Living the vision

. . . with the support of our companions

Now Associate Pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood, Tom's wit and wisdom will be especially missed. A historian both by education and nature, his perspective of the US legislative system as well as his long-standing dedication to its analysis will be a definite loss. Tom will further be remembered for his efforts in the area of worker's rights.

Joining the staff were Haley Moreland, a participant in the Sacred Heart Province Franciscan Volunteer Program, John Gonzalez, student at CTU and expectant first-time father, representing the Congregation of the Passion, and Tim Armbruster, an intern, a member of the Missouri Province of the Precious Blood Congregation and also a CTU student.

During August, the staff met for four days to decide issues and structures for the coming year. During that time, the staff crafted a Vision Statement along with annual goals which will guide and inspire the year's work.

In addition, five primary Issue Circles were defined, each with its own set of goals. These Issue Circles are staff gathering groups centered around one or more issues. Issue Circles may or may not have Action Groups attached to them.

The five Issue Circles are: Restorative Justice and Nonviolence; Economic Justice; Global Human Rights; Women in Church and Society; and Cosmology. To illustrate the Action Group principle, there is an Action Group on Closing the School of the America's attached to Global Human Rights.

Celebrating this 25th Jubilee year are the 30 religious congregations which are currently members of the 8th Day Center for Justice. All members supply the Center with direction through their board member as well as with financial support. Sponsoring members also provide full-time Center staff to work on those issues designated for the year.

The name "8th Day" was chosen to acknowledge that creation is still in process with the human community as coauthors. Much of the Center's work is done in coalition with a variety of grassroots groups -- international, national and regional-- which share a vision of a more just world. Because justice is constitutive of the Gospel, our work is a concrete expression of our spirituality. Thus, we as staff, constantly ask ourselves how our work affects the most vulnerable among us and how it affects the cosmos.
 

. . . in the spirit of our ancestors

When the Chicago Archdiocese cut the funding of the Urban Sisters Apostolate Project, the possibility of religious congregations collaborating to provide monies and personnel for an independent justice office became a reality. In 25 years what began with six congregations has grown to a partnership of 29 with ten of these communities giving a full time staff person todo the work of researching, organizing, educating, resisting and advocating on a myriad of social issues.

A 25th celebration gives us the opportunity to re-member, to give thanks and to re-commit ourselves to the Center's mission to be a critical alternative voice to systems that oppress. In this technological age we re-member the stories of what it was like to have only one typewriter, one phone and a creaky elevator at 8th Day's humble beginnings at 22 E. Van Buren. We re-member that hunger, the first issue addressed by the Center, is still a major social concern and sadly is joined by a myriad of economic and human rights issues the Center now addresses. The upside of such a phenomenon is the many new friends we've made along the way.

We give thanks to you, friends in our religious congregations, and in the coalitions and grassroots groups. Your support lightens the load as we travel the journey to justice. You give us hope that despite the struggles of injustice we don't face them alone. You remind us that alone we can do very little, but together we can continue to chip away, as we say, at the systems that oppress and do it with a light heart. The message of one of the first and still hanging banners ever to adorn the center's walls proclaims this aptly: "When all else fails, throw a party!"

We're doing just that and hope you can join us December 5, 1999, for 8th Day's 25th Celebration! We also asked Jean Hughes, staff member for nearly half of 8th Day's existence, to reflect on the center's mission. Jean Hughes, an Adrian Dominican, was on the staff at 8th Day from 1984-1996 and now works at St. Leonard's House Project for ex-prisoners.

Twenty five years and growing 8th Day Center for Justice was created out of an urgent need to identify and respond creatively to the root causes of injustices affecting millions of people around the world. It was begun as a collaborative effort among Catholic religious congregations whose leadership recognized the latent power in their own membership because of their diverse ministries and understood the increased potential for significant social change if they worked together. To this end, congregations have committed personnel and resources for 25 years.

The Issue Circle style of 8th Day staff has insured that a variety of social concerns are thoroughly researched and that appropriate strategies are employed to address them. The original notion of collaboration has been expanded by the Issue Circles who have effectively worked with other religious and grassroots groups committed to a world in which nonviolence, equal access to resources, self-determination and sustainable development are not just goals, but rather fundamental to a truly just existence.

