Letters

Spiritual Poverty (letter)

Joe Garreffa

Contents - Dec 2000 - Buy a copy now Editorial: At the end of the Year of Jubilee: an audit - Michael Gilchrist ACU - when will the 'Statement of Conclusions' be implemented? - Michael Gilchrist Jubilee Congress of Families: Rome report - Anthony Cappello News: The Church Around the World C.S. Lewis: Christian apologist - Sarah Macdonald G.K. Chesterton: fresh and accessible today - Dale Ahlquist The 'new breed' of orthodox seminarians - Carter H. Griffin Australian Foundation to back new Pontifical University New Australian women's religious order - Sr Carmel Doherty Letters: Clarification (letter) - Bishop James Foley Letters: Priest shortage (letter) - Bernard O'Connor Letters: Spiritual Poverty (letter) - Joe Garreffa Letters: 'Creating Our Future' (letter) - Patricia Byrnes Letters: Toowoomba Diocese (letter) - Maria Lossberg Letters: Serious duties (letter) - Myles M. Kehoe Letters: Rainbow Serpent (letter) - Hans Klaver Letters: Positive response (letter) - Geoff Taylor Letters: The Church in China (letter) - Francis Vrijmoed Letters: Corrected translation (letter) - Hugh Henry Letters: Remembrance services (letter) - Richard Grant Letters: Women's ordination (letter) - Dr Frank Mobbs Letters: Misguided (letter) - Joyce Pearson and Marie Kennedy Letters: Wordiness (letter) - Kathleen Murnane Letters: Hell? (letter) - P.J. Jones Letters: Sermons (letter) - Gordon R. Coomber Letters: EWTN programs (letter) - John Lovegrove Books: 200 Years of Faith: A Multimedia Tour of the Holy Land - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: 'Biblical Holy Places: An Illustrated Guide' by Rivka Gonen - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: 'John Paul II's Book of Mary', compiled by Margaret R. Bunson - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Anti-Catholicism in American Culture', edited by Robert Lockwood - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Summer School of Evangelisation 2001 Reflection: The coming of Christ on earth - Pope John Paul II

When I first went to India about 30 years ago, I found the poverty incredible. Walking back to our hotel on a Bombay night at 11pm we had to sidestep sick and sleeping bodies on the footpaths.

Many years later, I made my way to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa for a short time. I asked the question, "Why are you sending Indian nuns to Australia when the need here is so great?"

The answer came, "Our work is to serve the poorest of the poor. The spiritual poverty of Australia is far greater than the physical poverty of India."

We are typically being told: "To suggest that we import priests from overseas is both unrealistic and unjust. To entice priests from other countries would be to satisfy our needs at the expense of others - a typical First World response to our shortages."

Could anyone possibly accuse Mother Teresa of having "a typical First World response to our shortages?"

JOE GARREFFA
Norton Summit, SA

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 13 No 11 (December 2000 - January 2001), p. 14