Mother Teresa’s nuns not involved in baby sale says superior
general
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| Sister Mary Prema, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity (MC) sisters of Mother Teresa. |
Sr. Mary Prema, the superior general of the Missionaries of
Charity of Mother Teresa says the nuns are not involved in the sale of a baby
from a home for unwed mothers in India, a view shared by Bishop Theodore
Mascarenhas, secy-general of Indian Catholic bishops.
The arrest of arrest of a Missionary of Charity (MC) nun of
Mother Teresa and an employee at a shelter for unwed mothers in eastern
India’s Ranchi city, for allegedly selling a newborn
baby, has led Indian authorities to order inspections of all homes run by
the nuns.
The arrest early this month followed a complaint by an
Indian couple that they paid Rs.120,000 to Anima Indwar, an
employee at the Nirmal Hriday shelter run by the nuns in the
capital of Jharkhand state.
Sr. Prema’s official statement
MC Superior General, Sister Mary Prema, issued
a press
release on Tuesday saying the sale of the newborn had "nothing to
do with the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity".
“We are deeply saddened and grieved by the recent
developments” at the MC home, she wrote in the official statement. “ Even
while we place our full trust in the judicial process that is underway, we wish
to express regret and sorrow for what happened and desire to express
in unequivocal terms our condemnation of individual actions which
have nothing to do” with the MC congregation.
While expressing confidence in the law and in the courts,
Sr. Prema regretted the “many myths being spread,
information distorted and false news being
diffused and baseless innuendos being thrown about regarding the Mother Teresa
Sisters.”
Facts
In her press release, Sr Prema narrates that when Karishma
Toppo, the unwed mother, delivered her baby on May 1 at the Nirmal Hriday
shelter, she declared in the register she would surrender her child to
the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the district–level
government authority in charge of putting children up for adoption.
Indwar, who was greatly trusted by the nuns, accompanied
Toppo and her guardian to surrender the baby to the CWC, but, Sr. Prema notes,
the centre nor the sisters could ascertain whether the child was actually
surrendered to the CWC, as the committee issues no acknowledgement after taking
custody of a child.
On being questioned about the baby on July 3 by the CWC,
Indwar admitted the baby was sold elsewhere. She was handed over to the
police.
It later came to light that of the Rs. 120,000 paid by the
adopting couple, Indwar took Rs.20,000, the watchman Rs.10,000 and Toppo, the
biological mother, Rs.90,000 to pursue her studies.
The following day, Sr. Concelia, in charge of
the unwed mothers’ section, and Sr. Marie Deanne, the superior of Nirmal Hriday
were arrested. Sr. Deanne was released later.
Maligning Mother Teresa and the Church
What happened at the Nirmal Hriday centre in Ranchi is “sad,
tragic, condemnable, unacceptable” regretted Bishop Theodore
Mascarenhas, the secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
India (CBCI), as well as auxiliary bishop of Ranchi. However, the
Missionaries of Charity congregation is “absolutely not involved in this,” he
told Mirror Now TV channel.
Speaking to Vatican News on the phone, Bishop Mascarenhas
said that vested interests are exploiting the issue to malign Mother Teresa and
the Catholic Church.
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