Over the years and in our name, we have supported 8th Day staff members as they: provided a Hunger Hot Line for people needing food stamps; staffed the regional Bread for the World effort; organized writing campaigns to end the production of weapons and to support the ERA; protested against South African apartheid and U. S. bank's use of the Krugerrand; helped found and house the Illinois Committee on Responsible Investments; joined in the formation of the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America; supported efforts for the unionization of workers; organized to provide sanctuary for Central American refugees; protested the Gulf War, organized to end the economic sanctions and personally delivered medicine to Iraq; supported economic projects for sustainable development; worked for living wage agreements; protested the bombing of everywhere; held nonviolence training; produced Cleaning Up Sexist Language, Cleaning Up Biased Language, Creating Just Language booklets; supported and organized forums regarding women's issues in church and society, helped to create an organization of people who are homeless; worked toward eliminating police brutality, racism within the criminal injustice system, the death penalty; supported the Puerto Rican Prisoners of Conscience; spent six months in a federal prison in order to close the School of the Americas, organized for 20 years an annual Good Friday Walk for Justice and the Urban Plunge Week and on and on...

8th Day Center is so much more than just another organization or another "think tank." It is the audiovisual of our deepest longings, the itinerant prophet who chastises the king and embraces the person who is homeless. 8th Day asks the hard questions and challenges us to answer them with our lives. It embodies interdependence in the fullest sense, concretizing in its activity the Daniel Berrigan notion that to be fully human one finds oneself screaming when another is touched with a hot poker.

8th Day Center reminds us that creation is bigger than our species, neighborhood, town, city, state, country, planet. Changing unjust power relationships requires theological reflection, tenacity, hard work, humility, humor, and knowing that God is faithful and friendly. 8th Day encourages each of us to fully participate in the joys and sufferings, the transformation and sanctification of the next century.

Congratulations and thank you on your 25th Anniversary!
 

8th Day Center for Justice 205 W. Monroe Street Chicago, IL 60606-5033 312-641-5151 voice 312-641-1250 fax 8thday@claret.org e-mail             www.8thdaycenter.org web page	1999-2000 Vision Statement The spirituality of justice calls the 8th Day Center to envision a world of right relationships in which all creation is seen as sacred and interconnected. In such a world, all people are equal and free from oppression, have a right to a just distribution of resources, and live in harmony with the cosmos.
8th Day Centerings is published quarterly for sponsoring subscribers as a tool for education and action in the search for peace and justice in the world. Editorial Board: Dolores Brooks, OP; Kathleen Desautels, SP; Mary Kay Flanigan, OSF; Mary Ellen McDonagh, BVM.

Globalization 101: an education primer

Globalization has also been called a neo-liberal economic policy and/or a free market policy. The October 12, 1998 issue of Business Week, stated, "the idea that free markets exist in a vacuum has been shattered, [because] without rules and regulations they create anarchy." This assessment came after the 1997 Asian Crisis which shook up investors worldwide. From a social justice perspective, the primary issues of globalization include: the growing disparity between rich and poor nations and peoples; the dominance of finance capital over production; and the institutionalization of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Income Disparity

Developing countries have
75% of the World's population
15% of the World's wealth.

Developed countries have
25% of the world's population
85% of the world's wealth.

Currently, 50 percent of the poorest half of humanity's combined income is less than 225 of the richest people in the world. In the U.S., 35 million people live in poverty, 5.5 million of which are children. The 400 richest Americans have amassed a total net worth of $1 trillion, an amount greater than the gross domestic product of China. The average net worth of the 400 is $2.6 billion. Generally, the ratio of CEO salaries to ordinary workers is 419 to 1.

Community Accountability

After a December, 1995 fire destroyed its building, CEO Aaron Fuerstein of Malden Mills in Lawrence Massachusettes, called all workers together to announce the factory would be rebuilt and production would begin in three months. All workers would receive both wages and a Christmas bonus in the interim.

Fuerstein's humanity cost him $15 million. He later commented in a LIFE magazine interview, "The workers are depending on me, the community is depending on me. My customers are depending on me. And my family." Tom Brokaw called him, "a saint for the `90's". President Clinton mentioned him in a State of the Union Address.

What Fuerstein did to put people and principles before profit was very hopeful, but he is the CEO of a private, family owned business. If a CEO of a publicly traded company were to act similarly, he/she would be criticized by shareholders and Wall Street for "giving away" shareholder money and probably be ousted. This is a central problem of global capitalism that the ownership is not in the community and decisions are made without any accountability to it.

