Center of Concern

"The 1971 Rome Synod of Bishops framed "Justice in the World", the statement which set the justice and peace agenda for the decade. Father Bill Ryan, SJ, founder and first executive director of the Center of Concern, and Phil Land, S.J. attended that synod.

"Bill Ryan was co-director of the Social Action Department of the Canadian Catholic Conference when, in October of 1970, Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), asked him to go to Washington, DC to assist in the establishment of an international center to study issues relating to development, justice, and peace from a Christian perspective. The proposed center, a joint initiative of the United States Conference Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Society of Jesus, was to be established as an independent organization.

"On May 4, 1971, the establishment of the Center of Concern was formally announced by Father Arrupe and Bishop Joseph Bernardin, then General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (later Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago), at a meeting with United Nations Secretary General U Thant in his New York Office. The UN setting was strategic: from its inception, the Center of Concern would have a global perspective."

Staff
Accessed April 2010:


 * James Hug, SJ, Ph.D., President
 * Katherine Feely, SND, MA, Director, Education for Justice Project
 * Jane Deren, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Education for Justice Project
 * Julia Wartenberg, MA, Director, Global Women's Project
 * Kristin Sampson, MALD, Coordinator, Global Women's Project
 * Maria Riley, OP, Ph.D, Senior Advisor, Global Women's Project
 * Aldo Caliari, LL.M., MIPP, Director, Rethinking Bretton Woods Project
 * Donald Coates, Director of Development & Communications

Board
Accessed April 2010:


 * Nancy Bramlage
 * Helen Marie Burns
 * Jeff Chojnacki
 * James Hug
 * Mark Koenig
 * Kenneth Melley
 * Jan Middlebrooks
 * Manuel Montes
 * John Reid (Reid Group)
 * Mariama Williams

Contact
URL: http://www.coc.org

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 * Human and Civil Rights Organizations of America
 * Jolene Smith
 * John M. Walsh
 * Katie Mounts