People That Live in Glass Houses-- The Critics of Mother Teresa

From Celeste Owen-Jones, The Huffington Post:
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One of the most controversial stories covered on HuffPost and HuffPost Live this week is this new study by Canadian academics on Mother Teresa, claiming that she was "anything but a saint."

This isn't new: Mother Teresa always had her critics, the fiercest of all being the late Christopher Hitchens who went as far as making a documentary about her called "Hell's Angel." I know that all the great people of this world have seen their name dragged through the mud at some point in their life. And I'm sure that Mother Teresa would have been the last one bothered by these criticisms, because she had far more important things to take care of. But I still had to write this post, if only for the fact that for one bad thing published about Mother Teresa on HuffPost, there would also be a good one.

I was baptized, but I consider myself a Catholic by culture and not by belief. Therefore I do not admire and defend Mother Teresa because I think she is a saint, but because I believe she is an incredible human being. On a more practical note, I have volunteered twice with the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, in Calcutta and in Cuzco. I have therefore been able to experience first hand the work these women do as they follow the example set by Mother Teresa.

Firstly I'd just like to state what might be a simplistic and yet fundamental reason why I find criticism of Mother Teresa extremely hard to hear: who are we, sitting in our office or in the comfort of our home in our cocoon-like world, hiding behind books and computers, to criticize a woman who abandoned everything to spend her life and bring attention to the forgotten of this world? The day someone will lead a similar life to Mother Teresa's and still criticize the way she acted, then I will truly respect that opinion. But unsurprisingly that day still hasn't come.
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The entire post, "A Response to Mother Teresa's Critics," can be read here.