News Archives » Fr. Seamus Finn
Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI, Celebrates JPIC-Themed Liturgy with Canadian Catholic Students May 11th, 2018
On April 28th, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, celebrated Liturgy with a JPIC theme for a group from St. Peter’s Catholic High School in Ottawa, Canada. The Mass was celebrated for the students and their chaperones in the Oblate Chapel at the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C . A representative from the group thanked Fr. Seamus and said the Mass was one of the highlights of their trip.
Fr Séamus Finn and ICCR members attend Faith and Finance Conference in Zug, Switzerland November 2nd, 2017
Fr Séamus Finn OMI, chair of the board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, recently addressed the Faith and Finance Conference, hosted at the LaSalle Haus in Zug, Switzerland. In his remarks, Fr Séamus talked briefly about the origins of ICCR more than 45 years ago and the historic legacy that the organization, through its more than 300 faith-based institutional investors, have achieved through a strategy of consistent substantive engagement with publicly traded corporations.
This engagement strategy is rooted in the rights and responsibilities that all investors assume when they invest in corporations, informed through the extensive networks that faith traditions have throughout the world and guided by the moral and ethical principles that are grounded in the teachings of their respective traditions. Over the past 45 years, ICCR members and colleagues have been at the forefront of drawing attention to the consequences of many destructive and dangerous products and abusive policies and been successful in recalling corporations to their social purpose, providing avenues for advocacy and redress to victims, and awakening the conscience of other shareholders.
The conference in Zug was a unique opportunity to share this story with representatives of many faith institutions and organizations from diverse traditions around the world and to discuss avenues for increased strategic collaboration.
Fr. Seamus Finn’s work on derivatives is profiled on PBS’s Nightly Business Report July 19th, 2017
Fr. Seamus Finn’s work on derivatives is profiled on PBS’s Nightly Business Report.
Watch the Nightly Business Report from June 7, 2010…
How does
the financial system affect the poorest of the poor? Watch the June 7th issue of the Nightly Business Report for a segment on faith-based investors and efforts to rein in the derivatives market – a cause of the recent instability that has affected nearly everyone.
In an interview with Darren Gersh, Seamus Finn, OMI clearly draws the connections between decisions made by bankers and the lives of the poor. Fr. Finn talks about the need for greater disclosure of derivative risk – disclosure that a significant number of other shareholders have favored in recent Resolutions with Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs. Up next is legislation on Capitol Hill that could force banks to spin off their derivatives business.
Watch the Nightly Business Report from June 7, 2010 on Vimeo…
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, Tours Biscuit Factory in Lagos, Nigeria May 19th, 2017
Fr. Seamus represents the Oblate International Pastoral Investment Trust (OIP) on the advisory board of 8 Miles Private Equity Fund 8miles.com, which met in Lagos, Nigeria for two days in May. The OIP has a small position in this fund that has a presence in six African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia. The fund has a strong commitment to development and responsible investing and aligns well with the missionary thrust of the OIP and the Oblates.
While in Lagos, Fr. Seamus visited 8 Miles’ most recent investment, a cream biscuit factory. According to an 8 Miles company profile page on the project, Nigeria’s biscuit sector has seen strong growth of 10 to 15 per cent per annum, and they are projecting this to continue, driven by population growth, rising disposable incomes and increasing urbanization coupled with the growing popularity of biscuits as a convenience snack. According to 8 Miles, the growth in this sector is a
lso the result of a relatively young population, with 63% of the country’s 115 million people, below the age of 25 years.
Beloxxi is a market leader in Nigeria with significant market share and has one of the most popular and highest selling cream cracker brands in the market, with a reputation for high quality. It operates several production lines from its plant in Agbara, Ogun State and multiple warehouses across the country. The Company employs about 2,300 people and operates 
through a network of about 400 distributors. The Company has experienced growth rates in excess of 30% per annum in the last few years.
8 Miles has identified select locations and sectors where its investment approach can be best implemented, with a focus on strong macroeconomic fundamentals, good governance, a favorable regime for foreign investors, and a track record of private sector reforms which make doing business easier.
More on Beloxxi Industries:
- Beloxxi Industries Ltd. is a biscuit producer, with the largest share of the cream crackers segment in Nigeria
- The company was established over 20 years ago as a biscuit importer and, in 2006, evolved into a local producer of cream crackers after building an ultra-modern factory in Nigeria
- Beloxxi biscuits are sold via a network of >400 distributors and supermarket chains in Nigeria, with exports to Ghana. The product is also served on international flights from Nigeria
- Market Potential: Growth in the Nigerian biscuits sector driven by increasing urbanization and rising popularity of biscuits as a convenience snack, in-between meals or on-the-go
- With a well-known brand and reputation for high quality, Beloxxi is the leading product by sales volumes in Nigeria’s cream crackers market
- Beloxxi enjoys cost and quality advantages due to a fully-automated and efficient production process. Exit potential also enhanced by world-class facilities
Fr. Seamus Finn among Presenters at the Rome Roundtable 2017 January 18th, 2017
The Global Foundation gathered for its Rome Roundtable 2017 on January 14th and 15th
and convened participants from the business and investment community, religious leaders, civic institutions, academia and civil society to evaluate responses and measure progress on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The fifty invited participants were asked to report on progress since the last roundtable and to discuss additional commitments and actions that they would undertake during the coming year.
Visit this website to read the Vatican Radio report on the event and Pope Francis’s address to participants.
My comments were focused on the numerous challenges and debates that have taken place over the last century about development. The UN sponsored decades of development that focused on different dimensions of the topic and how they might be appropriately addressed and then the encyclical letter, “Populorum Progressio” (On the Development of Peoples), of Pope Paul VI, in 1967 built on the teaching of the Catholics tradition and the Second Vatican Council on the issues. This encyclical remains as a foundational point of reference for the Church’s understanding of development especially with the introduction and definition of the concept of “integral human development”. More recently through a United Nations process in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals were adopted as a benchmark and guide for action in countries and communities across the world.
The adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the General Assembly in 2015 has set a clear agenda for the work of development until 2030. In our panel presentation my colleagues, Mark Cutefani, CEO, Anglo American and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape town reported on the collaborative multistakeholder project that has been organized by the Mining and Faiths Reflection Initiative to address development issues in mine site communities at local and regional levels.
