This is an anniversary year for several denominational ministries in the Appalachian region. EAM was chartered on December 31st of 1964, so we are in our 40th year. Our Presbyterian counterpart, Coalition for Appalachian Ministry (CAM), held a special anniversary assembly last fall to commemorate their 40 years of ministry. The Commission on Religion in Appalachia - of which EAM is the Episcopal member - is celebrating its 40th anniversary and February 1st marked the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Catholic Bishop's Pastoral Letter “This Land is Home to Me,” an important landmark in the Appalachian social and economic justice movement.
The pastoral letter was the result of a three-year process of gatherings in churches, union halls, factories and community centers and reflected the “problems and issues, challenges and opportunities and resources and gifts” of the people who responded, according to the Rev. Joseph R. Hacala, S.J., President of Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit University, who was present at the signing of the original document.
The Bishop's Pastoral has been published in dozens of languages and has had four revisions and reprints. It was also the model used by the EAM (then APSO) Bishops for their Appalachian Pastoral Letter in 1987. (Please see side bar accompanying this article.)

Sister Robbie Pentecost, staff of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, says “The Pastoral Letter was the seed for a lot of follow up, especially in the Catholic Church. But lots of what is in the Pastoral is still relevant. This is a not document about which we can say 'it's thirty years old, so we don't need to look at it again.' It is still bold and challenging to the Church and sets a framework of dialogue for meeting the hopes and dreams of justice in the Appalachian region.”

Copies of the Pastoral ($2.50) and a second Pastoral Letter “At Home in the Web of Life” ($5.00) can be ordered from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, P O Box 62, Wittensville, KY 41274, or by email at  ccappal@foothills.net .

CORA is undertaking a process of evaluation and revisioning as part of the 40th anniversary observance and will host a region-wide celebration at the Fall Assembly in October.

EAM is also undergoing some evaluation and long-range planning as a way of looking back at the past and forward to the future. Details of this work will be highlighted in a future issue of Mountain Echoes.

Justice for all, like peace, is certainly possible but it demands a change in attitude of both mind and heart.

For justice to prevail there can be no exploitation of the poor, no hunger, no discrimination.

For justice to exist, no only is a change in attitude demanded, but solutions to the problems must be found and implemented. We have no other moral choice.
 
We recognize that persons of good will may differ on ways of realizing a just economy. But we strongly affirm that economic decisions that affect people are a moral concern.

God is honored when we create justice for all. God is honored when the hungry are fed and when the poor and oppressed may taste the sweet fruit of justice. God is honored when sinners repent and find forgiveness, when the broken-hearted are healed and when the lonely and dejected and rejected discover their humanity through servanthood in the body of Christ, the Church.

If a vigil of hope is to be kept alive in these times, then we are going to need each other as never before.

Hope is not a private virtue. It is a gift of the Spirit to the gathered faithful. Hope, like laughter, can be contagious if we devote ourselves to nurturing it.
 
Devotion, forbearance, and hard work will be required as we seek to find the words and sign the songs that will bring spiritual renewal and social justice to Appalachia.

“An Appalachian Pastoral Letter” by the Bishops of the Appalachian People’s Service Organization(APSO) Eastertide 1987