The dominance of finance capitol over production is best described by the Asian Crisis of 1997. The problem was not in production of goods or exports/imports but in the financial trading of currencies, stocks and bonds. The Thai baht (currency) collapsed in the summer of 1997. Hedge funds in the United States and other countries attempted daily for several months to destabilize it for speculative gain and eventually did just that.

New System

The IMF and the World Bank were created in 1994 at the Bretton Woods Conference to rebuild Europe. In recent decades both have been involved in the economies of developing countries. If a country needs major financial resources it can receive loans only if it agrees to a Structural Adjustment Program. This regulation includes loans and assistance from other countries. The SAP's are harsh; social programs, resulting in education and health care funds being greatly reduced and the country opening its resources to foreign investors. The poorest nations of the world have suffered greatly under this plan. Jubilee 2000, a debt forgiveness plan, is attempting to end the need for the SAP instrument. Even the World Bank, a close associate of the IMF, has criticized SAP's as the wrong approach for poverty stricken countries.The WTO has 700-plus pages of rules for a system of corporate managed trade, which sidelines environmental rules, health safeguards and labor standards to provide transnationals with a supply of cheap labor and natural resources.

Obviously, there is desperate need for new international agreements on monetary issues in this age of globalization. Many groups are organizing to effect the policies of the WTO, and IMF, World Bank. Among them is a national conference, "Coordinating Challenges to Corporate Globalization" to be held in Chicago Nov. 12-14. Call the 8th Day Center for more information.
 

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Still hunger, homelessness after all these years

In 1974, when 8th Day Center for Justice opened its doors the first issue dealt with was hunger in the United States and the world. Over the years, unfortunately, the hunger issue has remained a major concern. As the Center looked at the systemic causes of hunger, it saw that the problem was not so much a lack of food as it was lack of access to resources.

From that understanding, 8th Day began to challenge the food stamp program and helped people work through the red tape necessary to receive food stamps. This was a continuous problem, so 8th Day began Food Justice Programs-- an advocacy organization for those seeking food stamps and access to other food resources. Food Justice Programs began in 1976 and continued until 1992 when the Center was certain other organizations were handling the mission.

During the early 1980s, 8th Day Center housed Bread for the World in Illinois -- an interfaith effort to end hunger. In 1990, 8th Day was pleased to be among the first members of the newly formed Illinois Hunger Coalition. Through the efforts of the coalition and connection to national organizations, the Center was able to challenge the lack of access to the WIC (Women, Infant, and Children) nutrition program. Major strides were also made on the School Breakfast and Lunch Programs.

While researching and analyzing the food stamp program, 8th Day staff became aware of the inadequacy of the public welfare system. Thus, it became a member of and worked with the Public Welfare Coalition to make recommendations to improve the welfare system and to call for increases in the access to income and training programs.These efforts paid off on occasion. A major setback came in 1996 with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

Several years before, 8th Day strongly opposed attempts at the state level to impose earnfare requirements because they did not give recipients job training, and instead were often used as a reason for companies to hire laborers at sub-standard wages. Unfortunately earnfare requirements passed on a state level and were incorporated into the national legislation.

Through cooperation with anti-hunger organizations and immigration groups, the Center was happy to be part of the successful effort to keep food stamps as an entitlement (available to all and anyone eligible) and open this program once again to legal immigrants.

Early in the 80s, people were freezing to death on the streets due to homelessness. Shelters were being opened in church basements and other locations by people of good will. 8th Day Center began the Community Emergency Shelter Organization (CESO) to assist those trying to open shelters in the Chicago area. CESO continues to this day, as sadly the an abundance of homeless people remains.

In the early 90s, 8th Day became more involved in the homeless persons' struggle. Through Homeless On the Move for Equality (H.O.M.E.), an advocacy group made up entirely of presently and previously homeless people, 8th Day was able to hear from those most directly affected by the systems which cause homelessness. While the stories differed, major themes were repeated citing the lack of access to affordable housing, of jobs which pay a living wage, of treatment centers for substance abuse, and of halfway housing for those suffering from mental illness.

Issues of poverty continue to challenge us at 8th Day. We have learned through the years that poverty is caused when a nation does not respect individual sand when access to resources is blocked.

Journey to Justice in Guatemala

I actually arrived in Guatemala in the summer of 1998, and one of my resolutions was to find the burial site of this boy. By then Bishop Gerardi had been assassinated and of course, NUNCA MAS, had not been published. We found some partial lists of names but never Antonio's.

