Center of Concern: Difference between revisions
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| name = {{big| Center of Concern}} |
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| abbreviation = COC |
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| established = {{Start date and age| 1971 }} |
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| type = NGO<br>UN consultative status |
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| status = |
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| purpose = Social justice |
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| headquarters = |
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| location = 1225 Otis St. NE<br> [[Washington, D.C.]] |
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| region_served = Global |
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| general = |
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| leader_title = President |
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| leader_name = Lester A. Myers |
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| leader_title2 = CEo |
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| leader_name2 = Ann O. Venton |
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| leader_title3 = Chairman of Board |
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| leader_name3 = John P. Langan, S.J. |
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| leader_title4 = Development |
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| leader_name4 = Christine M. Hyland |
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| key_people = |
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| main_organ = ''Center Focus'' |
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| parent_organization = Society of Jesus |
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| affiliations = [[Jesuit]], [[Catholic church|Catholic]] |
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| budget = $1,000,000 yearly<ref>[https://www.coc.org/files/Audited%20Financial%20Statements%20for%20the%20Year%20Ended%20June%2030%2C%202014.pdf Budget]</ref> |
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| website = [https://www.coc.org COC] |
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}} |
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'''Center of Concern (COC)''' is an independent, international center for justice and peace studies and advocacy in the [[Catholic church|Catholic]] tradition, founded by [[Jesuits]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], in 1971. It has [[NGO]] and [[consultative status]] with the [[UN]].<ref>[https://cedc.org/partners/center-of-concern-coc CEDC]</ref> |
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Since its founding in 1971 at the office of United Nations Secretary General U Thant by National Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary Joseph Bernardin and Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe, S.J., and with significant talent and treasure from women religious, Center of Concern (Center) has operated in Washington, D.C., with a mission to research, educate, and advocate from Catholic social tradition to create a world where economic, political, and cultural systems promote sustainable flourishing of the global community. The Center envisions a global community that upholds basic human rights and human dignity, fosters just relationships, promotes sustainable livelihoods, and renews the earth. |
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==History== |
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===Beginnings=== |
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The Center’s strategy for executing this mission is to add value by engaging with public and private centers of influence through an integrated model of social enterprise that seeks global transformation for social justice in core competencies of social justice education; global financial systems and human rights; global women’s issues; integral ecology; strategic governance, principled leadership, and philanthropy; and related areas. |
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The context of 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>[http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/resources/synodjw.htm Synod, 6.]</ref> The Center’s website details the important contribution of the following in its founding: Jesuit Frs. [[Pedro Arrupe]], Bill Ryan, and Phil Land and Bishop [[Joseph Bernardin]] (later Cardinal Archbishop, General Secretary of the [[U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]] in 1971). The Center’s purpose is to study issues of development, justice, and peace from a global perspective. From the start it maintained this perspective, reading the [[Sign of the times (Catholicism)|sign of the times]] and supporting the [[United Nations]] call for a [[New International Economic Order]] including such issues as population, hunger, environment, poverty, habitat, science and technology, and women. |
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The Center represents 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 has been accredited with consultative status before the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1974. |
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The Center is a social profit organization exempt under United States Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3). |
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Founded 1971 |
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www.coc.org |
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===Eighties and nineties=== |
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Beginning in the 1980s the Center’s focus was drawn more to analysis of emerging social movements within the country, on behalf of women, of labor, of the poor, and of peace issues. COC assisted the Catholic bishops with their [[pastoral letters]] on racism, peace, and the U.S. economy. In the 1990s, turning again to UN conferences and development abroad, the Center found that NGOs and community-centered, local, and grassroots organizations held more hope than institutions like the [[World Bank]] and [[International Monetary Fund]] which had become part of the problem. |
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The year 1996, the 25th since COC’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> This gave occasion for a conference cosponsored by Archbishop [[Rembert Weakland]] of [[Milwaukee]] and [[Marquette University]] in the Spring of 1997. It brought Catholic social teaching and [[Bible|Scripture]] to bear on social justice issues in the global economy, with a focus on such actors as corporate leaders.<br> |
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In August 1998, to accommodate an increasing staff, COC moved from 3700 13th St. to its present, more spacious location at 1225 Otis St., a former Jesuit house of studies, |
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===New millennium=== |
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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 COC’s being designated 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> |
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In [[Jubilee (Christianity)|Jubilee Year]] 2000 the Center organized an initiative for the rethinking of [[Bretton Woods system|Bretton Woods]] and debt relief for poor nations. Following this the [[U.S. Congress]] and administration canceled the bilateral debt of over thirty [[Heavily Indebted Poor Countries]] (HIPC). COC's Education for Justice Project has continually engaged in publication of materials to inform the Catholic conscience, useable by religious institutions, educators, and communities. These are now available on the Center’s Education for Justice website.<ref>[https://educationforjustice.org Education]</ref><br> |
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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 espoused by financial institutions and the UN. It also analyzes the effect of lobbying and investment on the poor worldwide, as in its Agribusiness Accountability Initiative. COC participates in major meetings of organizations like the [[WTO]], [[International financial institutions|IFI]], and [[World Social Forum]].<br> |
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COC publishes the quarterly newsletter ''Center Focus'',<ref>[https://www.coc.org/resources/center-focus Focus]</ref> and since 2001 has offered free educational materials on its ''Education for Justice'' website.<ref>[https://www.coc.org/efj EforJ]</ref> It continues to expand its reach, including its presence on [[Social networking service|social networking services]] on the [[internet]]. |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|3}} |
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[[Category:Jesuit development centres]] |
[[Category:Jesuit development centres]] |
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Revision as of 02:36, 6 March 2016
Since its founding in 1971 at the office of United Nations Secretary General U Thant by National Conference of Catholic Bishops General Secretary Joseph Bernardin and Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe, S.J., and with significant talent and treasure from women religious, Center of Concern (Center) has operated in Washington, D.C., with a mission to research, educate, and advocate from Catholic social tradition to create a world where economic, political, and cultural systems promote sustainable flourishing of the global community. The Center envisions a global community that upholds basic human rights and human dignity, fosters just relationships, promotes sustainable livelihoods, and renews the earth.
The Center’s strategy for executing this mission is to add value by engaging with public and private centers of influence through an integrated model of social enterprise that seeks global transformation for social justice in core competencies of social justice education; global financial systems and human rights; global women’s issues; integral ecology; strategic governance, principled leadership, and philanthropy; and related areas.
The Center represents 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 has been accredited with consultative status before the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1974.
The Center is a social profit organization exempt under United States Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3).
Founded 1971
www.coc.org