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Responsible Purchasing and Investing: A Catholic Priority January 12th, 2012

From buying toothpaste to managing a portfolio – Catholics across the country are taking action to avoid buying from or investing in companies that fail to respect human dignity.

In the 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the economy should be at the service of people, and not the other way around.

“Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it,” the pope wrote. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”

Going further, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI has argued that faith-based investors should demand accountability from the companies they invested with or they should divest stock in companies engaged in morally objectionable practices. ”With ownership comes responsibility and rights.”

Read more in the article, Companies called to be Responsible by Amy Kotlarz, which appeared in the Catholic Courier on January 3rd, 2012.

Catholics and Faith-Consistent Investing January 8th, 2012

Learn about the possibilities available to help individuals develop a “faith-consistent” stock portfolio. In an article in Our Sunday Visitor, titled Investing with a clear conscience: Catholics don’t have to sacrifice big financial returns to invest in line with their ideals, Scott Alessi interviews Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI and others about the importance of active, faith-consistent investing.

“Church teaching clearly emphasizes the importance of placing one’s faith above financial gain. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that economic success should never come at the expense of human dignity and that “a theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable” (No. 2424).”

Read the article…

 

January 11, 2012 — Human Trafficking Awareness Day January 5th, 2012

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 is Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the U.S., thanks to passage of a resolution by the Senate on June 22, 2007 making January 11th a day of awareness and vigilance for the countless victims of Human Trafficking around the world.

Human Trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, and forceful detention of people either from one country to another, or within countries. Threats, force and/or deception are typical. Those being exploited are either unpaid, or given a very small payment for their work, prostitution or other sexual exploitation, and are not free to leave these abusive situations. Each year, there are between 600,000 and 800,000 people trafficked across borders throughout the world. There are many more trafficked within countries as well. The United States is not immune to this problem; Many are trafficked within U.S. borders, as well as into the U.S. from outside.

Human Trafficking is rapidly growing, despite the efforts of many to control it. Wherever there is poverty, war, flood, famine, or any kind of upheaval, unscrupulous people prey on the vulnerable. Women and children are especially affected, but many men are as well.

Many of us are unaware of the number of slaves (yes, slaves) we use to maintain our lifestyles. Go to www.slaveryfootprint.org for a series of questions that will show how many slaves it takes to maintain the way you live.

For ideas on what to do, check out the website for Breaking the Snares – A resource for parishes to use in combating Human Trafficking by the Sisters of the Divine Savior; see their parish resource.

In addition, explore the following:

• Stop Trafficking Newsletter and other resources: http://www.stopenslavement.org/archive.htm#handouts
• End Child Prostitution and Trafficking: www.ecpat.net (Website also available in French and Spanish)
• Google The Dark Side of Chocolate to find several sites that show how children in Africa are involved in the chocolate that is so available to us.

If you suspect someone may be a victim of human trafficking call: Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline 1-888-373-7888

 

Reflections on Business and Human Rights January 1st, 2012

Read Fr. Seamus Finn’s latest Huffington Post blog on the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights recently endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council. The principles were developed to offer guidance for the implementation of the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework, first introduced by Special Representative John Ruggie in 2008. They provide very practical and concrete recommendations on how to operationalize the framework, which was built around the following three central pillars:

• States have a responsibility to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including corporations;
• Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights;
• Victims of human rights abuses must be free to access effective remedies.

Learn more…

Investors Urge Senate Leadership to Allow Implementation of Clean Air Act Rules December 19th, 2011

The Missionary Oblates joined thirty-two faith-based and socially responsible investors in a letter to the Senate leadership urging timely implementation of Clean Air Act rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most notably, the Cross State Air Pollution rule (CSAPR) and Mercury and Air Toxics rule (Utility MACT). Arguing that the proposed rules would create jobs and save lives, the investors added that, based on their discussions with electric utilities, the proposed rules would not threaten the reliability of the electric system.

Read the letter (Download PDF)…

 

Faith-based Shareholders Explain their Work on CBS’s The Early Show December 12th, 2011

Rebecca Jarvis, of CBS’s The Early Show, talks with the Rev. Seamus Finn and Sister Pat Daly, from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, about how they help major corporations realize their social duties to make them better.

Watch the video…

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