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{{Short description|Catholic think tank in Washington, D.C.}}
{{multiple issues|
{{primary sources|date=June 2018}}
{{primary sources|date=June 2018}}
{{third-party|date=June 2018}}
{{third-party|date=June 2018}}
}}
{{Infobox organization
{{Infobox organization
| name = {{big| Center of Concern}}
| name = Center of Concern
| former name =
| former name =
| image = CenterofConcern.png
| image = CenterofConcern.png
| image_border =
| image_border =
| size = 220
| size = 220
| caption =
| caption =
| abbreviation = Center
| abbreviation = Center
| motto =
| motto =
| predecessor =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| successor =
| formation =
| formation =
| extinction =
| extinction =
| merger =
| merger =
| merged =
| merged =
| established = {{Start date and age| 1971 }}
| established = {{Start date and age| 1971 }}
| type =
| type =
| status =
| status =
| purpose = Social justice
| purpose = Social justice
| headquarters =
| headquarters =
| location = 1225 Otis Street, NE<br />[[Washington, D.C.]]
| location = 1015 15th Street, NW, Suite 600<br />[[Washington, D.C.]]
| coords =
| coords =
| region_served = Global
| region_served = Global
| membership =
| membership =
| language =
| language =
| general =
| general =
| leader_title = President
| leader_title = Interim President
| leader_name = Lester A. Myers
| leader_name = Dianna Ortiz
| leader_title3 = Chair of Board
| leader_title3 = Chair of Board
| leader_name3 = Marie Dennis
| leader_name3 = Marie Dennis
⚫
| key_people =
| leader_title4 = Development
⚫
| main_organ = Education for Justice
| leader_name4 = Christine M. Hyland
⚫
| key_people =
⚫
| main_organ = ''Education for Justice
| parent_organization =
| parent_organization =
| affiliations = [[Catholic Charities USA]], [[CIDSE]], [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]]
| affiliations = [[Catholic Charities USA]], [[CIDSE]], [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]]
| budget =
| budget =
| num_staff =
| num_staff =
| num_volunteers =
| num_volunteers =
| website = [https://www.coc.org coc.org]
| website = [https://www.coc.org coc.org]
| remarks =
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}}
}}


'''Center of Concern (Center)''' is a think tank in Washington, D.C., that [[Jesuit]] Superior General [[Pedro Arrupe]], S.J., and National Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary [[Joseph Bernardin]] (later Cardinal Bernardin) co-founded <!--at the office of United Nations Secretary General U Thant-->on May 4, 1971. The Center started as a joint project of the [[Society of Jesus]] and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]), but has operated independently since then.
'''Center of Concern (Center)''' was a think tank in Washington, D.C., that [[Jesuit]] Superior General [[Pedro Arrupe]] and National Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary [[Joseph Bernardin]] (later Cardinal Bernardin) co-founded on May 4, 1971. The Center was created as a joint project of the [[Society of Jesus]] and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Center of Concern Celebrates 45 Years of Championing Global Social Justice and Peace |url=https://jesuits.ca/press-release/center-of-concern-celebrates-45-years-of-championing-global-social-justice-and-peace/ |access-date=2022-09-21 |website=Canada Province |language=en-US}}</ref> On October 12, 2018, the Center of Concern announced<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board Update on Center of Concern and Education for Justice |url=https://educationforjustice.org/resource/board-update-on-center-of-concern-and-education-for-justice/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331105612/https://educationforjustice.org/resource/board-update-on-center-of-concern-and-education-for-justice/ |archive-date=March 31, 2022 |access-date=December 27, 2018 |website=Education for Justice |language=en-US}}</ref> that it no longer had the financial resources to sustain normal operations and that it had terminated all of its paid staff.


