The Children
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny are especially attentive to helping children at risk:
- orphans,
- street children,
- war victims,
- children abused in their families.
The ministries include organizing shelters, distributing food and clothing and providing these children with opportunities for education in preparation for their future.
The dignity of women
In this area of ministry, the Cluny Sisters organize many activities and projects that are generally designed to enable women to be self-sufficient and to take their appropriate place in the family and society. Through education and health care, the women are freed from the dependence imposed on them by society and sometimes by their culture. The formation and training of groups of women help them to manage money and implement projects within their reach. Micro-projects allow them to develop their abilities in various fields thus improving their living conditions.
Refugees, migrants and displaced
In our ministries to refugees, migrants and displaced persons, the sisters provide assistance that varies according to circumstances. This can sometimes be a long term situation, for example: in India the sisters work in the refugee camps set up by the Jesuits for refugees from Sri Lanka; in Pondicherry the sisters visit a tsunami relief camp; or in Sierra Leone the sisters are involved in camps surrounding the capital, for people whose villages have been destroyed.
In many places the sisters provide the support needed to the immigrants who come looking for work and better living conditions. Elsewhere, the sisters reach out to persons more or less rejected by society: tribals (in India), Gypsies, poorly paid workers. In India the sisters have helped rickshaw drivers to set up an association to defend their rights and promote their training. The sisters have also helped to create and organization to protect young girls who come to work in private homes as maids or for other services. The sisters assist hundreds of girls with mediation with their employers, or offering them a place to spend their free time if they so wish, and helping them establish a dowry. In Brazil we have a support group for manual workers.
Justice
Some of our provinces have ‘justice committees’ while others have sisters engaged in parish or diocesan commissions for Justice and Peace. In some countries the sisters have developed rural development projects: cultivation of fruit trees, fishing, beekeeping. They have also created embroidery workshops, manufacturing of bags or other objects that give the possibility of training and a regular salary.
The sisters desire the fullness of life for everyone and work with each person encountered to give them the means to accomplish this.