History

IJPC—The First Twenty-Five Years

In the summer of 1984, Joyce Hoban,SNDdeN, Provincial of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and Louise Akers, SC happened to meet at the swimming pool of Mt. St. Joseph Motherhouse.  Their sharing of ideas and dreams about a way for women religious to collaborate in justice and peace work proved to be the providential spark from which IJPC was born.

One year later, IJPC opened in rental space at the Athenaeum. The five founding congregations, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, agreed to collaborate in prayer, study and action. They pooled books, AVs, the talents of the sisters and furnishings - some of which still survives in the present IJPC office. Louise Akers,SC was hired as the first coordinator.  Joan Krimm, SNDdeN, Jeanne Masterson, CSJ, Judith Metz, SC, Marie Moore, RSM, and Rose O’Brien,OSF served as the Advisory Board representing the sponsoring communities. The center was introduced to the public and the work began.

Goals were immediately established:

  • To deepen awareness of justice as integral, not optional, to our faith response.
  • To network participating religious congregations and to collaborate with other concerned groups for stronger public witness and impact on justice.
  • To broaden the base of participation in affecting structural injustice.
  • These goals essentially remain the same today.
 
Peace, Sanctuary for Central American Refugees, Central America and the Concerns of Women (the economically poor and in the Church) were the first areas of focus.  By 1991 the need for a Sanctuary Movement was diminishing. IJPC adopted racial equality as a new focus. Economic Justice and the Environment were added during the next few years and the emphasis on Central America was broadened to include a commitment to all human rights.

Additional groups and individuals asked to join IJPC very soon after its foundation. The Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor and the Good Shepherd Sisters became IJPC’s first associate members during 1986.  Today, there are seventeen organizational members and thousands of individual supporters.

In December of 1987 IJPC moved to St. Francis Seraph School and in1990 to Peaslee Neighborhood Center.  In 1991, IJPC was incorporated and in 1992 was certified as a 501(c) (3) tax exempt educational organization. IJPC found a home and a sense of permanence.

During 1988-89 IJPC worked with Sam Wyche and the HomeAid Program.  Thousands of dollars were distributed to agencies working with the homeless and a resource guide to agencies developed.  

It became evident that the work and membership of IJPC was outgrowing its structure.  At the 1994 Annual Meeting the Advisory Board was expanded to include people not members of sponsoring communities and in 1995 the Advisory Board became a Board of Directors.

IJPC strengthened and renewed its commitment to local issues in 1997 when the Intercommunity Ministry Collaborative merged into IJPC.   This was the same year that the Peace Camp program began. As the possibility of executions in Kentucky and Ohio became a probability and then an actuality, IJPC began a committee to oppose the death penalty.  The committee became a local chapter of Ohioans To Stop Executions with a prayer and a presence at every execution.  Families That Matter, representatives of families who have or had members on death row, and a newly forming Murder Victims’ Families For Reconciliation round out efforts to educate and advocate around the death penalty.

Efforts surrounding nuclear disarmament, conflicts in Central America, Gulf War I, The Balkans and now Gulf War II have kept IJPC in the forefront of efforts to bring about world peace.  NAFTA, CAFTA, TABD, WTO and other “free trade” and economic globalization initiatives have called IJPC members into the streets to protest.

Over the last 25 years, IJPC has responded:

  • To requests (Over-the-Rhine moms asked for a recreational program for their daughters and the Boatrockers Softball team formed),
  • To opportunity ( media events for speakers coming through town),
  • To neighborhood pain ( Cincinnati racial disturbances),
  • Through the media (Faith and Justice Forum and numerous other interviews),
  • In symbol (standing near the KKK Cross), in public prayer (Hiroshima Anniversary, commemoration of martyrs),
  • Through education (lots of programs),
  • By mentoring ( a stream of youthful volunteers and interns) and much more.
 
We’ve only just begun.

 

Our logo

IJPC was founded by congregations of women religious. The cross represents our faith base.The lines which extend out and beyond the border express our commitment to work on personal, local, national and global issues.

The world symbol holds four focus areas that were our core focus twenty years ago: Peace, Women, Racism and Central America. Over the years we have broadened the Central America interest to include other human rights issues and have added economic justice and environment issues to our ambitions.