Mother Teresa opened the first convent for the Missionaries of Charity in Charlotte in 1995, accompanied by then Bishop William Curlin. The convent, now a private residence, is just a few blocks away from Planned Parenthood’s new abortion facility on South Torrence Street. (File | Catholic News Herald) CHARLOTTE — The neighborhood where Planned Parenthood plans to open an abortion facility was once visited by a saint.
The Missionaries of Charity used to have a convent on South Torrence Street – just a couple blocks away from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s new Charlotte Health Center. St. Teresa of Calcutta herself opened the convent on June 13, 1995, during her visit to Charlotte in which she was also keynote speaker for an ecumenical prayer service that drew over 19,000 people to the Charlotte Coliseum.
“Today the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murdered by the mother herself,” Mother Teresa said during her visit to Charlotte. “If we can accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell people not to kill one another?”
Members of her order quietly care for the poorest and most vulnerable people, including pregnant women in need, in east Charlotte. In 2010, they moved to a poorer area of the city to continue their mission.
The current owners of the home, Nicholas and Gloriana Felten, bought the former convent at 236 S. Torrence St. from the Sisters, and they consider their home a gift that comes with responsibility.
“Mother Teresa stepped foot on this street,” Gloriana Felten says. “It’s a gift from heaven. It’s a blessing, but also a responsibility. Every gift comes with responsibility. We have to take care of that gift.”
Mother Teresa’s example helped to inspire the Memorare prayer effort against Planned Parenthood’s new facility, Felten notes. The saint prayed the Memorare any time she had a great need in support of her ministry.
“She prayed, and something happened,” Felten says. “If we have the faith, then we can do it, with the help of God. ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ We can do something with our prayers – whether it’s one Memorare or 20, every prayer counts. God is listening to our prayers.”
Catholics are being asked to pray the Memorare 2,350,000 times – one prayer for every dollar Planned Parenthood spent to buy the property on Torrence Street. Pray for this specific intention: “For the protection of the unborn, especially in Charlotte that the new abortion clinic may not be opened.” Catalog your prayers online at www.signupgenius.com/go/8050e4dada629a5ff2-stop. The link will track the number of decades (sets of 10) of Memorares that have been prayed so far. The goal is to achieve 235,000 decades of Memorare prayers prayed by the Feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15.
“Children are a gift, and it is our responsibility to protect children, especially the unborn,” Felten said. “Even children can help by praying Memorares. Everyone can do something. Even a small child can be really helpful with their prayers.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor