The center was advocacy-centered (primarily around Catholic social teaching) and was associated with over 40 religious communities, allowing the congregations to pool their resources for the work.

[1] According to its mission statement, the center existed to promote "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 to live in harmony with the cosmos.

8th Day Center for Justice had a special consultative relationship with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

[11] In April 2010, the center was named a Human Rights Champion by the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America.