== History ==
== History ==
=== Beginnings ===
=== Beginnings ===
The context for the founding of the Center was the document “[[Justice in the World]]” produced by the [[Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops|Synod of Bishops]] in Rome in 1971. At this synod, the world’s Catholic bishops decreed: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church's mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/resources/synodjw.htm|title=Theology Library|website=www.shc.edu|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>
The context for the founding of the Center was the document “[[Justice in the World]]” produced by the [[Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops|Synod of Bishops]] in Rome in 1971. At this synod, the world’s Catholic bishops decreed: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church's mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Action for justice |url=https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/scripture/SitePages/Action-for-justice.aspx?csf=1&e=qtAThn |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au}}</ref>


The Center’s purpose is to study issues of development, justice, and peace from a global perspective. From the start, the Center has convened discussions regarding development, justice, and peace from a global perspective, reading the [[Sign of the times (Catholicism)|sign of the times]] and supporting [[United Nations]], Catholic social tradition, and other frameworks for such issues as population, hunger, environment, poverty, habitat, science and technology, and women’s empowerment.
The Center's purpose was to study issues of development, justice, and peace from a global perspective. From the start, the Center convened discussions regarding development, justice, and peace from a global perspective, reading the [[Sign of the times (Catholicism)|sign of the times]] and supporting [[United Nations]], Catholic social tradition, and other frameworks for such issues as population, hunger, environment, poverty, habitat, science and technology, and women’s empowerment.{{fact|date=September 2018}}


The [[List of Jesuit development centres|Center]]’s founding director, the Rev. William F. Ryan, S.J.,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jesuitforum.ca/board-of-directors/bill-ryan|title=Bill Ryan {{!}} Jesuit Forum|website=www.jesuitforum.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref> served from 1971 to 1978. His assistant, the Rev. Peter J. Henriot, S.J., succeeded him and served from 1978 to 1988.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://americamagazine.org/issue/794/article/remembering-justice|title=Remembering 'Justice': Retrieving a forgotten proclamation|date=2011-11-14|newspaper=America Magazine|access-date=2017-02-20|language=en}}</ref> From the beginning, women religious played a significant role in providing capital, governance leadership, and scholarly contributions to its work.
The Center's founding director, William F. Ryan,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Ryan {{!}} Jesuit Forum |url=http://www.jesuitforum.ca/board-of-directors/bill-ryan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622193252/http://www.jesuitforum.ca/board-of-directors/bill-ryan |archive-date=June 22, 2018 |access-date=February 20, 2017 |website=www.jesuitforum.ca |language=en}}</ref> served from 1971 to 1978. His assistant, Peter J. Henriot, succeeded him and served from 1978 to 1988.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://americamagazine.org/issue/794/article/remembering-justice|title=Remembering 'Justice': Retrieving a forgotten proclamation| date=2011-11-14| newspaper=America Magazine|access-date=2017-02-20|language=en}}</ref>


In the late 1970s, the center's work concerned what some in the [[Holy See|Vatican]] viewed it as an inappropriate foray into political activism.<ref>{{cite news |first= Loye |last= Miller |title= Rift develops over Catholic activism |page= 6C |work= The Journal-News |location= White Plains, NY |via= [[Newspapers.com]] |url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/162697498 |date = May 25, 1988}}</ref>
⚫
=== Eighties and nineties ===
⚫
Beginning in the 1980s the Center focused more on analysis of emerging social movements within the United States, on behalf of women,<ref>[https://www.coc.org/files/GWP_event_040914_Press_Release.pdf Women. Accessed 1 May 2016.]</ref> workers, the poor, and peace issues. The Center assisted the U.S. Catholic bishops with their [[pastoral letters]] on racism, peace, and the U.S. economy. In the 1990s, turning again to U.N. conferences and development abroad, the Center focused on the work of global civil society and social service organizations and community-centered, local, and grassroots organizations to complement the work of intergovernmental organizations such as the [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]] to aid the poorest people in the world .<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.policyinnovations.org/innovators/organizations/data/00591|title=Center of Concern|website=www.policyinnovations.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>


