VATICAN CITY, MAY 7, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. post office will release in September a stamp honoring Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, known as Mother Teresa.
CatholicVote.org confirmed the news this week, noting that the campaign they organized in February to support the stamp collected a total of 138,000 virtual signatures.
A statement from the president of CatholicVote.org, Brian Burch, noted that Roy Betts, a spokesman for the Postal Service, confirmed that “the stamp will be dedicated September 5 [at] the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation fought the proposed postal stamp honoring Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, but CatholicVote.org urged U.S. Postmaster General Jack Potter to “stand by your decision to issue the stamp […], and to reject the bigoted attacks aimed at trashing this faith-filled nun who spent her life caring for the poor and needy of our world.”
Burch noted at the time that the postal service policy prohibits stamps that “honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.”
However, he asserted that this policy should not exclude religious people who are also famous for their contributions to the world.
The action group noted that other religious figures have been honored by commemorative stamps in the past, such as John Witherspoon in 1976, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1979 and 1999, Martin Luther in 1983, and Father Edward Flanagan in 1986.
