Recalling Mother Teresa, Fearless Champion of the Unborn

Contact: Christine Schicker, 404-610-8871; Ashley Walker, 678-990-9032; both with The Maximus Group

HUNTINGTON, Ind., Jan. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- Mother Teresa is renowned throughout the world for her works of charity. Less well-known, however, is Mother Teresa, the champion of the unborn. This year, 2008, as we mark the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's tragic Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal, the courage and candor of Mother Teresa can be an inspiration for all people who defend the one right from which all others spring--the right to life.

When discussing abortion Mother Teresa was honest and direct, but never insulting or abusive. In February 1997, in her remarks at the White House Prayer Breakfast, with President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton--two unswerving supporters of abortion--Mother Teresa laid out her case clearly. "What is taking place in America is a war against the child," she said. "And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

Three years earlier Mother Teresa was quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying, "America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters."

And in response to critics who asked who would care for an unwanted child, Mother Teresa said, "Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

In his new book, Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady, Father Joseph Langford, who worked closely with Mother Teresa for twenty-five years and with her founded the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, believes "God fashioned Mother Teresa into an instrument that would light up our night at its darkest." By persevering through her own "dark night of the soul," Mother Teresa taught all who work and pray for an end to abortion to have faith and persevere, and have confidence in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Stay very close to Our Lady," Mother Teresa told Father Langford. "If you do this, you can do great things for God and the good of people."

To schedule an interview with Fr. Langford, contact Schicker at 404-610-8871 or Walker at 678-990-9032, both with The Maximus Group.