Diana, Mother Teresa So near, So Far

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DAVID HARRIS

IN THE SPACE OF ONE WEEK last month, the world wept over two of the best known - maybe the best known - people in the global community. Both were women. One old, one relatively young. Both had public funerals in churches. They had met and knew each other. Both did much to help the poor and downtrodden in society. Both gave much love.

Christians believe that outward appearance often belies what lies beneath. God alone knows the secrets of our hearts. So to compare Mother Teresa and Diana, Princess of Wales, has obvious limits.

Perhaps it is more instructive to look at the reaction to their death by both the secular world and the church.

Mother Teresa lived like the poor among the …