Orrin Hatch: “I am proud today to introduce--along with my colleagues Senators Kennedy, Abraham, Leahy, and DeWine--the Mother Teresa…”

“I am proud today to introduce--along with my colleagues Senators Kennedy, Abraham, Leahy, and DeWine--the Mother Teresa fee waiver bill of 1997. While daily newscasts focus our attention on the scourge of senseless crime and deadly drugs in our country and around the world, Mother Teresa's death last week focused the world's attention on the simple good works that are all too often overlooked. As the flag of India was draped over Mother Teresa, an observer commented ``She now belongs to the State.'' I think it is more accurate to say that Mother Teresa has and will always belong to the world. In an era where the phrase ``global economy'' has become commonplace, Mother Teresa represented a ``global morality.'' Her good works, and those of so many other religious organizations around the world are not, and should not be, confined by national borders and boundaries. Shortly before her death, Mother Teresa personally sought a waiver of the fees charged to her missionaries seeking to enter this country on a temporary basis to help the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick in our own cities. Of course, she was absolutely right. We should give thanks to these kind and giving persons who travel to foreign lands for no other purpose than to give of themselves to help the neediest in those lands. Instead, we've been charging them. It is an absurd situation that needs to be remedied.”