⚫
=== 1980s and 1990s ===
The year 1996, the 25th since the Center’s founding, marked anniversaries of the document ''[[Justice in the World]]'' from the 1971 Synod of Bishops, the 20th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical [[Evangelii nuntiandi|''Evangelization in the World'']], and the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Catholic bishops' pastoral letter on the U.S. economy, ''[[Economic Justice for All]]''.<ref>[http://www.usccb.org/upload/economic_justice_for_all.pdf USCCB]</ref> In the spring of 1997, the Center convened a conference with the bishops’ team that drafted the last document and [[Marquette University]], bringing Catholic social tradition and [[Bible|Scripture]] to bear on social justice issues in the global economy, with a focus on an array of decision makers, including consumers, investors, and corporate leaders.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb11988559.htm|title=Center of Concern Welcomes Decision by UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to Move Towards a Treaty to Hold Transnational Corporations (TNCs) Accountable to Human Rights|newspaper=PRWeb|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>
⚫
Beginning in the 1980s, the Center focused more on analysis of emerging social movements within the United States, on behalf of women, workers, the poor, and peace issues.{{fact|date=September 2018}} The Center assisted the U.S. Catholic bishops with their [[pastoral letters]] on racism, peace, and the U.S. economy. In the 1990s, turning again to U.N. conferences and development abroad, the Center focused on the work of global civil society and social service organizations and community-centered, local, and grassroots organizations to complement the work of intergovernmental organizations to aid the poorest people in the world .<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.policyinnovations.org/innovators/organizations/data/00591|title=Center of Concern|website=www.policyinnovations.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>

The Rev. James E. Hug, S.J., served as the Center’s president from 1989 to 2012.<ref>[http://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/ar/jhug/ Hug]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>


=== New millennium ===
=== New millennium ===
⚫
In 2000 the Center organized an initiative involving its Rethinking [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods]] Project Justice,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/04/how-the-definition-of-development-aid-is-being-eroded|title=How the Definition of Development Aid is Being Eroded {{!}} Inter Press Service|website=www.ipsnews.net|date=21 April 2016 |access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref> which began in 1995, and explored the policy implications for debt relief for poor nations. Following this, the Center welcomed the news that the [[U.S. Congress]] and administration cancelled the bilateral debt of over 30 [[Heavily Indebted Poor Countries]] (HIPC).{{fact|date=September 2018}}
Three years of preparation by the Center culminated in 1999 with a conference on an [[International Gender and Trade Network]] (IGTN) to protect the interests of women, children, families, and communities. The conference drew worldwide participation and led to the Center's designation as the secretariat for this effort, with a steering committee from regions worldwide.<ref>[https://www.coc.org/files/gwp_project_history.pdf Gender & trade]</ref><br />

⚫
In [[Jubilee (Christianity)|Jubilee Year]] 2000 the Center organized an initiative involving its Rethinking [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods]] Project Justice,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/04/how-the-definition-of-development-aid-is-being-eroded|title=How the Definition of Development Aid is Being Eroded {{!}} Inter Press Service|website=www.ipsnews.net|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref> which began in 1995, and explored the policy implications for debt relief for poor nations. Following this, the Center welcomed the news that the [[U.S. Congress]] and administration canceled the bilateral debt of over 30 [[Heavily Indebted Poor Countries]] (HIPC).

⚫
The Center founded Education for Justice<ref>{{cite web|url=https://educationforjustice.org|title=Resources|work=}}</ref> in 2001 as a Web-based global subscription service to provide a bridge of conversation between Catholic social tradition and the signs of the times in terms accessible to members in high schools, universities, parishes, religious congregations, and healthcare organizations, as well as for individuals. Education for Justice won the Harry A. Fagan Roundtable Award in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://snd1.org/en/snd-news-from-around-the-world/current-news/sr-mary-katherine-feely-receives-catholic-social-justice-award/|title=Sr. Mary Katherine Feely Receives Catholic Social Justice Award|last=|first=|date=|website=snd1.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>

Lester A. Myers, a professor of business ethics and law at Georgetown University, became the Center’s fourth president, and its first non-Jesuit president, in 2013.<ref>[https://www.coc.org/files/staff/Biography%20of%20Lester%20A.%20Myers.pdf Myers]</ref>


