The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize feted by politicians the Church and the worlds media Mother Teresa of Calcutta appears to be on the fast track to sainthood. But what makes Mother Teresa so divine?. In this frank and damning exposé of the Teresa cult Hitchens details the nature and limits of one womans mission to help the worlds poor. He probes the source of the heroic status bestowed upon an Albanian nun whose only declared wish was to serve God. He asks whether Mother Teresas good works answered any higher purpose than the need of the worlds privileged to see someone somewhere doing something for the Third World. . He unmasks pseudo-miracles questions Mother Teresas fitness to adjudicate on matters of sex and reproduction and reports on a version of saintly ubiquity which affords genial relations with dictators corrupt tycoons and convicted frauds. Is Mother Teresa merely an essential salve to the conscience of the rich West or an expert PR machine for the Catholic Church? In its caustic iconoclasm and unsparing wit The Missionary Position showcases the devastating effect of Hitchens writing at its polemical best.. A dirty job but someone had to do it. By the end of this elegantly written brilliantly argued piece of polemic it is not looking good for Mother Teresa. - Sunday Times