The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 12

mo. SAINT OF THE SLUMS Leaders join praise for a Me of tireless work VI I J'S'SScSli, The cousin who became a beacon of love By JOHN ROUW, GABRIELLE COSTA and LISA KEARNS "When I first started going out with my husband, Mark, he told mo that one of the members of his family was a nun," Mrs Gail Cimi, 50, of Yarraville, said yesterday. To the world, she was Mother Teresa, who died on Saturday. To the (ami family, she was a cousin lo Mark Cuni's orphaned mother, although Mrs Cuni said the pair were more like sisters. "It was a great privilege to have her in our family," said Mrs Cuni, whose husband died three years ago.

"Now she is at peace and with her maker, which was her aim." Mrs Cuni met Mother Teresa in I9(!) and last saw her 12 years ago, although her family maintained contact with the nun until her death. Mrs Cuni said that some people in the Yarraville community knew of the links, but the family kept a low profile. One of Mrs Cuni's four children, 25-yetir-old Ms Michele Cuni, remembered meeting Mother Teresa when she visited the sisters of her order, Missionaries of Charity, in Fitzroy. "She encouraged us to pursue our vocations. Her final comment would be 'love one another and pray'," Ms Cuni said.

Other Melhurnians have had a special connection to Mother Teresa. For 27 years, the Missionaries of Charity celebrated "inspiration day" on' 10 September to rcllcct on the day in IfMK when Mother Teresa was inspired to start her religious order. On Wednesday, the order's eight nuns will celebrate Mother Teresa's life with a Mass at All Saints Church in Fitzroy. The head of the Melbourne convent, Sister Superior loa-china, said she had met Mother Teresa many times during her 15 years in the order. She said Mother Teresa inspired all who met her.

"She passed on her spirit and her charisma," she said. "We will continue her work in spirit. We learnt very much from her and she was a mother to each one of us." admiration of people of all faiths and her life was dominated by her love of the poorest of the poor. "She has long been hailed by many as a saint and hers was certainly a saintly life," Cardinal Clancy said in a statement. "However, she reached out beyond her church to embrace the world, and the world will be poorer for her passing, but her memory and her example will remain to enrich the lives of us all." India's Prime Minister, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, arrived in Calcutta today to represent a "bereaved nation" and to pay tribute to Mother Teresa.

Mr Gujral, dressed in black, reached the St Thomas Church with his wife where the body of Mother Teresa is kept for public viewing, a witness said. Mr Gujral said: "On behalf of the bereaved nation I have come here to pay tribute to Mother Teresa. "She was a beacon of light and hope who removed the tears of suffering millions. We are fortunate that Mother Teresa started the Missionaries of Charity in this country." Queen Elizabeth praised Mother Teresa just hours after paying tribute to Princess Diana, who was buried yesterday. The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said: "In a week already filled with tragedy, the world will be saddened that one of its most compassionate servants has died." Pope John Paul said he was deeply moved and the United States President, Mr Bill Clinton, said the world had lost "one of the giants of our "Hers was a ministry of action of passion and compassion.

She led by serving and showed us the stunning power of simple humility," Mr Clinton said in a statement. agencies Canberra, Sunday 'ftie Prime Minister, Mr John lloward, today joined Austra-lia'n'politicians and world leaders in paying tribute to Mother Teresa, the diminutive 87-year-old nun who died of a heart attack on Friday night after a lifetime helping the poor of India. Mr Howard said the world would mourn her passing. "Her legendary compassion has touched the lives of many thousands of people right across the globe," he said. "On behalf of all Australians, I convey my deepest sympathy to those who worked closely with her and our support to those who' will continue her work in the 'order which she established." The Deputy Prime Minister, Mf Tim Fischer, said Mother Teresa and the Princess of Wales made a significant effort to raise the profile of unpopular charities, saying the world was sadly burying Princess Diana and mourning Mother Teresa.

The Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley, said the death of Mother Teresa was a truly historic passing because she was regarded by many as the woman of the century. "While all around her grew modern and materialistic, she remained utterly committed to the fight against poverty and sickness," Mr Beazley said. "We can' only hope that the world will one day see another like 'Mother Teresa, who visited Australia sue times and whose Missionaries of Charity order established a convent at Bourke in NSW, was known as the "Saint of the Gutters" for her work with the poor, destitute and dying of India. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, said she had won the The spirit lives: Sister Mary Hannahri and Sister Maria Isabel in Bourke, where Mother Teresa set up an Australian mission in 796.9. Picture: palani mohan From Calcutta to the back of Bourke Australia, Sister Joseph Maria, telephoned from Sydney.

Indian-born Sister Praka-shita, who came to Australia in 1982, had, like most other members of the mission, worked with Mother Teresa. "She is a great person," Sister Prakashita said. "Mother is gone. She will help us more than ever." Prayers were said for Mother Teresa yesterday in the order's Bourke convent and at the nearby St Ignatius Church. Father Paul Clark, the Bourke parish priest, referred in his newsletter to that type of way." The Missionaries of Charity have been caring for the downtrodden around Bourke since 1969 the first such mission by Mother Teresa in Australia.

In Bourke, they run a child care centre and a refuge for homeless men. Yesterday they were busy in the mission's mini-bus shuttling Aboriginal children to and from their settlements. They heard the news of Mother Teresa's death on Saturday morning when the order's regional superior in killed in a car accident. Into that desperation a grieving family, a cluttered grassless yard, a house with doors, walls and windows all smashed came Mother Teresa's women. The sisters provided comfort and whatever else they could, especially when another child was born a month ago.

"The sisters have been part of my life," Mr Barker said. "It (Mother Teresa's death) is a great loss to the world I think. The sisters have been trying to help most people in By MALCOLM BROWN John Barker, 35, an Aboriginal shearer and father of nine, took the news of Mother Teresa's death badly. Mr Barker and 12 others share a condemned house on the outskirts of Bourke, in north-western New South Wales. Only able to earn on a seasonal basis, he and his family look to Mother Teresa's followers.the Missionaries of Charity, in hard times.

The worst of these came in July, when two of his sons, Carl, 11, and Adam, 9, were both Mother Teresa's death and that of Princess Diana, giving them equal space and expressing regret in both cases. The newsletter said Mother Teresa, who had visited Bourke three times, had compassion for "the poor, the outcast and the dying. There are 42 members of Mother Teresa's order in Australia in missions in Melbourne, Sydney, Queanbeyan, Orange, Dareton, Wagga Wagga, Tennant Creek, Kath-erine and Darwin. Sydney Morning Herald FN1. OPECT TWV015DMA MOBILE PHONE BATTERY CHARGER RECALL ALCATEL HC MODEL MOBILE PHONE Conrnonvjcclth Bank Current Interest Rates pa A 5 Monthly Quarterly Hull' Annual Interest Interest Yearly Interest 3yrs 5.05 5.20 5.40 5.50 5yrs 5.00 5.80 (UK) 6.10 7yrs 5.70 5.1)0 (1.15 6.35 lOyrs 5.85 (i.10 (i.35 6.C0 A potential fault has been discovered in a small number of HC Rapid Battery Chargers supplied together with the Alcatel HC model mobile phone.

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