mother teresa and most religious groups are frauds

I used to believe Mother Theresa was some kind of saint until I learned more about her.
Don't expect anyone who idolises her to accept the truth without a struggle.


Re greedy churches, I was a single mum, struggling with no help from anyone else to raise 3 kids, two needing a lot of care because of handicaps, and paying off a house at exorbitant interest rates. I couldn't afford much food, we'd have starved if I'd not grown our own and foraged in supermarket dumpsters.

And I went to (Anglican) church every week, more because they needed me for their choir than anything else, and because I'd previously been friends with the minister and his wife.

One week in church the minister, instead of a sermon, gave us a lecture on how hard up he was. Only half of his children's private school fees were paid for him. The parish paid all his bills, but he had to buy a new TV and stereo for himself. Their second car was getting old. Etc.

After the service were were each given a bundle of envelopes with our name on it and the amount were were expected to give. My family didn't have a TV. My car was a bicycle. When my kids needed to go to hospital, which was frequently, I carried them on my back. When local schools got bad my kids got home-schooled.
And I was expected to give $50 a week.

I never went to church again.


By the way, I do know of a genuinely good Catholic priest. Father Ernie, who was in St Kilda.
You'd never have guessed it, he was a short, stout Irishman, always busy looking after people. He'd turned the lovely brick manse into an open house for the homeless, and used to sleep on the floor so there'd be an extra bed available. Not that he'd tell anyone, I got to know some nuns there who told me.

The parish hall had become a free lunch hall, where volunteers cooked donated food and served hundreds every day.
There was absolutely no religion in that hall, Father Ernie said that looking after the poor was true Christianity, and they could attend church if they wanted to pray.

Of course the Catholic bureaucracy did all they could to stop this dangerous example of Christ-like living, and finally succeeded.

Originally posted by Kailassa
I used to believe Mother Theresa was some kind of saint until I learned more about her.
Don't expect anyone who idolises her to accept the truth without a struggle.


Re greedy churches, I was a single mum, struggling with no help from anyone else to raise 3 kids, two needing a lot of care because of handicaps, and paying off a house at exorbitant interest rates. I couldn't afford much food, we'd have starved if I'd not grown our own and foraged in supermarket dumpsters.

And I went to (Anglican) church every week, more because they needed me for their choir than anything else, and because I'd previously been friends with the minister and his wife.

One week in church the minister, instead of a sermon, gave us a lecture on how hard up he was. Only half of his children's private school fees were paid for him. The parish paid all his bills, but he had to buy a new TV and stereo for himself. Their second car was getting old. Etc.

After the service were were each given a bundle of envelopes with our name on it and the amount were were expected to give. My family didn't have a TV. My car was a bicycle. When my kids needed to go to hospital, which was frequently, I carried them on my back. When local schools got bad my kids got home-schooled.
And I was expected to give $50 a week.

I never went to church again.


By the way, I do know of a genuinely good Catholic priest. Father Ernie, who was in St Kilda.
You'd never have guessed it, he was a short, stout Irishman, always busy looking after people. He'd turned the lovely brick manse into an open house for the homeless, and used to sleep on the floor so there'd be an extra bed available. Not that he'd tell anyone, I got to know some nuns there who told me.

The parish hall had become a free lunch hall, where volunteers cooked donated food and served hundreds every day.
There was absolutely no religion in that hall, Father Ernie said that looking after the poor was true Christianity, and they could attend church if they wanted to pray.

Of course the Catholic bureaucracy did all they could to stop this dangerous example of Christ-like living, and finally succeeded.

your post made me cry

that you were so poor and they expected you to pay $50-00 a week to the church

that is the entire reason for this thread - the churches make us feel guilty but in actual fact they are making poor people donate to what for most of us would be a well-off lifestyle

I see it in many other charitities - In Australia true charities have an agreement with the governent that if they help someone on Centrelink then the government will refund that money to the charity and yet St Vincent De paul is not part of this

why not if they are a real charity????????????

the answer is

the are NOT really a charity but they operate by making ppl think they are a charity - that way they get all the volunteers working in their shops for free while the shop makes about $2000-00 a day or more and the person running it is making a wage for it. Working it out, if the shop makes $2000-00 a day then that means the shop makes about $416000 a year so the top CEO of the st vincent de paul society can be paid his million dollar salary package

and that is just 1 shop and of course there are at least 20 shops in every capital city in Australia

these so called charities are so much richer than they let on and religion is used to make us feel guillty and donate donate donate - money or free labour

I say think long and hard before donating and try to donate in a way that it cuts out the profiteers.

this is why I like freecycle - at least what I give to someone through freecycle is not going to anyone's salary package that is on a much better income than I will ever be on

Originally posted by megabyte
did you watch the Da Vinci code based movies?

You do know that is FICTION and it was written by an anti-Catholic fundamentalist, right?

were you shocked about the Opus Dei and their practice of causing pain to themselves etc?

I know a bunch of Opus Dei people. None of them do that old style whipping of oneself to pay for sins.
Not a single one one of them. They are prayerful and helpful people. Nothing strange about 'em.

Originally posted by megabyte
The Nobel peace Prize she got would have build a modern hospital and staffed it for 10 years and equipped it with the most modern of everything

Um .... no.
Nobel Prize Money Info

The purse has increased since the 1980s, when the prize money was 880 000 SEK (c. 2.6 million SEK or US $350 000 today

During the 1980s the prize money was the equvalent of $350,000 in todays money. that would mean in the 1970s, when Mother Teresa got the prize, the money would have been even less. That's not even close to having enough money to 'build a modern hospital and staff it for 10 years and equip it with modern everything'. Not a chance. It looks like you don't know how much these things cost. Certainly more than $350,000 (in today's money). And that's a high estimate. She got her prize earlier when the money was less than that.
Mother Teresa Info

Mother Teresa refused to attend the traditional Nobel banquet in her honor, asking that the $7,000 cost of the dinner instead be donated to the poor of India. Nobel officials offered to donate $7,000 and also hold a banquet; Mother Teresa held fast, asking that whatever money was available to honor her be donated to the poor. The people of Norway responded to her selflessness by raising an additional $52,000 to support her work.

reply to post by megabyte


I'm sorry you missed Kailassa's post entirely. She did say that the church were not handling the donations properly, but did you continue reading? She also said she knows a good priest who has an open house to the needy.

In a sense, be weary to anyone you give your money to. There is corruption everywhere we look and it isn't going away. It is in our schools, military, churches, businesses, and etc.

So for you to call Mother Theresa a fraud is outright disgusting. There is corruption everywhere but it doesn't mean she was part of it. She wanted to help and the puppets in the back were taking in the cash. But why would you call that and not call out all the fraud against tax-payers in the US? Why not attack every other entity that has led us through corruption?

I know why. You attacked Mother Theresa and Christianity in particular because you hated the religion itself. You have biased opinions through your whole post where you jump from charity to Christians.

But I am glad you associate Christianity with charity though.