Faith in Action

BY ROGER O. BURKS, JR. | May 18, 2006

Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill. Photo: Mercy Corps

Mother Teresa was always there for Dan O'Neill.

Even though O'Neill never had the opportunity to meet the world-respected missionary to the poor, he believes her example shaped his actions and humanitarian commitment.

"In appearance, Mother Teresa was this frail, diminutive woman - but she was strong and resolute in making a difference for those in extreme poverty," O'Neill said.

Today Dan O'Neill, Mercy Corps Founder and outspoken advocate for the world's poorest families, is being recognized with the prestigious Mother Teresa Award. The award honors a select few who have "beautified the world" and touched those in need. Besides O'Neill, this year's laureates include such luminaries as the Dalai Lama, former South African President Nelson Mandela and poet Maya Angelou.

"Something that mattered"

The light that Mother Teresa cast from halfway around the world, in the slums of Calcutta where she ministered to the poor and dying, helped to illuminate O'Neill's own path.

"She was a model of faith in action," he said. "Her dedication encouraged me to start an organization and build it into something that mattered."

And so O'Neill put his beliefs - and years of international volunteer service in places like Uganda - into action by founding Save the Refugees Fund in 1979. That organization served the needs of Cambodian refugees fleeing from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that executed up to three million of the country's eight million citizens. O'Neill also served on the White House Cambodian Crisis Committee at the request of First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

In 1981, O'Neill transformed Save the Refugees Fund into a more far-reaching and comprehensive global organization: Mercy Corps. By design, this new organization shared many of Mother Teresa's tenets, such as alleviating the poverty and suffering of the world's poorest people.

Over the years that followed, Mercy Corps' rapid emergency responses and humanitarian programs took O'Neill to some of the world's most desperate places: Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda and Kosovo among others.

One of these visits brought him close enough to hear one of Mother Teresa's wonders in action.

"The guns fell silent"

In 1982, O'Neill was in Beirut, Lebanon at the height of the Lebanese Civil War to assess humanitarian conditions. While there, he witnessed a lifetime of atrocities as a variety of Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian and other factions terrorized the population and reduced the city to ruins. One of these horrors was the infamous Sabra and Shatila Massacre, where up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees were murdered in camps that were supposed to have been safe havens.

O'Neill remembers round-the-clock gunfire and bomb blasts around the city, including many close to where he was staying. And then, for a few hours one day, there was stillness.

"That summer, in the midst of some of the heaviest fighting of the war, Mother Teresa negotiated a brief cease-fire so that she could get 37 developmentally-disabled children out of a besieged hospital to safety," O'Neill recollected. "The guns fell silent and the bombs stopped dropping.

"She had an amazing commitment and strength."

From one friend to another

When asked about receiving the Mother Teresa Award, Dan O'Neill pauses, subdued and thoughtful.

"It is very humbling to get this award," he states. "I could never compare to someone of Mother Teresa's stature. We all should live by the example of individuals like her. Her inspirational presence helped - and helps - others to succeed."

O'Neill will receive the award on September 10 from another influential figure in his life: musician, author and long-time friend John Michael Talbot. Talbot himself received the award last year for his music and ministry.

O'Neill's relationship with Talbot goes back to the early 1980s, when Talbot asked O'Neill to write his biography, "Troubadour for the Lord." The timing for a deeper collaboration was perfect, as Mercy Corps was just beginning. As a result, Talbot began raising funds and awareness for the fledgling organization at his concerts.

"He is an extraordinary diplomat from the stage, representing Mercy Corps' commitment to the poor through music," O'Neill said.

The two continue to be close friends today, helping each other often in their individual work to bring help and hope to people around the world.

For both Talbot and O'Neill, the Mother Teresa Award seems a fateful and wholly appropriate destination. After all, the path for both men began following the footsteps of a frail and diminutive, yet extraordinary, woman from halfway around the world.