Sister Joseph Michael will replace Sister Mary Prema Pierick, who has stepped down as superior general due to poor health.
St. Teresa of Calcutta founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, under the Archdiocese of Calcutta. She started working in the slums, teaching poor children, and treating the sick in their homes. Together with some of her former students, she took in men, women, and children who were dying in the gutters along the streets and cared for them.
The congregation very quickly grew from a single house for the dying and unwanted to nearly 500 around the world. Mother Teresa set up homes for AIDS sufferers, victims of domestic violence, and prostitutes, as well as orphanages for poor children.
The Missionaries of Charity now have hundreds of houses worldwide and its membership includes religious sisters and brothers and priests, plus a lay organization.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.
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