Photojournalist reflects on Blessed Mother Teresa

Intermountain Catholic

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Photojournalist, teacher, and author Linda Schaefer speaks about her many experiences with Blessed Mother Teresa. ?Mother Teresa said you must pray with a loud voice,? said Schaefer.

DRAPER — "I found my calling as a photographer when I photographed in the Star Bar in Michigan. I found the type of people Blessed Mother Teresa served," said Linda Schaefer, a former CNN editor and photojournalist, at the Spiritus Donorum Dinner at Juan Diego Catholic High School Dec. 1.

"Spiritus Donorum" is Latin, and is the school’s motto. When translated, it means "The Spirit of Giving." The Spiritus Donorum Dinner was hosted by Juan Diego to thank the benefactors and donors for their time, talent, and treasures, who continue to make Juan Diego so successful.

Schaefer was a guest speaker. Earlier in the day, Schaefer spoke to the students. Juan Diego also celebrates annually its patron saint Juan Diego with several events and experiences. During the "Feast of Juan Diego" Week, the school unveiled a work of art it added to its collection. This year, sculptor Betty Sabo of Albuquerque, N.M., completed a life-sized bronze statue of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The children of the high school’s benefactor, L. Sam Skaggs, co-founder of the ALSAM Foundation, commissioned it to honor his benevolence and deep devotion to the world-revered humanitarian.

To better acquaint Juan Diego students with the life and work of Mother Teresa, the school hosted Schaefer.

"I told the students that my photography teacher was critiquing our work and one of my photographs fell off the wall," said Schaefer. "Davis said, this person, and I was 18 years old at the time, would clearly never make it as a photographer.

Dr. (Galey) Colosimo will later tell a story of benefactor Sam Skaggs, who had a similar experience.

"I see the synchronicity of life is fascinating because it was because of that little incident which Skaggs described as grace, and clearly that was a point of grace in my own life when the picture fell down from the wall that I realized that truly that was my calling and I loved it so much. But I had to find the direction and find the light in the tunnel. God can help us along, but we have to kind of go through our own suffering, and discover some of that journey on our own. For all these years I have been looking and searching for that imagery, the stories of life."

Schaefer was working for the Archdiocese of Atlanta as a photographer when Mother Teresa came to visit June 15, 1995, to bless the new AIDS Hospice the Missionaries of Charity opened in the early 1990s.

"When Mother Teresa got off the plane in Atlanta, she came up to me through the crowd, and took my hands," said Schaefer. "At that moment, it was like I was called to India. I went to India and spent six months with Mother Teresa.

"I volunteered in Calcutta with the Missionaries of Charity, and approached Mother Teresa to photograph her and the facilities," said Schaefer. "After repeatedly being told no, Mother Teresa eventually gave me permission to document the work. But it was not until after many, many tests. It was disheartening when she would repeatedly tell me no. It was only after she made me work in the orphanage and the home for the dying. But I had these wonderful daily experiences with her. As volunteers, we would gather and go to Mass at 5:30 a.m., and you would never hear the actual Mass because it was always so noisy in the room because of all the traffic driving down AJC Road. There were a lot of diesel fumes from the trucks, but it was so peaceful, despite the noise and the fumes.

"Mother Teresa would always be sitting in the back of the room curled up on a mat clutching her rosary," said Schaefer. "She would be in a total deep state of prayer. Little did I know that this woman would become such an icon for the world. She was an icon of compassion and so much love. I did not know that I would be called to commit so much time working with her, speaking about her, and continuing my efforts. Every time I have said, no Mother, I am done, she appears to me and says, no you are not.

Schaefer’s experience led her to write a book, and share her story. Since then, she has shared her story in speaking engagements at businesses, churches, and schools across the country to inspire others as she was inspired.

This past June, she took three students from East Central University, where she teaches, on a journalistic mission to Calcutta.

"Again I thought I was done with her," said Schaefer. "Now I am interviewing a sister who is the 18th sister to join her order, and who was one of Mother Teresa’s student’s at the Saint Mary’s Convent at Calcutta. She spent 50 years with Mother Teresa.

"I told the Juan Diego students, everybody has a story, and Mother Teresa knew that so well," said Schaefer. "She knew each person had a story and each person deserved the dignity and the love, especially before they were going to die.

"I heard from a priest about Mother Teresa being in Rome, Italy," said Schaefer. "She was on her way to the Vatican to have an audience with Pope John Paul II, and she always wanted to open a home in the Vatican. She was on her way and all of sudden she saw a man lying in the street. She told the driver to stop the car. The other sisters told her they were going to be late for their appointment with the Holy Father.

"Mother Teresa got out and began tending the gentleman suffering on the street, and she said tell the Holy Father I am with Jesus," said Schaefer. "Mother Teresa knew this person who was suffering deserved the respect and love before he died. She was always concerned about giving that love and the other person receiving that love before he or she died.

Mother Teresa helped people who already were dying, die with love and with dignity. That is what she did when she opened her first home in Calcutta, the home for the dying. It was opened inside a Hindu temple.

When writing her second book about Mother Teresa and interviewing those who knew her best, Schaefer called Mother Teresa’s oncologist who tended to her at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif., the same hospital where Juan Diego benefactor Sam Skaggs was hospitalized. At the same time Schaefer interviewed a priest in La Jolla who had taken a woman to the Scripps Clinic because her life long dream was to meet Mother Teresa. After much trouble the woman was able to walk by Mother Teresa’s room. When she did, Mother Teresa came out and the woman kissed her feet. The woman later reported she could only see Mother Teresa, she could not see intravenous tubes, or anyone else standing in the hall.

Dr. Galey Colosimo told the story of Sam Skaggs’ experience in Scripps Clinic. Ten years later Skaggs was in the very room in which Mother Teresa stayed. His health was failing. Each day his health was getting worse. His heart was erratic and because of what he was going through he was powerless. He could not move. He had all that money and all he could do was look straight ahead. His bed faced a mirror on which there was a photograph of Mother Teresa.

Colosimo said Skaggs prayed for a sign. While praying the photograph of Mother Teresa fell down. In Skaggs’ payer her said, "If I live I will build another high school like Juan Diego. To the doctors’ dismay, 12 hours later his heart stabilized and that allowed the doctors to perform surgery they needed to do. When he woke up he was pain free for the first time in 25 years. He kept his promise and built Mater Dei High School in San Diego. Skaggs said this was a tribute to God’s grace.

"Your benefactor understood you need to find your own Calcutta in your own community, and it is there you can serve so many, and you can lift so many out of their difficulties," said Schaefer. "Mother Teresa taught that to the world.

"After my time with Mother Teresa, I realized I was so much more than a photojournalist," said Schaefer. "We all have many gifts to give."