News release
8 May 2009
Mother Teresa’s associate visits Auckland
Mother Teresa’s associate of 20 years and promoter of her canonisation visits Auckland this weekend
Canadian-born Father Brian Kolodiejchuk’s 20 year association with Mother Teresa of Calcutta began in 1977 when he
joined a new group of contemplative brothers she was then starting. He later joined the priestly branch of her religious
order, the Missionaries of Charity, at the time of their foundation in 1984, being ordained to the priesthood in June
1985.
Two years after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997, he was appointed Postulator of the Cause for her Beatification and
Canonisation. The postulator is the priest officially appointed by the Catholic Church to present the case for a
person’s beatification or canonisation to sainthood. He had the joy of seeing her beatified on October 19, 2003 by Pope
John Paul 11.
The book of Mother Teresa’s letters which he compiled, Come be my Light, is a series of reflections, almost all of which
have never been made public before. They shed light on her life and work as nothing else ever has. The paradoxical and
totally unsuspected cost of Mother Teresa's mission, we discover, was that she herself would feel abandoned by God and
live in "terrible darkness" -- a darkness that would prove to be an essential element of her vocation.
Father Brian is in Auckland until next Tuesday, and will be giving talks and retreats during this time.
ends