The award is a reminder of Mother
Teresa's legacy and "comes as a challenge that we transcend our own small world
and reach out in more tangible ways to those who hunger and thirst for love,
dignity and justice," said Fr Cedric
Prakash, director at the Prashant Centre for Human Rights Justice and Peace in
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) as he accepted the Mother Teresa International Award for
Social Justice.
This
recognition "shows how much the world today needs the blessed and the work
of the Missionaries of Charity," he told AsiaNews.
Fr Prakash has
been involved for years in defending human rights in India. In
particular, along with the Prashant Centre, he has helped the victims of sectarian
violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat
in 2002.
A friend of AsiaNews, the Jesuit is appreciated for his
unconditional quest for justice, and fearless criticism
of the actions of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been blamed for the
massacres.
The Harmony
Foundation, an association founded in 2005 to ensure that the legacy of Mother
Teresa, upholds her legacy with a main annual award, plus a number of minor ones.
This
year, Sam
Childers, an activist-biker who works with child soldiers, also
received the award.
For Fr Cedric
Prakash, Mother Teresa "Mother Teresa epitomised charity and compassion in
the highest sense of the word." She "showed how to care for the unloved, the
dying, the destitute, the widow, the orphan and the neglected in society. [. . .] After her death, her sisters, the
Missionaries of Charity, silently continue their selfless service, caring for
the poorest of the poor and those living beyond the fringes of society."
This
award, the Jesuit clergyman said, "is a recognition of the current
situation, where the gap between rich and poor is widening ever more. And with
it, social injustice grows."
This
year the prize recognises "total compassion and unconditional reaching out
to the poorest of the poor, the dying destitute, the unloved and the uncared of
this world."