Then with the SOA Watch e-mail we got our first lead! Ricardo Falla, a Mexican Jesuit, had come over the border and documented many massacres in his book, Masacres de la Selva (Massacres in the Jungles), including Antonio Regino, age 8, and 8 relatives and neighbors, May 27, 1982. So in May 1999, I started my pilgrimage.

While Guatemala is smaller than Tennessee, it is very mountainous with areas of very poor roads, like the northwest corner of the country where Antonio lived, the Piedres Blanca mountains. Thankfully three young volunteers went with me and the staff of CFCA (Christian Foundation for Children and Aging), an organization through which individuals sponsor children in third world countries, arranged for a guide and places to stay.

A day by chicken bus, a day by van brought us to the last day of 3 hours by van, and 2 hours of walking, including fording two rivers chest-high. Being a nonswimmer, only the encouragement of my young friends got me across!

Now we were on the side of one mountain looking at the beautiful Piedras Blancas (outcroppings of white rock) with the much wider body to cross and three small groupings of huts up the side of that mountain.

No one in the village on this side could speak Spanish (there are 25 distinct indigenous languages in this small country) but it was clear they had never been across, nor did the map which Father Falla had drawn many years before show us which of the three sites would be Antonio's. Our guide believed that we couldn't travel on, visit the gravesites and return to our van by 6 p.m., total darkness in Guatemala.

We had to accept a poverty that indigenous people must accept every day. We, like them, had no more control over our own lives that day. After the months of searching for Antonio's name, the weeks of planning the trip, and the days of travel we had only to sit on the mountainside, look across at those 3 groupings of huts, and honor the memory of this 8-year-old child, his mother, brother, cousins and friends who were shot randomly by soldiers who somehow believed that these desperately poor people who had probably never left the mountain, who worked all day for just enough food to eat were so dangerous to the future of Guatemala, that they must be killed.

I, of course, have no picture of Antonio Regino, but I have looked upon the faces of 100s of 8-year-old Guatemala boys. I knew how hard they had to work, how much they loved to play and how eager they were to roam. On our way up that first mountain we had suddenly heard music coming from a simple hut; we were amazed that they would have electricity or even a generator. A little girl's sweet voice was singing along to "When the Saints Go Marching In". Tens of thousands of indigenous persons in Guatemala and Central America are truly the saints among us. They march, they struggle every day and tens of thousands of them have been killed by those, like the School of the Americas graduate on May 27, 1982, who thought he was so dangerous to the future of the "free"world that he shot a handsome, healthy child of 8, Antonio Regino. And the saints continue to go marching in.

Tressa Piper, OSF, is a Rochester Franciscan who recently returned from a year in Guatemala. Currently she ministers in Bemalillo, NM as an activity therapist with persons who have Alzheimer's disease.
 

We're going to keep on moving forward . . .

Federal legislative efforts on its closure have been in the House of Representatives since 1993 and in the Senate since 1997. On July 30 a first successful effort to cut some funding from the School was passed, 230-197, in the form of an amendment proposed by Rep. Moakley (D-MA) to the Foreign Operations Appropriation bill. Because a Senate version did not include the amendment, it was sent to a combined Conference Committee. That group of 15 voted 8-7 in September to reject the amendment. Close, but not good enough.

So, work continues. Contact Senators and Representatives regarding bills for closure (HR732 and S73). Come to Ft. Benning Nov. 19-21 or assist someone else. Participate in Fast 2000 April 6-19, 2000 in Washington, D.C. For info: SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017. 202-234-3440. www.soaw.org

Latin America: Faithful Involvement

There were workshops, Sister City projects, the Sanctuary movement and the Over Ground Railroad. All of these efforts which called for participation from many of our congregations were focused towards changing U.S. foreign policy, protecting human rights, and allowing people to live freely along with their resources. 8th Day continues in relationship with these countries and peoples.

In this its 25th Anniversary year, the Center will give updates on current work with Colombia and Mexico, where human rights abuses continue with impunity.

Columbia

In response, the Catholic Religious Conference of Colombia established an Intercongregational Commission, Justice and Peace, to analyze and respond to this matter. Its investigations uncovered amazing colaborations between the Colombian army, the paramilitary forces and drug traffickers in such atrocities as the infamous massacres of Trujillo.

