RESOLUTION HONORING MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

ON THE OCCASION OF HER UPCOMING CANONIZATION

Substitute for resolution 263

WHEREAS, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a beloved figure throughout the world for her selfless service to the poorest of the poor; and

WHEREAS, she followed a “call within a call” by founding the Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to personal, hands-on ministry to the poor; and

WHEREAS, her work was recognized worldwide by her selection for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979; and

WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus shared a close friendship with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity since 1987, and has been privileged to collaborate in their ministry, responding to Mother Teresa’s plea for our members to “help us with the soup kitchens … with the poorest of the poor,” by launching a program called “Operation Share”; and

WHEREAS, the Order has been honored to provide printing services for the Missionaries of Charity, including the printing of the community’s Constitutions, daily prayer book and prayer cards, and hosting her on a visit to the Supreme Council headquarters in New Haven in 1988; and

WHEREAS, the Knights of Columbus recognized Mother Teresa with its highest honor, the inaugural Gaudium et Spes Award, during the 110th Supreme Convention in New York in 1992; and

WHEREAS, following her death on September 5, 1997, the Knights of Columbus has been a consistent advocate for her canonization over the years, distributing holy cards after her beatification in 2003, and commissioning a bronze statue of her carrying a dying child, by Tommaso Gismondi, that is on permanent display in the Knights of Columbus Museum; and

WHEREAS, the Museum hosted the U.S. premier of the exhibition, “Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message” for the centennial of her birth in 2010; and

WHEREAS, the Order has been pleased to closely collaborate with the Mother Teresa Center and the Cause for Canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, including through preparation and printing of the Novena to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and through the commissioning of a new painting of Mother Teresa by the renowned artist, Chas Fagan, which will be the official canonization image of Mother Teresa and displayed on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica on the day of her canonization; and

WHEREAS, Pope Francis has announced that he will canonize Mother Teresa on the eve of the 19th anniversary of her death, September 4, 2016;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Knights of Columbus renews the Order’s high esteem and love for Mother Teresa as the Church prepares to raise her to the honors of the altar; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Order pledges to continue its charitable works with the selfless example of Mother Teresa in mind, as her close association with the Knights during her lifetime is recalled.