Dia dhíbh go léir a chairde. Is mór an onóir agus pléisúir dom bheith anseo inniu. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.

Good morning and thank you very much for your very warm welcome and kind invitation (…) to give this inaugural lecture dedicated to the name of Madeleine Sophie. It really is an honour to be involved in the first of what I hope will become an important and thought provoking annual event. The theme of Social Concern sets a clear agenda and one that has long been embedded in the charism of the Sacred Heart Order for it was that very concern for social justice and equality that drew the order into the field of education and in particular the education of young women.

(…) It is easy to forget today that many of the Western world's most influential educators and intellectuals right up to the middle of the twentieth century saw little value in educating women, a shockingly wasteful and embedded cultural view which is still prevalent in many parts of the world but thankfully not here. Today our young women outnumber men in colleges and universities. They can and do follow whatever career paths they themselves choose and though they are still substantially under-represented in the upper echelons of politics, religion and business the momentum created by their ability and ambition is unstoppable and will in time bring greater balance and coherence to decision making and to discovery in our world.

How did we get from those days of overlooking the talents of women to these times of encouraging and nurturing them? The story of Madeleine Sophie Barat gives us part of the answer for the changes that brought freedom and opportunity to today's generation. It did not happen by coincidence but by concerted and courageous effort. The Society of the Sacred Heart, which she founded 210 years ago, developed an educational project which quickly spread throughout Europe and the Americas.

Although she faced many difficulties and challenges, during a time of revolutionary change in France, Madeleine Sophie Barat was a pioneer in providing for the education of girls and had an impact on society that hugely exceeded her own expectations and extended far beyond her lifetime and her country. During the last two centuries, many likeminded, dedicated women were inspired by the example of Madeleine Sophie. They dedicated their lives not just to the Society of the Sacred Heart but to the task of helping generations of young women to achieve their full potential through nurturing new levels of confidence, achievement and ambition. Today we can look back across the centuries and see the steady linear progression. But the journey from then to now was far from easy or seamless for many obstacles were put in the path to the full liberation of women and some of them still remain. The work of the next generation is to remove these obstacles across the five continents and 45 countries where the Sacred Heart schools have changed and are continually changing the lives of thousands for the better.

Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat was propelled to act not just out of a random sense of social justice but out of a view of the Christian gospel which she saw as a radical call to action wherever circumstances conspired to reduce the dignity of the human person. Endemic poverty and disease, gender biased cultural norms and practices, conflict and violence continue in many parts of the world to rob countless millions of hope and of opportunity to flourish. The impact is adverse for men and even more adverse for women. Yet wherever those problems exist, you will find Irish men and women at work as missionaries or as members of NGOs inspired by a vision of social concern and a personal responsibility for action. (…)

We have benefitted from considerable progress, prosperity and success in Ireland in recent decades but now the climb has suddenly become steeper as we face a global recession and a national as well as an international financial crisis. There is unhappiness, stress and worry in people's lives due to job loss and debt. There is indignation that so much of what appeared to be credible enterprise was high-risk speculation that has jeopardized economic wellbeing and reduced opportunity for so many, especially our young people. How do we get from here to where we want to be? The answer is the same way that Madeleine Sophie did - by seeing each other as family, as brothers and sisters as people who have a responsibility to and for each other and by working together unselfishly for the benefit of all. (…)

 [Madeleine Sophie] was Superior General of the Sacred Heart community at the age of 26 - a powerful woman in an era when little was expected of women. Thanks to her and many like her we now are beginning to see what the world could look like when the talents of all humanity are encouraged to blossom. It is still a steep climb though. Ask yourselves what things make you angry, frustrated, dismayed and then ask yourselves what you are prepared to do to fix them. That is where social concern starts in seeing the things that are wrong. But the test of our social concern is what we are prepared to do to make things better? The proclamation of our republic set us an ambition to create a nation which would cherish all its children equally. We are closer to that ambition today than we were a century ago but we are still far from its achievement.