December 7, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Mother Teresa, head of the Roman Catholic order of nuns called Missionaries of Charity, died on September 5, 1997. Six months earlier she had stepped down from her position and her successor, Sister Nirmala, was elected. Nirmala is described in news reports as "a Hindu convert to Catholicism." In reality, she has never rejected idolatry and she continues to pray to false Hindu gods. The following is from The Deccan Herald, an Indian newspaper:

"Sister Nirmala was today elected to succeed Mother Teresa. … A former Hindu, Sister Nirmala (63) was baptised in 1958. ... A calm and composed Sister Nirmala said ‘it is a big responsibility. Looking at myself I feel afraid whether I will be able to bear the responsibility but looking at god I think I can.’ … Sister Nirmala’s other brother, Surendra, is a college teacher and lives in Kathmandu [Nepal]. … Sister Nirmala’s parents, high-caste Hindu Brahmins, did not oppose her joining the Missionaries of Charity. The relatives said that during trips to Kathmandu Sister Nirmala often visited Lord Pashupatinath temple, a sacred Hindu shrine which non-Hindus are not allowed to enter. She would offer prayers from the gate of the temple. ‘She told us that all gods were equal and worshipped them equally,’ said Ms Nina Joshi, Sister Nirmala’s niece" (The Deccan Herald, March 14, 1997, cited from News from the Front Newsletter, Take Heed Ministries, Belfast, N. Ireland, October 1997).

Nun Nirmala’s syncretism is not surprising. Mother Teresa was a universalist who believed that all men are children of God, and she did not try to convert Hindus.

In her speech before the United Nations in October 1985, Mother Teresa said, "We gather to thank God for the 40 years of the beautiful work of the United Nations for the good of people. No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us—we are all children of God. ... When we destroy an unborn child, we destroy God" (Christian News, Nov. 11, 1985, p. 17).

In the biography Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work, she is quoted by Desmond Doig as follows: "If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are. ... What approach would I use? For me, naturally, it would be a Catholic one, for you it may be Hindu, for someone else, Buddhist, according to one’s conscience. What God is in your mind you must accept" (Doig, Mother Teresa, Harper & Row, 1976, p. 156).

When Mother Teresa died, her longtime friend and biographer Naveen Chawla said that he once asked her bluntly, "Do you convert?" She replied, "Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant. Once you’ve found God, it’s up to you to decide how to worship him" ("Mother Teresa Touched Other Faiths," Associated Press, Sept. 7, 1997).

The April 7-13, 1990, issue of Radio Times tells the story of Mother Teresa sheltering an old Hindu priest. "She nursed him with her own hands and helped him to die reconciled with his own gods."

This is exactly what the Missionaries of Charity do in Kathmandu, Nepal. My wife and I conducted a taped interview with Sister Ann, a nun who worked with the Missionaries of Charity in Kathmandu. The interview was conducted November 23, 1984, at the Pashupati temple area (the same place mentioned in the Indian newspaper article above). Ann was overseeing the feeding and medical attention of the destitute and elderly who live there, waiting to die by Nepal’s holiest river, the Bagmati. As Hindus, they believe that if they die in this "holy" place, especially if they die with their feet in the water, they might be freed from the cycle of reincarnation as taught in the Hindu religion.

Pashupati is considered the holiest place in Nepal. It is a large area, at the center of which is a temple containing a massive golden bull. This temple is considered so "holy" that non-Hindus are forbidden to enter it. The temple complex is covered with unspeakably vile idols of Shiva and other Hindu gods, and the people who are attended by the Missionaries of Charity pray to these gods.

The complete interview with Sister Ann is reprinted in my book Evangelicals and Rome, which is available from Way of Life Literature. Following is a brief excerpt:

BRO. CLOUD: Do you believe if they [the Hindus at Pashupati] die believing in Shiva or in Ram [Hindu gods] they will go to heaven?

ANN: Yes, that is their faith. My own faith will lead me to my God, no? So if they have believed in their god very strongly, if they have faith, surely they will be saved.

BRO. CLOUD: Do you believe there are different heavens? Like one for them and one for us?

ANN: No, there is only one heaven.

BRO. CLOUD: Why do you do this work?

ANN: Because we serve God in them. We find God in the midst of the suffering. The human society has thrown them out, so they are like in a despair, so we serve God in them.