⚫
The Center founded Education for Justice<ref>{{cite web|url=https://educationforjustice.org|title=Resources}}</ref> in 2001 as a Web-based global subscription service to provide a bridge of conversation between Catholic social tradition and the signs of the times in terms accessible to members in high schools, universities, parishes, religious congregations, and healthcare organizations, as well as for individuals. Education for Justice's founder Jane Deren and director Sr. Katherine Feely won the Harry A. Fagan Roundtable Award in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://snd1.org/en/snd-news-from-around-the-world/current-news/sr-mary-katherine-feely-receives-catholic-social-justice-award/|title=Sr. Mary Katherine Feely Receives Catholic Social Justice Award|last=|first=|date=|website=snd1.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref>
The Center's Rethinking Bretton Woods Project continues to study the impact of international loans, grants, and trade on the poorest people and nations. It advocates for integration of human rights standards into trade and investment policies<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://us.boell.org/2015/11/05/g20s-principles-institutional-investment-trojan-horse-finance-driven-infrastructure|title=The G20’s principles on institutional investment: A Trojan horse for finance-driven infrastructure?|website=Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America|access-date=2017-02-20}}</ref> that financial institutions, nations, and the United Nations espouse. It participates in major meetings of organizations like the [[WTO]], [[International financial institutions|IFI]], and [[World Social Forum]], [[World Bank]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ourlandourbusiness.org/groups-demand-the-u-s-executive-director-of-the-world-bank-to-act-to-phase-out-business-indicators|title=Our Land Our Business – Groups demand the U.S. Executive Director of the World Bank to Act to Phase Out Business Indicators|newspaper=Our Land Our Business|access-date=2017-02-20|language=en-us}}</ref> [[International Monetary Fund]], [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]], and [[United Nations]].<br />


⚫
The Center represented the United States in the global lay Catholic development and advocacy alliance, [[CIDSE|Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité]] (CIDSE) and is a member of [[Catholic Charities USA]]. It had been accredited with consultative status before the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]] since 1974.
The Center has continued to attune and deliver its research, education, and advocacy through Education for Justice; the Rethinking Bretton Woods Project; and an Integral Voices Web-based dialogue on issues implicating girls’ education, women’s empowerment,<ref>[https://www.coc.org/files/gwp_project_history.pdf Empowerment. Accessed 1 May 2016.]</ref> and integral ecology (the holistic term Pope Francis used in ''Laudato Si''). In Education for Justice and other projects, it has been following the model of its “Community of Creative Voices” by commissioning original written and other material from a cadre of globally prominent pastoral, thought, and executive leaders. Education for Justice continues to make available to its members a growing on-line library of approximately 4,000 resources that it has created or commissioned since 2001. It has been making broader use of social media, multimedia, and other large-scale platforms, including in promoting its Pastoral Circle <ref>{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/126841667|title=Pastoral Circle}}</ref> and I Am Miriam <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.against-humanity.org/#intro |title=I Am Miriam}}</ref> anti-human trafficking initiatives, and in its annual Signs of the Times Social Justice CalendarTM. It also has been providing advisory services to organizations to assist them with philanthropic, educational, and strategic matters.


The Center ceased operations in late 2018, though the Board found a new “home” for Education for Justice, now a part of the Ignatian Solidarity Network.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=I. S. N. |date=2021-02-23 |title=Sr. Dianna Ortiz: Remembering a Powerful Advocate for Peace and Justice |url=https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2021/02/23/sr-dianna-ortiz-peace-justice/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=Ignatian Solidarity Network |language=en-US}}</ref>
⚫
The Center represents the United States in the global lay Catholic development and advocacy alliance, [[CIDSE|Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité]] (CIDSE) and is a member of [[Catholic Charities USA]]. It has been accredited with consultative status before the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]] since 1974.<ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-center-of-concern Myers, President]</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
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*[http://archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/xml/coc.xml#idm1613752624 Center of Concern Records index] via the [[University of Notre Dame]] Archives
*[http://archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/xml/coc.xml#idm1613752624 Center of Concern Records index] via the [[University of Notre Dame]] Archives


{{American think tanks}}


[[Category:Think tanks based in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Think tanks based in Washington, D.C.]]
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[[Category:Catholic organizations established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Catholic organizations established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:CIDSE]]
[[Category:CIDSE]]
[[Category:Society of Jesus in Washington, D.C.]]

