the dying, two homes for children, and homes for the physically disabled.
Mary Poplin: Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service (Illinois: Intervarsity Press 2008).
Note: In 2000, the name of Calcutta was changed to Kolkata.
Theresa Laughlin Silver - Theresa is a construction and environmental lawyer with an environmental engineering bachelor's degree. She has represented clients from ...
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