Justice and Peace also functioned to protect the rights of civilians in the midst of conflict as well as of communities that have been forcibly displaced. In return, this organization and its director Father Javier Giraldo have received such awards as the Premio International de Derechos Humanos and the John Humphrey Award for Human Rights and is being nominated for the Nobel peace Prize.

The Colombian Army and its paramilitary branches have also harassed Justice and Peace for its human rights work in a manner which has become all too familiar. Its main offices were searched by the Colombian Army and its office in Trujillo was closed due to threats and intimidation. Its director Father Giraldo is in hiding fearing assassination.

8th Day Center for Justice is working to support the mission of Justice and Peace by developing a letter writing campaign, along with the Colombian Support Network, to put pressure on the Colombian army to stop its persecution.

Mexico

The government's response has been one of "low intensity warfare," the hand print and foot print recognized so well from those trained at School of the Americas.

Current reports by persons in the area cite abuse of human rights workers and medical personnel. The displacement of families from their land continues and has effected over 21,000 persons.

Recently the government has increased the number of troops in the Chiapas area to over 60,000. Tensions between the Zapatista's, the military and the paramilitary have intensified. Equipment and personnel in the area connected to the "drug war" are making the situation even more complex and oppressive.

Presidential elections are a year away and it is uncertain what influence they will have on governmental actions in Chiapas between now and then. The prospects for progress are bleak and the potential for conflict remains high. q

Action: write to Lic Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon Presidente de la Republica Palacio Nacional 06067 Mexico, DF Mexico

Urge: a substantial reduction of the Army presence in the conflict areas in Chiapas as an authentic and concrete sign of its will to dialogue. Urge the respect of the efforts of human rights workers and international observers whose work offers support to the peace process.
 

L isted below are a sampling of issues and projects addressed by the staff over the years. Some were short term such as Illinois Citizens for Better Care (ICBC) or Chicago Emergency Shelter Organization (CESO) which were "spun off" from the Center either because it became an independent organization or another group took it on as its only work. Other issues continue to be central to the Center's work though they have developed in broader forms, e.g., hunger/homelessness connected to the impact of globalization or the issue of the B-1 bomber connected to critiquing U.S. intervention and arms sales everywhere. Again, we look forward to a future in which the issues would be fewer, or even nonexistent.
 

Peace/Human Rights Anti-Imperialism-Intervention (1974...  B-1 Bomber /Militarism (1974... Central America (1979... Columbia (1998... Criminal Injustice Issues:     Death Penalty (1976...     Super-Max Prisons (1988...     Police Brutality (1991...     Restorative justice alternatives (1999... Cuba/Caribbean/Haiti /Mexico (1989... Immigrant Rights (1978... Middle East (1982... Nonviolence/peace (1974... Palestinian/Israeli Conflict (1986... Peru (1991) Philippines (1984... Puerto Rican & All Political Prisoners (1986... Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1992) Sanctuary (1984-1990) School of the Americas (1996... US Military Intervention/Weapon Sales (1990... Gulf War - Economic Sanctions on Iraq (1990...

Women  Sexism (1974... Eco-feminism (1988... ERA-(1974-80) Inclusive Language Issue (1980... Women's Economic Concerns (1986...     Beijing Conference Issues- (1995...         Violence against women, education, health care,           the girl-child, women and the environment...      National Health Care and Women (1991...     NAFTA/Womens Concerns (1990-1992) Women of Faith for Prison Justice (1993... Women/Church Issues (1974... Homophobia/Heterosexism  Women's Reproductive Health Concerns Alternative Spiritualities/Rituals Cosmology Integrating cosmology in light of right relationship with  earth which views all creation as sacred and interconnected.  (1997... Issues include:     nuclear toxic waste, care of air, water, ozone layer,      organic farming, food engineering and "outer      space" questions...

Keeping Nuclear Genie in Bottle

The Y2K computer bug has prompted concern, even among the US and Russian military, about possible accidental missile launches or, at the least, computer indications of such a launch, which could provoke possible retaliatory responses. A "De-alerting Coalition" of over 250 groups, is working to get nuclear weapons off-line before December 31. Call the White House (202) 456-1111 and demand this action.

The US (along with France) is using computer simulation and subcritical testing to develop new weapons. India and Pakistan are now part of this nuclear club, as are Great Britain, China, Russia and Israel. Prior to joining the club, India refused to sign the comprehensive test ban treaty because the US and other nuclear powers were not serious about disarmament.