Latest revision as of 17:50, 28 April 2024

Center of Concern
AbbreviationCenter
Established1971; 53 years ago (1971)
PurposeSocial justice
Location
Region served
Global
Interim President
Dianna Ortiz
Chair of Board
Marie Dennis
Main organ
Education for Justice
AffiliationsCatholic Charities USA, CIDSE, United Nations Economic and Social Council
Websitecoc.org

Center of Concern (Center) was a think tank in Washington, D.C., that Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe and National Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary Joseph Bernardin (later Cardinal Bernardin) co-founded on May 4, 1971. The Center was created as a joint project of the Society of Jesus and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).[1] On October 12, 2018, the Center of Concern announced[2] that it no longer had the financial resources to sustain normal operations and that it had terminated all of its paid staff.

History

[edit]

Beginnings

[edit]

The context for the founding of the Center was the document “Justice in the World” produced by the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1971. At this synod, the world’s Catholic bishops decreed: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church's mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”[3]

The Center's purpose was to study issues of development, justice, and peace from a global perspective. From the start, the Center convened discussions regarding development, justice, and peace from a global perspective, reading the sign of the times and supporting United Nations, Catholic social tradition, and other frameworks for such issues as population, hunger, environment, poverty, habitat, science and technology, and women’s empowerment.[citation needed]

The Center's founding director, William F. Ryan,[4] served from 1971 to 1978. His assistant, Peter J. Henriot, succeeded him and served from 1978 to 1988.[5]

In the late 1970s, the center's work concerned what some in the Vatican viewed it as an inappropriate foray into political activism.[6]

1980s and 1990s

[edit]

Beginning in the 1980s, the Center focused more on analysis of emerging social movements within the United States, on behalf of women, workers, the poor, and peace issues.[citation needed] The Center assisted the U.S. Catholic bishops with their pastoral letters on racism, peace, and the U.S. economy. In the 1990s, turning again to U.N. conferences and development abroad, the Center focused on the work of global civil society and social service organizations and community-centered, local, and grassroots organizations to complement the work of intergovernmental organizations to aid the poorest people in the world .[7]

New millennium

[edit]

In 2000 the Center organized an initiative involving its Rethinking Bretton Woods Project Justice,[8] which began in 1995, and explored the policy implications for debt relief for poor nations. Following this, the Center welcomed the news that the U.S. Congress and administration cancelled the bilateral debt of over 30 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).[citation needed]

The Center founded Education for Justice[9] in 2001 as a Web-based global subscription service to provide a bridge of conversation between Catholic social tradition and the signs of the times in terms accessible to members in high schools, universities, parishes, religious congregations, and healthcare organizations, as well as for individuals. Education for Justice's founder Jane Deren and director Sr. Katherine Feely won the Harry A. Fagan Roundtable Award in 2011.[10]

The Center represented the United States in the global lay Catholic development and advocacy alliance, Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE) and is a member of Catholic Charities USA. It had been accredited with consultative status before the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1974.

The Center ceased operations in late 2018, though the Board found a new “home” for Education for Justice, now a part of the Ignatian Solidarity Network.[11]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Center of Concern Celebrates 45 Years of Championing Global Social Justice and Peace". Canada Province. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
  2. ^ "Board Update on Center of Concern and Education for Justice". Education for Justice. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  3. ^ "Action for justice". catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  4. ^ "Bill Ryan | Jesuit Forum". www.jesuitforum.ca. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "Remembering 'Justice': Retrieving a forgotten proclamation". America Magazine. 2011-11-14. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  6. ^ Miller, Loye (May 25, 1988). "Rift develops over Catholic activism". The Journal-News. White Plains, NY. p. 6C – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Center of Concern". www.policyinnovations.org. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  8. ^ "How the Definition of Development Aid is Being Eroded | Inter Press Service". www.ipsnews.net. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  9. ^ "Resources".
  10. ^ "Sr. Mary Katherine Feely Receives Catholic Social Justice Award". snd1.org. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  11. ^ Staff, I. S. N. (2021-02-23). "Sr. Dianna Ortiz: Remembering a Powerful Advocate for Peace and Justice". Ignatian Solidarity Network. Retrieved 2022-09-30.

38°56′3.87″N 76°59′23.12″W / 38.9344083°N 76.9897556°W / 38.9344083; -76.9897556

[edit]
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