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February 6 @ 7:00 pm
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In-Person: An Evening with Jim Towey
Books & Books presents…
AN EVENING WITH JIM TOWEY
discussing
To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa
(Simon & Schuster, $27)
Monday, February 6th, 7:00 PM
LIVE & IN-PERSON at Books & Books, Coral Gables
Signing to follow the conversation
RSVP HERE TO ATTEND
Books & Books is honored to present an evening with a trusted advisor and personal friend of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Jim Towey, to discuss his new book: To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa (Simon & Schuster, $27), an extraordinary account of the woman behind the saint.
***Please note: This event will take place at the Books & Books in Coral Gables at 265 Aragon Ave. This conversation is free and open to the public.
About the Book:
From a member of Mother Teresa’s inner circle comes an extraordinary account of the woman behind the saint.
Author Jim Towey had been a high-flying Congressional staffer and lawyer in the 1980s until a brief meeting with Mother Teresa illuminated the emptiness of his life. He began volunteering at one of her soup kitchens and using his legal skills and political connections to help the Missionaries of Charity. When Mother Teresa suggested he take shifts at her AIDS hospice, Towey realized he was all in. Soon, he gave up his job and possessions and became a full-time volunteer for Mother Teresa. He traveled with her frequently, arranged her meetings with politicians, and handled many of her legal affairs.
AN INSIDER’S ACCOUNT: The book contains scores of unpublished stories of Mother Teresa and the first-ever detailed presentation of her last days and death. Here you will find her love of everything from children to chocolate, friends to critics, rich to poor. You will see how she laughed and joked with close friends, wept when they died, grew angry and impatient, and endured inner darkness and physical pain–in short, all the ways she was human. To Love and Be Loved documents her cheerfulness during trials and her humility even as she gained global fame. The book shows a woman so devoted to others that she risked her life to serve lepers, AIDS sufferers, and those living in places torn by violence.
ANNIVERSARY TIE-IN: The twenty-fifth anniversary of her death is September 5, 2022. The Catholic Church will honor her globally in the run-up to that date (her saint’s day). The Knights of Columbus and Sky TV are both producing documentaries on Mother Teresa to air at that time. Lady Diana died the week before Mother Teresa and the coincidence should generate extra coverage of both women and their extraordinary work together helping AIDS sufferers and feeding the hungry. This is the perfect time to introduce an extraordinary woman to a new generation.
STORIES OF LEADERSHIP: Mother Teresa was a born entrepreneur who without any training or business experience built a global organization operating in 120 countries. The book recounts her dealings with numerous government officials as she expanded her humanitarian efforts. She became friends and had deep influence on figures as disparate as Pope John Paul II, Hillary Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Diana, Princess of Wales, who all feature in the book.
BUY THE BOOK HERE
About the Author:
Jim Towey was a trusted advisor and personal friend of Mother Teresa of Calcutta for twelve years, and did the first reading at her Mass of Canonization in Saint Peter’s Square. He headed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under George W. Bush, and was president of two Catholic colleges, a US Senate staffer, and head of Florida’s 40,000-employee health and human services agency. In 1996, with Mother Teresa’s encouragement, he founded the nonprofit advocacy organization Aging with Dignity and created the Five Wishes advance directive, which has sold 40 million copies and is used in all fifty states. Towey met his wife, Mary, in Mother Teresa’s Washington, DC, AIDS home. He continues to provide pro bono legal services for the Missionaries of Charity.