Moreover, India said the treaty would lock India and other countries into a military disadvantage. Compounding the threat, several other countries are at the threshold of producing their own nuclear weapons and delivery systems.

Incredibly, the US response has been to try, once again, to develop an antimissile defense system. Past efforts to do so cost US taxpayers over $100 billion with nothing to show for it. Unless, of course, one considers the wealth of US weapons' manufacturers.

In the face of all this madness, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled in 1997 that atomic nuclear weapons are illegal. While grassroots efforts continue to challenge testing at the nuclear weapons test site in Nevada, to persuade members of congress to eliminate all such weapons, to disarm weapons - symbolically - through Plowshares and other nonviolent actions, many more persons need to attend to this sleeping threat to human survival.. 8th Day will continue its role in this effort.
 

Movement to End Nine Years of Iraq Sanctions Gains Momentum, National Conference Planned

Over the past years, an anti-sanctions movement has emerged. With it the US Administration has been losing ground. Last October, 43 members of Congress wrote the President calling for an end to the suffering. Universities, city councils, over a dozen major faith denominations and, most recently, the Santa Clara County Board have passed resolutions condemning economic sanctions on Iraq. This summer, a delegation of Congressional Staffers made a trip to Iraq despite the State Department's refusal to grant them permission. In December, Pope John Paul II will also likely travel to Iraq. Additionally, some of these same activities are occurring in other countries. Clearly, pressure is mounting to end the carnage which UNICEF documented, once again, in August.

In an effort to counter this growing international concern, the US has begun a campaign of misinformation which denies that genocide is occurring in Iraq and suggests that the government of Iraq is hoarding supplies. Hans von Sponek, UN humanitarean coordinator in Iraq, debunks this latter claim by pointing to Iraq's extraordinary distribution efforts in the face of a destroyed infrastructure.

In October 1999, a national organizing conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan will bring together over 24 grassroots, anti-sanctions groups from around the country to develop a more effective national strategy against this weapon of mass destruction. They will also build regional coalitions and develop a more complete understanding of the impact of sanctions on the people of Iraq.
 

Challenge: Visit Prison, Assess Conditions

According to Dr. Angela Davis, College Professor and long time prison activist, almost six million persons are subject to prison control now. Two million persons are incarcerated, and four million are subjected to prison control; probation, parole, juvenile charges, and immigration connections.

Women are the highest growing segment of prison population proportionally, and most are imprisoned for nonviolent crimes. The United States rivals only Russia for the number of persons imprisoned. Growing problems within the overall prison system include both the privatization of prisons, whereby they are run for profit and have little accountability, and the prison industrial complex, whereby prisoners work for very low wages and companies profit.

Another very serious issue involves mandatory minimum drug sentencing. Such mandated sentences have been in effect since the late 1980s and are partially responsible for the great increase of nonviolent persons in the prison population.

The following letter to the editor of the Grand Island Independent of May 6, 1999 and reprinted in the April-June, 1999 issue of FAMM-gram (a publication of Families Against Mandatory Minimums) illustrates the problem. The writer is Donna Barger from Pekin, IL federal prison.

In reference to the recent article, `Lawmakers want stiffer penalties for meth,' I certainly hope Se, Chris Peterson and the others proposing mandatory minimum sentences think long and hard before implementing them.

The federal system started using mandatory minimums supposedly to target the manufacturers and kingpins also. In reality, the result has been hundreds of low-level users and offenders being hit with these type sentences. My case is just one of hundreds. I'm serving a 10 year- mandatory minimum for possession while the people who brought the meth into town and supplied myself and others are in your community on probation.

I'm in no way condoning the use of meth, but mandatory minimums do nothing more than flood the system with lo-level users, dealers supporting their own habits and first time offenders. Meanwhile, the manufacturers and kingpins are making deals and serving no sentence sat all or very minimal time.

Read the paper - it happens every day.

Before people rally to support these mandatory minimums, stop and think about it. Are the mandatory minimums for child abuse, rape and murder? No. In the federal system there are people serving more time for drugs than someone who kills a child. What does this say about our country? . . .

Locking the door and throwing away the key is not the answer to the drug problem.

A critical issue to keep a close eye on is the reality of "trading places" Funding formerly used for social programs such as welfare, health and education is now going instead toward prison building and incarceration of people. The criminal justice system is becoming a community gatekeeper and closing the door on opportunities.

