News Archives » Faith Responsible Investing
Faith-based Investors Celebrate Victory in Wells Fargo Pay Day Lending Decision January 17th, 2014
Wells Fargo, a major US bank targeted by faith-based investors for their harmful pay day lending practices, announced today that they would discontinue their Direct Deposit Advance service. This is a huge victory on behalf of those who have fallen prey to this predatory lending.
In a Shareholder Resolution with Wells Fargo, which the Oblates co-filed in 2012 and 2013, and in dialogs with company officials, ICCR members raised serious concerns about these loans, their impact on people, and the risks to the bank by engaging in such practices.
ICCR issued a press release on the bank’s decision:
After a long-term engagement with Wells Fargo to promote more responsible lending products, today members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) wish to commend management for making the right decision in ending its Direct Deposit Advance program. The company issued a statementtoday announcing that it would discontinue the product effective February 1st.
Click here to read more »
Financial Reform Advocates Call on the Senate to Close Expensive Tax Loopholes January 16th, 2014
The Oblate JPIC Office joined others in the FACT Coalition in signing a letter sent this morning to Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, on proposed international tax reform. The group said a proposal before the Committee “rightly identifies the need to stop corporations from shifting profits to offshore tax havens to avoid taxes. Unfortunately, the proposal falls short in three critical ways and leaves room for the offshoring of jobs and profits to continue:”
1. “It does not sufficiently end incentives for multinational corporations to shift profits offshore, which costs taxpayers an estimated $90 billion per year and creates an uneven playing field for small and domestic businesses.”
2. “It is revenue neutral, earmarking all the revenue raised from closing loopholes for reductions in the corporate tax rate. With federal revenue from corporations hovering at multigenerational lows, precisely because of the offshore profit shifting incentives, this is unacceptable.”
3. “It should hold corporations accountable to report their profits and revenues in a consistent manner to government, shareholders and the public.”
In arguing for doing away with lucrative corporate tax loopholes, the reform-minded groups argue that “Corporations benefit from the operation of government just as individuals do (and more so in some cases due to myriad tax benefits and lucrative contracts) and should be expected to contribute to financing our democracy, public services and rule of law. However the corporate share of federal revenue was just eight percent in 2011, having declined by more than 60 percent in the last 50 years.”
“Due to huge loopholes and other factors, dozens of big corporations pay no federal income taxes, while reaping billions of dollars in profits. According to the Government Accountability Office, corporations pay just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate, far below the statutory rate of 35%.”
Learn more, read the letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (Download PDF)
Understanding Fracking: Catholic News Service series January 6th, 2014
Dennis Sadowski, staff writer for Catholic News Service, has completed a series of articles on hydraulic fracking from a faith-based perspective. “It was a complicated issue to examine,” he informed Catholic Rural Life. Nevertheless, Sadowski provides a clear overview of this controversial energy source while blending in environmental justice teachings of the Church.
The Oblate JPIC Office has been engaging oil and gas companies on social and environmental issues related to fracking.
Thanks to National Catholic Rural Life for this information.
Catholic Moral Concerns on Fracking December 20th, 2013
Anti-fracking protest in Pittsburg, photo: Marcellus Protest/Creative Commons.
Catholic News Service has a good article on fracking that looks at the church’s contribution to the discussion about this rapidly expanding source of energy in the U.S. Catholic social teaching focuses on the importance of protecting creation and promoting the common good, and the emphasis in this debate has been on the moral concerns.
Some bishops have raised concerns. While not supporting a ban, Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne, Wyo., president of Catholic Rural Life, said he harbors deep concerns over fracking. “I think the public needs more information than is presently being provided about the chemicals in this mix that is being injected into the earth to release the gas and oil,” he told Catholic News Service.
The bishop also expressed apprehension about the amount of water fracking requires, especially in parts of the country where water is a precious commodity.
Pope Francis and the Social Responsibility of Corporations December 20th, 2013
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI argues that the “recent distraction about the purported “Marxist” beliefs of Pope Francis pronounced by people who have obviously not taken the time to read his recent exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”, (The Joy of the Gospel) is just that, a distraction.”
The real news, intentionally buried by this distraction, is that a growing portion of the business community acknowledges that their “social license to operate”, their corporate charter and their commitment to “good citizenship” demands that they integrate the social values and policies that the Holy Father and others in the faith community espouse into their business models.”
Read more about how the corporate sector is responding to the demands for more ethical and sustainable practices. Read Fr. Finn’s latest blog on Huffington Post.
