| Wednesday, October 29, 2003 |
 | The canonisation of Mother Theresa, or more precisely the unseemly rush to canonise Mother Theresa, is a disturbing thing. Although the more lachrymose and sentimental aspects of religion tend only to reach the ears of we modern metrofaithuals through tiny ceramics of crucified kittens advertised in the Radio Times, it boots us to recall that a shitload of people take this kind of thing terribly seriously, and this “Who Wants to be a Saint?” approach must be sending some bloody odd signals.
Not least because Mother Theresa’s saintliness remains arguable as a figure of speech, much less an actual according-to-Hoyle proof of membership. This article repeats some of the criticisms levelled at the lady’s ministry on Earth. Reading these statue-toppling pieces on the nation's favourite nun always makes me think of Zoe Bean having to rewrite her essay on Sister Mary Assumpta overnight in light of the revelation that she has been selling the poor children she purported to take care of to sweatshops for cheap labour. In a move reminiscent of rushed essays since time immemorial, she finds that she can alter her conclusion without actually changing the grammatical structure at all.
“And thus, when considering every factor, I must conclude that Sister Mary Assumpta is…..evil…and we should….. hate her.”
Still, the Pope probably doesn’t have long left in the job, so we owe it to him on the grounds of his long service to indulge the odd foible. God knows, that seems to be the operating principle of Mother Church at present.
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