Your editorial (The Tablet, 7 June) reminded me of an interview the late Raimundo Panikkar gave to an Indian secular magazine.
In the course of the interview Panikkar was asked as a religious thinker what he thought about the the work of Mother Theresa. In reply he said: "with all due respect for Mother Theresa and her congregation, I would say her work is like cleaning up sewage that flows from a city. Unless and until something is done to clean up the source she will have to go on doing it for ever."
Welcoming all refugees with open arms is not the true solution. Attention has to be paid to causes of refugee exodus. Most refugees' countries of origin have a colonial history followed by dictatorships. The policy of the USA of interfering and intervening whenever and wherever its economic interests suits has also contributed to the problem. Neither war on terror nor the search for weapons of mass destruction has brought about any peace but rather misery to the masses as in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fr Dominic Ayyanikkatt, Tamil Nadu, India
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