Jerry Brown’s time with Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta
SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 5:31 AM
Dan Morain
Editorial page editor, political affairs columnist and editorial writer
If only in passing on Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown’s mind surely will wander to the 3 1/2 weeks in 1988 he spent in the fetid slums of Calcutta, back when he was trying to find his way.
The once and future governor was halfway between his failed run for U.S. Senate in 1982 and his ill-fated candidacy for president in 1992.
To sort things out, Brown spent six months studying Zen Buddhism in Kamakura, Japan, then turned to his Catholic roots by traveling to the heavily Hindu and Muslim nation of India. There, he spent time tending to destitute, disabled and dying people at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity home. Mother Teresa will be the focus of the Catholic world on Sunday when Pope Francis canonizes her.
Some people will think of Mother Teresa for her unrelenting work for the poor and sick. Some will think of her willingness to confront authority in pursuit of her calling. Some will recall how the late atheist writer Christopher Hitchens condemned her for the “cult of death and suffering” he claimed she fostered.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dan-morain/article99688327.html