Catholic Church and health care
The famous Mother Teresa of Calcutta established the Missionaries of Charity in the slums of Calcutta in 1948 to work among "the poorest of the poor". Initially founding a school, she then gathered other sisters who "rescued new-born babies abandoned on rubbish heaps; they sought out the sick; they took in lepers, the unemployed, and the mentally ill". Teresa achieved fame in the 1960s and began to establish convents around the world. By the time of her death in 1997, the religious institute she founded had more than 450 centres in over 100 countries.
St Eugene's Cathedral
The area which was the old confessional rooms since 1989 were converted into a new side chapel dedicated to Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The new chapel was blessed and dedicated by the Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, during the cathedral parish's annual nine day Novena to Saint Therese of Lisuex. On Friday 12 May 2017 at a special prayer service at 7.30pm in the cathedral, parishioners and clergy were joined by nuns from Mother Teresa's order, who joined the packed congregation in the cathedral for Evening Prayer and a special dedication ceremony for the new chapel. Today the chapel is used by prayer groups, and it is also used for daily Eucharistic Adoration from 8.30am-10.00am Mondays to Fridays.