With the celebration of the jubilee of the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny comes an opportunity to acknowledge their contribution to the life of the nation and also to consider, in a broader context, the importance of religion to the development of our society.

This month the Cluny Sisters begin a year-long celebration, marking the 200th anniversary of the founding of their congregation. They have been working in Trinidad and Tobago for 170 of those years.

The media’s treatment of religion, both at home and abroad, can at times suggest - with little cause - widespread indifference and general malaise among members of the public.

Following a meeting of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England two weeks ago, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster made the point that “there is a strong tendency by commentators to try to make religion a private affair.”

It is “something to be resisted”, he said. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams added: “We must stand together to show that Christians are part of the solution, not the problem.”

The world will watch with interest this week as Pope Benedict XVI makes a visit to Turkey. The Pope’s trip to the Muslim country has excited much speculation following his lecture at the University of Regensburg, Germany, in September, when he stunned many observers by quoting the words of a 15th century Christian Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus, that was critical of the Prophet Muhammad’s approach to religion.

Pope Benedict’s visit to Turkey places religion in the forefront of public discussion in a singular way. The emerging discussion is not about Church matters; it is about religion pure and simple, and its place in human existence. This week’s Time magazine leads with an article headline “The Passion of the Pope” (never mind the front cover, “The Pope confronts Islam”).

There can be little doubt of the desire of the Holy Father to confront the secularism and growing ignorance about religion in today’s world; to reveal the truth about God and to make his kingdom real. 

Self-denial and service

The founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, Blessed Ann Marie Javouhey grew up in France during the terror of the French Revolution, one goal of which was to destroy Christianity and the Church.

 In 1807, she began a mission to care for the sick, to work for the liberation of those who were enslaved, to provide educational opportunities for children and adults and to bring those who did not know Christ to knowledge of him. Her work would take her to Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. It was her passion - her unshakeable faith and dynamic love - and a desire “to do the will of God” in everything and everywhere that led her in the challenging circumstances of her time.

In their mission in the Caribbean, the Cluny Sisters have helped thousands of young women to live according to the truth of the Gospel values and to make their contribution to the world.

This Sunday’s celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King is a reminder of the attraction that the human heart has to truth. It is evident even in Pilate’s questioning of Jesus—the one who is truth. “What is truth?” Pilate asks, perhaps half-suspecting that his power and egotism is not the truth and profoundly attracted to the one who stands before him.

Blessed Javouhey, by her life of self-denial and service, showed that she knew.