What I've Learned from Wiccans and Mother Teresa

Who: Dr. Mary Poplin, Professor of Education, Claremont Graduate University
What: A Free Lecture discussing Poplin's spiritual journey and time spent with Mother Teresa.
When: Thursday, April 30 at 7 PM
Where: Arntzen Hall 100 @ WWU (click here for link to parking and lecture hall map)

Mary Poplin, PhD has spent her career studying contemporary philosophies and worldviews, and how they apply to the field of education. She has also personally pursued a number of different spiritualities, including Wicca, Zen, and Transcendental Meditation. 1996, she worked with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta to understand why Mother Teresa viewed her own work as religious work, not social work. This experience provoked an intellectual crisis in Poplin, prompting her to rethink her scholarship in light of the worldview of Mother Teresa, and consider educational theories dealing with education of the poor. Poplin’s experience has recently been published in Finding Calcutta (IV Press, 2008).

Parking is free after 5 PM: General parking in lots C south campus and disabled parking lot 17G

Mary Poplin's book "Finding Calcutta" and others will be available for purchase before and after the event.

For additional information on Mary Poplin and her work visit her website at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/831.asp

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Finding Calcutta by Mary Poplin, PhD
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"Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are. . . . You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see." --Mother Teresa

Lifelong educator Mary Poplin, after experiencing a newfound awakening to faith, sent a letter to Calcutta asking if she could visit Mother Teresa and volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity. She received a response saying, "You are welcome to share in our works of love for the poorest of the poor." So in the spring of 1996, Poplin spent two months in Calcutta as a volunteer. There she observed Mother Teresa's life of work and service to the poor, participating in the community's commitments to simplicity and mercy. Mother Teresa's unabashedly religious work stands in countercultural contrast to the limitations of our secular age.

Poplin's journey gives us an inside glimpse into one of the most influential lives of the twentieth century and the lessons Mother Teresa continues to offer. Upon Poplin's return, she soon discovered that God was calling her to serve the university world with the same kind of holistic service with which Mother Teresa served Calcutta.

Not everyone can go to Calcutta. But all of us can find our own meaningful work and service. Come and answer the call to find your Calcutta!

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