A Timeline

Our Work for Justice and Systemic Change

2009

• Climate Crisis: Peril and Promise (2.6MB-downloadable PDF) is published.

2007

• Congregation Justice Committee (CJC) hosts the Cosmic Walk Art Exhibit, which tells the universe story through a series of 31 hand-embroidered panels based on the writings of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme. The women who crafted these panels are members of the Kopanang Project, a South African ministry that addresses the economic strife afflicting AIDS/HIV positive women and their families.
• CJC and Holy Cross International Justice Office co-sponsor JusticeCraft, June 3-10.

2006

• Nonviolence: Another Path (2,050KB-downloadable PDF) is published.
• Corporate Stand on Nonviolence (429KB-downloadable PDF) is approved.

2005

• CJC adopts the Earth Charter as the framework for its issue-based work.
• CJC and Holy Cross International Justice Office co-sponsor two major events:
• Two-week justice internship for CSC novices (January 2005)
• JusticeCraft (June 2005)
• CJC and Holy Cross International Justice Office initiate Holy Cross Action Center for legislative advocacy.

2004

• Corporate Stand: Water as a Human Right and Public Trust (265KB-downloadable PDF) is approved.
• Solidarity (1,007KB-downloadable PDF) is published.
• Twenty-Third General Chapter endorses Chapter Direction: Holy Cross Women Creating and Strengthening Right Relationships.

2003

• Voices & Visions 2003: A Calendar Celebrating Human Solidarity is published and distributed to the congregation.

2002

• Education emphasis for the congregation:  Ecological Sustainability
• Earthfest: A Calendar Celebrating the Earth Community is published and distributed to the congregation.
• Earth at Risk (325KB-downloadable PDF) is published.
• The Earth Charter is endorsed by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

2001

• Educational emphasis for the congregation: Global Economic Justice
• Sisters of the Holy Cross join Steering Committee of Jubilee USA.
• Beyond Jubilee: Global Economic Issues for the New Millennium (741KB-downloadable PDF) is published. It is distributed to all present at the joint LCWR/CMSM National Assembly in August.
• Debtspeak (708KB-downloadable PDF), a glossary of economic terms, is published.
• The congregation responds to the national tragedy of September 11 and the war on terrorism that follows.

2000

• CJC charged by congregation leadership to work in four distinct issue areas:
• Global Economic Justice
• Ecological Sustainability
• Prejudice and Discrimination
• Women’s Human Rights
• Sisters of the Holy Cross join with other Holy Cross congregations to form the Holy Cross International Justice Office.
• CJC sponsors Jubilee Spirituality Retreat, facilitated by Marie Dennis, director of the Maryknoll Office for Peace, Justice, and the Integrity of Creation.

1999

• CJC goes to Washington, D.C., to meet with World Bank and IMF representatives. Meetings also are held with Congressional representatives and with legislative advocacy staff at the Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Persons.
• Twenty-second General Chapter of the Congregation endorses “Holy Cross Women Seeking Justice in the New Millennium” Direction Statement.
• CJC reorganizes its structure to broaden participation and implement the Chapter Direction Statement.
• Sisters of the Holy Cross join Steering Committee of 50 Years is Enough.
• CJC responds to requests from over 60 religious congregations for information/presentations on global economic/jubilee issues.

1998

• Imagine a World Ruled by Transnational Corporations (959KB-downloadable PDF) is published. It desribes the provisions of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
• Corporate Stand of the Oppression of Women in Societal and Religious Structures is approved.
• The Congregation Justice Committee co-sponsors a workshop entitled “Can You Be a Sister of the Holy Cross and a Feminist?”
• Brochures from 1994 and 1996 are distributed to women’s religious congregations in the United States at the National Assembly of the Leadership Conference on Women Religious (LCWR).

1997

• The first issue of a quarterly newsletter, Holy Cross Global Economic Justice Network, is published and sent free of charge to economic activists.
• Legislative Advocacy Manual (544KB-downloadable PDF) is published. Sisters in the United States are encouraged to initiate regular contact with elected representatives on issues of social justice.
• The CJC sponsors a seminar on ecology presented by Paula Gonzalez, SC, of EarthConnection.
• Jeannine Gramick, SSND, addresses a meeting of the CJC on the civil rights of gay and lesbian persons.
• The congregation endorses the Jubilee 2000 USA initiative.

1996

• A full-time congregation justice coordinator is hired to work with the CJC
• Looking at the Global Economy Through the Eyes of Women (125KB-downloadable PDF) is published.
• The congregation joins and supports movements for global economic justice: 50 Years Is Enough and Women’s Eyes on the World Bank.
• The congregation joins the boycott of products associated with tobacco companies Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds.
• The CJC sponsors a week-long seminar on global economics presented by Jo Marie Griesgraber of the Center of Concern.
• The congregation is represented on the board of the newly formed Religious Working Group on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

1995

• Two representatives attend the fourth United Nations Conference on Women held in Beijing, China.

1994

• Corporate Stand: A Call for Land Reform is approved.
• Basta! Enough! (177KB-downloadable PDF) is published. It describes the neoliberal economic system, its proponents (the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) and effects.

1991

• CJC is formed to facilitate the congregation’s work for justice.

1989

• The 20th General Chapter articulates the congregation’s call to work with the poor and the powerless in society, especially women. The call to transform unjust societal structures is reemphasized.

1986

• Congregation divests itself of all investments in corporations that do business with the pro-apartheid regime in South Africa. 

1985

• Formation of a Task Force: Discerning the Call to Nonviolent Civil Disobedience.
• Corporate Stand: Opposing U.S. (War-related) Intervention in Central America is approved.

1984

• The congregation approves a process for taking a “corporate stand” or a congregational position on social justice issues.
• The first Corporate Stand, Called To Be Peacemakers, is approved.
• The Building a Religious and Human Society Committee designs guidelines for civil disobedience and provides workshops/trainings on nonviolent civil disobedience.

1981

• Sister Ellen Dolores Lynch is the first Sister of the Holy Cross missioned to full-time work for structural change.

1979

• The leadership of the congregation formulates the goal: to encourage work for social change. A committee is formed (Building a Religious and Human Society) to move the congregation in this direction.

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