Pope John Paul II has challenged each bishop to visit a prison this year. What if we took up this challenge too? SEE what jail and or prison conditions are in your own area. Determine the needs and get involved. The more community life is brought into prisons, the more the oppression, abuse and harshness cannot flourish.

For more information contact: Families Against Mandatory Minimums 1612 K St. NW, Suite 1400, Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202-822-6700, Fax: 202-822-6704, Web site: www.famm.org. See also Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement a newly published book focusing on the nationwide epidemic of police brutality and murder of more than 2,000. It can be ordered for $15 (including shipping) from October 22/Stolen Lives, c/o Wellington Church, 615 W. Wellington, Chicago, IL 60657.
 

Women in Church and Society

Critical Issues of Patriarchy Abound in Church, Society, Language

Likewise, the Center's strategies shift to meet those differences. 8th Day's first organizing effort focused on attempting to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Though a legislative loss, liberation and transformation continues.

Critical Concerns

Beijing Conference

Each year the staff joins with other women's groups to foster the platform of action from this historic meeting by monitoring worldwide efforts of women from the two-thirds world, bringing this information to groups for social analysis and action.

Just such a mosaic of women's struggles is prompting a World March of Women scheduled for March 8, 2000 to launch activities in support of women who are the main victims of neoliberal policies. They are poor yet live on a rich planet and oppressed by patriarchal regimes. In many countries women still struggle for their most elementary rights: water, food, shelter, paid work, access to school and citizenship, freedom to choose to bear children or not.

More information about this world-wide women's effort supported by 8th Day will be in the next issue of Centerings.

Language issues

Fifteen years and nearly 40,000 books later, 8^th Day announces yet its third edition entitled: Creating Just Language to be ready for sale at the time of the 25th Anniversary.

Why such emphasis by the staff to lanugage? Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza in her article, "Equality: A Radical Democratic Ekklesial Vision" from Call to Action's Spirituality Justice Reprint of December 1998, makes the point that "changing language patterns is a very important step toward the realization of the new consciousness of radical equality, for the limits of our language are the limits of our world." If this is so," she continues, "it's no wonder that the Vatican has torpedoed [sic] the inclusive translation of the lectionary and the catechism."

Again in the words of Fiorenza: "In a radical democratic vision equality means equal access, equal respect, equal rights, equal well-being. It must be realized as political, economic, social, cultural, religious, ecclesial equality.

It does not spell sameness but difference and heterogeneity, inclusivity and partnership, self-determination and alternating leadership rooted in different gifts of the Spirit."

These values are the underpining of 8th Day's philosophy of operations for 25 years both in how the Center is organized, as well as in what we bring to individual coalition work. Creating Just Language renews the Center's effort to analyze the role of language in shaping identity and in perpetuating harmful stereotypes. It again offers practical suggestions for "creating just language."

Such language is central not only to human discourse, but to our conversations with and about God. To illustrate this, Kaye Ashe, OP in her forward of the new booklet suggests that "just language-- language that reflects our changing consciousness about God, the universe, ourselves, class, gender relations, race, disabilities, and violence- is essential if we are to overcome the injustices and hatred that obstruct the peace, equality and harmony we long for."

We invite you to read it with pleasure and share it with your colleagues and friends.

Living the Vision

Recently, as a staff. we've studied the thinking of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme. Each weekly staff meeting includes pondering how decisions will effect the cosmos (and the marginalized). For the past several years, the Center has had an Issue Group related to Cosmology.

The term Eco-justice was used in publications to refer to both ecological wholeness and social justice emphasizing that connectedness can contribute to refashioning how we think about our world, the universe, and our relatedness to all peoples.

More than 10 years ago, the Center promoted Earth Day and practices of "ecological homemaking." These included: avoiding waste in the home and when shopping (use cloth napkins, avoid PVC plastic packaging); using nontoxic household cleaning products; conserving water and energy; reducing noise and air pollution; and, of course, recycling.

Within its 25-year history, the Center has heard the cries of the earth and responded by supporting the United Farm Workers and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It has called for saving tropical rain forests and pronounced ecological rights as basic to an understanding of human rights. It has touted the dangers of genetically engineered food. In addition, it has researched the practice of "greenwashing," whereby corporations use image ads to suggest commitment to a clean and healthy environment while, at the same time, they are operating in an irresponsible manner toward the environment. Through its work with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, especially through its Energy and Environmental Issue Group, it has challenged corporations that continue practices which are essentially harmful to the earth and its peoples.

