News Archives » Faith Responsible Investing
ICCR Celebrates 40th Anniversary! June 6th, 2011
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), of which the Oblates are active members, has been engaging corporations on issues related to the common good for forty years.
Read about ICCR and some recent successful member initiatives.
Spring Issue of JPIC Report Now Available May 31st, 2011
The Spring issue of our bi-annual print publication, JPIC Report, is now available on line.
Hard copies copies will be sent to those on our mailing list as soon as it is printed. Please let the JPIC office know if you are interested in receiving a copy. You can reach us through the comments feature on this website.
Download PDF of JPIC News, Spring 2011
ICCR Calls on Companies to Adopt Vigorous Policies to Protect Against Human Trafficking May 22nd, 2011
Formal Human Rights Policies Incorporating Increased Vigilance and Training Viewed as Essential to Guard Against Material and Reputational Risk.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate have joined a coalition of institutional investors from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), in sending a statement to 25 target companies asking them to make eradicating human trafficking and modern day slavery in their supply chains a top priority.
According to the UN Palermo Protocol of 2000, human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring and/or receipt of a person for the exploitative purposes of prostitution, forced labor, slavery or servitude.
Click here to read more »
Vatican Meeting Calls for Guidance on Environmental, Corporate Ethics May 18th, 2011
Catholics are looking for guidance and a larger voice from the Vatican on ethical principles for the world of finance and the environment, according to a number of participants attending a Vatican meeting on social justice in a globalized world.
Some 200 people involved in social justice issues for the church gathered May 16-18 for an international conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The meeting celebrated the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope John XXIII’s social encyclical, “Mater et Magistra.” It was designed to find ways to use the church’s social teaching, including Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate,” to bring greater justice to a globalized world.
The Oblates were represented by Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, US JPIC Director. Fr. Seamus, a leader in the faith-responsible investment movement said, “Individual Catholics are looking for guidance” in how to connect their concern for corporate responsibility and the environment to their faith and Christian spirituality.
Christians cannot be motivated solely by utilitarian arguments that natural resources should be protected so that they will not run out or poison future generations, he said, adding that “Environmental and corporate ethics needs to be based on the Christian sense of stewardship, of care, respect and appreciation for God’s gifts.”
Read the Catholic News Service article…
Faith-Based Community Organizers Confront Bank of America at Annual Meeting May 13th, 2011
Representatives of the community organizing group, Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), attended the Bank of America Annual Meeting last Wednesday thanks to proxies from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment. The Rev. Clyde Ellis spoke in support of a shareholder proposal to asking for a third-party review of the bank’s troubled mortgage business.
“The mortgage modification process is broken,” said Rev Ellis. “I work with people every day [who are] hurting because they can’t get support from the broken modification process.”
Despite support from large pension funds, the proposal failed, but BOA CEO Brian Moynihan committed to have his top executives meet with WIN representatives about foreclosures in Prince William County, VA. The presence of demonstrators outside, and questions raised inside the meeting were instrumental in getting this promise of dialog.
