Many people who worked for years with Mother Teresa consider themselves fortunate to have escaped a cult. Susan Shields, having spent more than nine years as a Missionary of Charity in the Bronx, Rome, and San Francisco, writes:

“I was able to keep my complaining conscience [1] quiet because we had been taught that the Holy Spirit was guiding Mother. To doubt her was a sign that we were lacking in trust and, even worse, guilty of the sin of pride. I shelved my objections and hoped that one day I would understand the many…contradictions.”