One such practice included the widespread use of chlorine which is causing serious health risks to both humans and the environment. The primary problems are with its use in bleaching paper and in household cleaning products. In papermaking, when chlorine, used to whiten paper, is mixed with lignin, a natural material in tree pulp, the fibers produce some of the most toxic substances ever created. Among these is a family of 75 different chemicals known as dioxins. The waste of paper mills also contain dioxins. Dioxins do not readily break down, which means that over a period of years, they accumulate in the air, water, soil and food chain. In fact, virtually every person in the United States, man, woman and child, has dioxins in their body. And, to make matters worse, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans ingest 300-600 times more than the EPA's so-called "safe dose." Dioxins have been conclusively linked to cancer, adult reproductive disorders, child deformities and developmental problems, and immune system breakdowns.

Many household cleaners contain chlorine, though it often masquerades behind aliases such as "sodium hypochlorite" or "hypochlorite." Breathing the fumes from such cleaners can irritate human lungs and when used in a dishwasher or washing machine, they can pollute the air in a house.

All of this has been part of the Center's ongoing work of challenging systems of domination that exploit and creating new structures in their stead.
 

Of Eco-Justice For the Cosmos

In recent years, the United States -- which produces 20 -25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas pollutants with 4 percent of the human population -- has held back progress on the global warming threat by failing to propose specific emissions reduction standards. In November 1998, the previously forged Kyoto Protocol was unchallenged at the first high-level meeting in Buenos Aires of 180 nations since its adoption. However, relations between developing countries and the US deteriorated as these countries expressed their unbelief that the US (which is the world's largest aggregate polluter) has any intention of faithfully reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, US emissions are now projected to be 17 percent above the level it promised in 1997 to achieve by the year 2000. Nevertheless, the US became the 60th signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, but if it fails to ratify (Congressional vote), it is unlikely that the Protocol will ever enter into force. Thus it is clear that the US must take action to reduce its domestic emissions in order to build confidence with the rest of the world if the entire international process is to move forward.

Developing nations, led by China and India, also balk against participation in the treaty because they argue that they must be allowed to increase industrial production and consumerism (read "development") as more industrialized countries have before them.

Even before supercomputers became available to predict how pollution may change the earth's climate, scientists have long speculated that emissions from burning coal and other fuels would lead to global warming. Over one hundred years ago, in 1896, Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, first advanced the theory that emissions of carbon dioxide would intensify the Earth's natural greenhouse effect and thus warm the planet.

Since then so-called greenhouse gases have been building up rapidly in the atmosphere, primarily due to deforestation and the burning of coal, oil, and gasoline in power plants, automobiles, and industries to such an extent that over 25 billion tons are released annually. Natural processes are unable to absorb this amount, hence there has been a 30 percent rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide since pre-industrial times and a 145 percent rise in the second most important gas, methane. Scientists predict that, unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced substantially, Earth's average temperature will rise by 2-6 degrees F by the end of the next century. Translating the impact of such warming into specific consequences is a challenging task, but possible effects might include: more intense rainfall and thereby increased flooding; sea-level rise and partial melting of mountain glaciers and polar ice caps; the viability of farms; and the spread of infectious diseases and heat waves.

How to halt global warming

2. Be fuel efficient. Every gallon of gasoline burned releases about 22 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.

3. Be and Energy Star. The U.S. Environment Protection Agency has created a voluntary label--Energy Star to spotlight high-quality energy-saving products. In a small office or school with ten computers, a printer, a fax machine and a medium-volume copier, using power-managed equipment can save 1,150 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

4. Install energy-saving lighting. High efficiency fluorescent lamps and other lighting can reduce the amount of electricity wasted in commercial buildings (with a typical size of 50,000 feet). Such lighting in a typical building could save 1.72 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Compact florescent lamps in a home can also cut emissions by 1,300 pounds over their lifetime.

5. Recycle. Buy recycled and buy carefully. Every pound of garbage results in about three pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Every pound recycled results in about two pounds.

6. Educate yourself and others. Check out: Ozone Action, 1700 Connecticut Ave, Washington, DC, 20009. www.ozone.org as well as

www.epa.gov/docs/globalwarming and www.edf.org/Want2help/b_gw20steps.html. (For a three-page list of sites, contact 8th Day)