Church and Society Gathering: Faith and Social Justice
Harrisburg, PA, September 16-18, 1999

In July, the Commonwealth Court refused to issue an injunction blocking the implementation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (Chapter 13 of Act 93 of 1998). However, Judge James Kelley scheduled a full hearing on the merits of the case before the entire nine member Court in the case of Gmerek and Artz v. State Ethics Commission. On October 6, 1999, Commonwealth Court, sitting en banc in Philadelphia, will hear oral arguments in the case.

The Gmerek lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The plaintiffs maintain that the Act impermissibly regulates the practice of law, a responsibility which the Pennsylvania constitution assigns solely to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Act 93 contains a severability clause [Section 1311(b)] which mandates that the application of the Act be stricken as to all parties, if any provision is held invalid as improper regulation of attorneys' conduct.

• Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
  Also see NCC Climate page.
  NCC publishes a 5-session Biblically-based study of climate change "It's God's World: Christians, Care for Creation and Global Warming.". (18 pages). Order #EJ-9701, for $2.00 each (with a briefing paper), or 5 or more for $1 each, from Environmental Justice Resources, National Council of Churches, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Phone: 800-762-0968 or 219-264-3102. Other resources also available from NCC.
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
  • IPCC reports.
• U.S. Global Change Research Group (USGCRP).

  The National Environmental Trust, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Physicians for Social Responsibility has launched a national educational campaign to raise awareness of the problem of global warming and to give people a way to register their concerns with elected officials. This campaign features a website at http://www.hotearth.net.
  Beyond basic information, www.hotearth.net enables visitors to send free e-mails and faxes automatically to elected officials.
  www.hotearth.net also shows visitors how they can do simple things to address this problem--like using public transportation more often and replacing old light bulbs with high-efficiency fluorescent ones.

Other environmental resources:

Greening the Church for the Next Millenium, a workshop at Drew University, Madison, NJ (Oct. 19-21, 1999) with nationally prominent speakers. E-mail: rberming@drew.edu. Phone: 973-408-3227.

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Death Penalty / Capital Punishment

Workshop leader at the gathering: Pat Clark, American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. E-mail: pclark@afsc.org

See also links on criminal justice issues.

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Economic Justice

Workshop leader at the gathering: Robert Walden, 826 Tioga Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18018. E-mail: RWaldenPA@aol.com. His workshop presentations use educational resources from United for a Fair Economy. See, for example:

• Faith-based economic justice.
• Other resources for economic issues, including information about the World Trade Organization which meets in Seattle the week of Nov. 29, 1999.

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Gambling

Workshop leader at the gathering: Dianne Berlin, 1439 Jerry Lane, Manheim, PA 17545. Phone: 717-665-7382. E-mail: DMBerlin@aol.com Dianne Berlin's web page.

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Health Care

Health Care links

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Healing the Wounds of Racism

The workshop presenters were: Hilda M. Campbell, 603 West 13th Street, Chester, PA 19013. ( Feltonville UMC: Phone: 610-494-6228).
Charlene Segal, 7227 N. Leonard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19149. Phone: 215-333-7428.

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Peace with Justice

The workshop presenter was: Ann F. Price, 103 Gedney St., Apt. 6F, Nyack, NY 10960. Email: annfprice@aol.com

See, for example, Peace resource links

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Restorative Justice

Workshop leader at the gathering: Frances Jett, General Board of Church and Society, 100 Maryland Avenue, N.E. 20002. E-mail: Fjett@umc-gbcs.org www.umc-gbcs.org.

A primary resource for Restorative Justice is the book Changing Lenses by Howard Zehr (Herald Press: 1990), which includes a study guide for each chapter and an extensive bibliography (Herald Press: 1990).

Other recent publications include special issues on Restorative Justice:
New World Outlook, July-August, 1999 issue.
Response, June, 1999 issue. ( Response magazine, 1-800-305-9857, is a monthly publication for United Methodist Women).

Restorative Justice links:

• Justice Fellowship -- a Christian public policy organization that seeks to promote Biblically based principles of restorative justice.
• Restorative Justice Ministries Network is a prison ministry resource whose purpose is to motivate, educate, and equip the church to develop local criminal justice ministries.
• Center for Restorative Justice and Mediationhas been established to provide technical assistance, training, and research internationally in support of restorative justice practice and principles.
• Other links on criminal justice / prison ministries.

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Welfare Reform

Workshop leader at the gathering: Berry Friesen, Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center, 208 North Third Street, Suite 200, Harrisburg, PA 17101. Phone: 717-233-6705; FAX: 717-231-4085. E-mail: pahunger@paonline.com

See also welfare reform links.

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Audio Tapes

A total of four sessions were recorded on audio tape when volunteers were available to do so. The tapes are of moderate quality (adequate for personal listening, but not recommended for group use).

TAPE	PRESENTER	TOPIC	COST*
1	Ann F. Price Thom White Wolf Fassett	Saturday Opening Worship and Keynote Presentation	$2
2	K. Joy Kaufmann	Campaign Finance Reform	$2
3-4	Frances Jett	Restorative Justice Workshop	$3
5-6	Paz Artaza Regan	Climate Change Workshop	$3

*Suggested donation to cover cost of tapes and mailing.

Send requests (with your name, address, and phone number) to Robert Walden, 826 Tioga Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18018-3320 and make checks payable to Eastern Pennsylvania Conference UMC.

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Other Resources

Here are a few resouces related to gathering themes. Additional resources and links may be added to this page if there is sufficient interest. (Contact: RWaldenPA@aol.com).

[1] Christian Social Action, Circulation office: 100 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002. (202) 488-5617. (CSA is published by United Methodist General Board of Church and Society).

[2] Response magazine,. 1-800-305-9857. (Response is a monthly publication for United Methodist Women).

[3] Sojourners, Sojourners Resource Center , 1-800-714-7474. Monthly magazine and special issues on social justice issues from a faith perspective. Also see http://www.sojourners.com/sojourners/home.html.

Also see other pages at this site or http://www.epaumc.org/ch_soc.htm for resources and links on related topics.

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Address comments about this page to rwaldenpa@entermail.net

Location: http://www.enter.net/~ppjr/cswt/umcs99r.htm
Last Updated: 11/28/99

Created: October 10, 1999