Dear Fr. Greg Welch:

At the 9 AM Mass at St. Patrick's two days ago, the homily time-slot was handed over to Tom Chitta and Geetha Yeruva, the founders of the 'Foundation for Children in Need'.

The two spoke about the poverty in rural India and of their love and admiration for America--and Minnesota--and how materially 'blessed' we here are.  Dr. Yeruva mentioned her love and admiration for Mother Teresa, as the squinting/praying Chitta stood to her side.

The Better Business Bureau rates FCN negatively; it would seem a basic point of ethics that St. Patrick's priest should bring this information to the attention of parishioners prior to asking them to contribute.

After Mass, I spoke with Chitta and Yeruva. Given that both had called attention to rural India's poverty and America's material blessing [their word]--I wanted to learn if they actually believe that God ordained the massive economic inequality between rich and poor countries. No, they both said, that's not what they meant. [It's merely what they said, I reminded them.]

Chitta and Yeruva flatter Edinans by telling them nonsense that--to their credit--neither believes, in order to maximize donations.

Since Dr. Yeruva praised Mother Teresa during her moment on stage, I asked each if they'd read The Missionary Position, Christopher Hitchens brilliant dissection of the 'simpering Bambi narcissist and a thieving fanatical Albanian dwarf'. (If any self-respecting person 'admires Mother Teresa', they're required to have read Hitchens' book, and to have formulated some plausibly adult response to it, no?) Both Chitta and Yeruva had heard of The Missionary Position; neither had taken the time to read the short book. Shame on them.

Some Indians (in India) view Indian Catholics as beholden to a foreign ideology--ever willing to grovel and bow before rich foreigners, unconcerned for the corrupting psychic effect this has upon--for example--parishioners at St. Patrick's, to say nothing of the indignity it inflicts upon poor Indians.

It is sad to me that St. Patrick's leadership is so willing to encourage this nonsense.

Sincerely,

Gavin Sullivan