Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity ran into controversy twice over ‘forced conversion’ & ‘baby selling’

New Delhi: The Missionaries of Charity hit the headlines on Monday when TMC chief Mamata Banerjee tweeted that all the accounts of Mother Teresa’s charity has been frozen by the Centre, pushing its employees & patients in deep trouble. However, hours later, the Charity itself issued a clarification that its FCRA registration was neither cancelled nor suspended. It also added that none of its bank accounts has been blocked, as reported in media.

Later, the Ministry of Home Affairs set the records straight, informing that charity’s application for renewal of FCRA was not approved as the latter didn’t meet the eligibility criteria.

However, it’s not the first time that Mother Terersa’s charity has been found to be involved in controversies. In a couple of occasions earlier, the Missionaries of Charity ran into trouble over allegations of forced conversion and baby-selling scandal, one in Gujarat & the other in Jharkhand.

The congregation that is spread all across India has been involved in several controversies on deep core issues.

Baby-selling scandal

In 2018, Jharkhand hogged the international attention over baby-selling scandal that was allegedly linked to the Missionaries of Charity. Employees at one of the shelters of the Catholic congregations were accused of selling babies for adoption.

Following the uproar, an immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity in Jharkhand was ordered. A nun & a social worker were arrested by police for their alleged role in baby selling and the congregation in Ranchi was also shut. 

Sister Konsalia Balsa and social worker Anima Indwar accused of selling 3 babies from the shelter home, which provided shelter to pregnant & unwed mothers. Reports claim that the duo had plans to sell fourth child, a 2-month infant, at whopping Rs 1.2 lakh.

Both the accused confessed about their misdoings. However, after several accusations faced by the Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi, the head of their home Sister Prema broke the silence blaming that it was “individual action.”

A three-page statement was issued by the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity who heads all the shelters across the world which consist of over 5,000 Christian nuns stated, “We are deeply saddened and grieved by the recent developments at Missionaries of Charity home — Nirmal Hriday…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 Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity.”

Forceful conversion

This year on December 21, the police authorities in Gujarat’s Vadodara city stated that they are probing whether the Missionaries of Charity are forcing the girls living in the shelter home to wear a cross and read the Bible. 

The issue came into public domain over Vadodara’s district social officer Mayank Trivedi’s  revelations to an international news agency that he had filed a complaint to the police in this regard. 

According to the complaint, 13 Bibles were found in the library of the concerned shelter while girls staying there were forced to read the religious text.

However, the congregation denied all the allegations levelled against them.

The Missionaries of Charity was founded by the late Mother Teresa in the year 1950. She was a Roman Catholic nun who lived and worked in Kolkata for most of her life and won the Nobel Peace Prize.