When Fr. Tom Forrest introduced us to Mother Teresa

Fr. Tom died earlier this week, on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He will be remembered in a special way by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity who refer to him as, "Mother's priest." Fr. Tom and Mother Teresa collaborated on several projects together, including her special effort "Veronica Intercessors for Priests" where she sought to link the prayers and sacrifices of religious sisters with individual priests by name. When she established the effort, she chose Fr. Tom as her priest.

The photo above is of Mother Teresa, just two months before she died. She is holding our first-born son only six weeks old. We were invited by Fr. Tom to attend a Mass held at Mother Teresa's house for the poor dying of AIDS in North East Washington, D.C.

To our very great surprise, when Mass ended, Fr. Tom had Mother Teresa moved to the entrance to the small chapel (she was in a wheelchair) and motioned for my husband and me to come first to greet her. She took our son right from my husband's arms, kissed a Miraculous Medal and, placing it in his tiny hand said, "I hope she becomes a Missionary of Charity".

When I told Fr. Tom later what she said, obviously assuming our son was a girl, he said, "If she had known she would have said, 'I have priests and brothers too'."