Photo Essay

A Tough Act to Follow

By electing a new superior, the Missionaries of Charity have opened a new era for their congregation. But no one is likely to forget to enormous worldwide influence of Mother Teresa.

Different observers had offered different ideas as to the outcome of the election to find a successor for Mother Teresa of Calcutta. But on one point opinions were unanimous. No one would disagree that 63- year-old Sister Nirmala, who was elected earlier this month to be the first Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity (MC), has a tough challenge before her.

Sister Nirmala took over the reigns of the world's most popular religious congregation from the ailing Mother Teresa on March 14-- the day after the prolonged General Chapter of the Congregation chose her by a "massive majority" to take over the "administrative control" which the Mother had shouldered since she founded the Congregation in 1950.

In a two-line statement to the media from MC headquarters soon after the extended General Chapter elected Sister Nirmala, who had been the head of the MC contemplative wing since 1979, as the Mother's successor, the Congregation made it clear that the ailing Mother Teresa will continue to be called "Mother" by over 4,600 MC sisters. While Sister Nirmala will be Superior General of the congregation--which now has 568 houses in 127 countries, including China and Bosnia--Mother Teresa obviously can never be supplanted in her role as the order's founder.

The election of Sister Nirmala as the successor to the 86-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has at last put an end to months of rumors and speculation about the successor to the beloved Mother Teresa. The eldest of the ten children of an ethnic Nepali family of the priestly Brahmin caste, Sister Nirmala was born in 1934 in the northern Indian state of Bihar, where her father Mahananda Joshi was an army officer. She experienced "God's call" while in college at the age of 17, and after completing a master's degree in political science, she moved on to Calcutta. First she became a Catholic and then in 1959 joined the Missionaries of Charity. Stressing her her eagerness "to do good to the needy," she moved to the Mother House soon after her election.

The rumor mills had been churning at full capacity since the General Chapter which began in mid-January, in the shadow of the declining health of Mother Teresa, postponed the election scheduled for February 2. After the frail Mother spent over two weeks last August and again in December in Calcutta's Woodland Nursing Home, struggling for her life against heart ailments, the 123-member General Chapter had no option but to give up the custom of pressing the Mother to continue.

The Chapter, postponed from last September due to the Mother's health, began with a preparatory retreat for the Chapter members, who represented 48 regions, including 13 in India. But on January 27, the Mother House in Calcutta said the election, scheduled for February 2, had been postponed, and that the Chapter would continue until the delegates elected a successor.

"I am in dreamland right now," Sister Nirmala told reporters after her election. "It's a big responsibility. If you look at it for myself, I am afraid. But looking at God, and depending on prayer, I think I will be able to continue God's work." Asked about her feelings as the successor of one of the most famous women in the world, Sister Nirmala said: "Mother is our foundress and we are all her children. I am not the head of the order. We are all equal."

Mother Teresa, who relinquished the administrative control of the congregation she founded following a vision during a train journey as a Loretto nun in 1946, said that "I will continue to serve the poor. I have plenty of work to do." The woman known as "the saint of the gutters" added, "I will remain in Calcutta."

While the MC Sisters told CWR they see "no special challenge" before the Mother's successor, outsiders are unanimous that Sister Nirmala's task of running the congregation will be not be an easy one, since she must walk in the footsteps of a woman who is known all around the world for her vision, tenacity, and personal holiness.

Archbishop Alan Basil de Lastic of Delhi said the Mother was "generous" and "noble" to hand over the reins of the congregation to her "children." Often, he observed, the founders of congregations die in saddle. Though the new Superior General has an "unenviable task, the guidance and presence of the Mother around her will strengthen her," said Bishop Lastic, the vice president of the Indian bishops' conference. "The congregation is growing up. The Mother feels her children have grown up enough to manage things themselves. It's for them now to fortify themselves in the path that the Mother has shown."

Had Mother Teresa decided to continue her work as superior until the day of her death, Archbishop Lastic said, "a sudden change would certainly affect the working of this congregation." On the other hand, Mother wanted to do many more things, but could not do them because of her ill health. Now with the new team at her service, the Indian Church leader noted, "the congregation will flourish further benefiting from the energy of the new leadership and Mother's experience."

Despite the tough challenges that lie in front of Sister Nirmala and the Missionaries of Charity, an air of optimism prevails overall--from the ordinary MC sisters to the media columnists around Calcutta. A MC congregation member in New Delhi said Sister Nirmala is "the right person and the expected one" to succeed the Mother, since she has "great understanding and concern for others. That is what Mother's successor needs to continue the mission."

"Mother Teresa is indeed irreplaceable as the head of the order.... Over the past 47 years it has grown worldwide as a mission of

service and love for the dying and the destitute," acknowledged a March 15 editorial in the Hindustan Times, an English-language New Delhi daily with a circulation of over 500,00. "The blessings of Mother Teresa will be the greatest strength of Sister Nirmala as the Missionaries (of Charity) prepare themselves for the post-Mother phase. Happily, Mother Teresa is still here to guide them."

Pope John Paul II sent a message to Sister Nirmala promising his prayers and support as she continues the apostolic work begun by Mother Teresa on behalf of "the poorest of the poor." The All India Catholic Union, a national network of the laity, also greeted the successor to Mother Teresa, wishing that her "stewardship would see the Missionaries of Charity become a global force against human suffering and for the dignity of men and women."

Anto Akkara is a free-lance journalist based in New Delhi.