Missionaries of Charity was to care for (in Mother Teresa's words) "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and today it has over 4,500 Sisters running orphanages, home for those dying of AIDS, charity centres worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia, Africa, Latin
Missionaries in India Conversion a Reappraisal". The idea for the book came after Arun Shourie reviewed the history of Christianity following his participation in a catholic conference. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), the highest body of the Catholic Church in India, invited Arun Shourie to give a "Hindu assessment of the work of Christian missionaries" in a meeting held at the Ishvani Kendra Seminary at Pune on 5 January 1994. Many eminent archbishops, bishops, senior clergy and Christian scholars from all over India were also invited. Shourie was asked to write a paper so that it could be included in a