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 CHARLOTTE — Through songs and prayer, people joined with Bishop Michael Martin Thursday night at Our Lady of the Assumption Church to celebrate St. Teresa of Calcutta and the local work of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order she founded.

The Sept. 5 Mass in honor of St. Teresa’s feast day drew a large and diverse crowd from the Charlotte area, from children and teens to families and senior citizens. The four Missionaries of Charity sisters who serve in the Charlotte area sat up front, clad in their distinctive blue and white habits.

St. Teresa, more well known as Mother Teresa, founded the order of sisters in 1950 to work among the poorest of the poor in India. The order quickly spread around the world and as of 2023 had more than 5,750 sisters who serve in 139 countries. The sisters staff homes for the sick and dying, provide medical care, education, social assistance and other relief for the poor worldwide.

The Missionaries of Charity will soon celebrate 30 years of serving in Charlotte. In 1995 Mother Teresa visited the city and established a convent at the invitation of then Bishop William Curlin, who was a close friend and confessor of hers. The sisters provide food, an afterschool program and other services for the poor in east Charlotte, not far from where Our Lady of the Assumption Church is located.

Before the Mass started, the parish choir sang a moving rendition of “Whatsoever You Do,” a hymn that describes the corporal works of mercy and how they are connected to love for Jesus. It also reflects the work of the Missionaries of Charity, who serve the poor and marginalized worldwide.

Bishop Martin said he was happy to visit Our Lady of the Assumption Church for the first time on St. Teresa’s feast day.

“I’m happy to come and celebrate the great feast that holds up this simple woman who changed the world,” he said. “St. Teresa of Calcutta taught us so much through simplicity. She helped us focus on Christ in the simple, in the poor.”

He started his homily off by saying he lived most of his life without having to wear glasses, but was forced to start in the past few years and still struggles with seeing properly through them. This is a metaphor, he said, for how everyday people struggle to see the needs of others and to look at the world as Christ did, to use Christ as the lens by which they view the world around them.

Only with that kind of Christ-like view, the bishop said, are people truly able to reach out to others in need and serve them with love – like St. Teresa did.

“When we do understand our lives being called to that way of life, it encourages us to do it more and more and more,” he said. “I dare say, the presence of the Missionaries of Charity in our community does the very same thing for all of us. They encourage us to see the world differently – more and more to be able to see Christ in those who are most marginalized.”

He said St. Teresa’s example can help people overcome the allure of the world’s focus on materialism that often leaves their eyes “broken” and unable to recognize the needs of others.

“St. Teresa of Calcutta is that correction,” he said. “She give us glasses to see properly…to be able to see the world as Jesus saw the world.”

The evening’s music captured the mood of the feast day, with songs focused on giving and sharing God’s love. The final hymn, “Immaculate Mary,” reflected St. Teresa’s dedication to the Blessed Mother.

After Mass, the crowd joined Bishop Martin and the sisters for a reception and meal.
Sister Justus, regional superior for the Mothers of Charity, came from Missouri for the event. She took a break from talking with well-wishers to say the bishop’s homily captured St. Teresa of Calcutta’s work beautifully.

“We don’t have to go to far lands to look for the poor – we can find them in our own community and in our own families,” Sister Justus said. “We also need to remember something St. Teresa said: that to be a saint is not the luxury of the few. It’s the duty of all of us – to try to be holy, to live like a saint and to serve others.”

Pamela Decosta has worked as a volunteer with the sisters in Charlotte for more than a decade. She marveled at the large congregation that included people from the local Hispanic, Burmese and Vietnamese communities.

“It’s wonderful to see so many people coming out to honor her,” she said.

Who was St. Teresa of Calcutta?

On Sept. 10, 1946, St. Teresa, while serving as a Loreto sister, was inspired by God to start a new order devoted to serving the poorest of the poor, according to a published history from the Missionaries of Charity. She received approval from the Archbishop of Calcutta and the Vatican. In August 1948, she left the Loreto convent and started work among the poor in Calcutta’s slums. Twelve women she had taught at the convent followed her to join her work. On Oct. 7, 1950, the Calcutta archbishop erected the Missionaries of Charity as a diocesan congregation.

The order quickly expanded throughout India and then to Venezuela, which started its worldwide expansion. Today, Missionaries of Charity sisters worldwide provide everything from care for the sick and dying and orphans to help for those with mental illness, AIDS patients, the hungry and the homeless.

Mother Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis on Sept. 4, 2016. Her feast day is celebrated on Sept. 5.
— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy Hull