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Corporations, Taxes and Responsible Investors January 23rd, 2012
Read the latest from Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI on Huffington Post.
He highlights the responsibility of corporations that “…rely on numerous public resources and services to operate their businesses and maintain their profitability…[to] contribute their fare share to the public coffers that enable governments to develop the foundation and provide the services that corporations and all citizens count on to survive.”
He ends with a clear call: “Shareholders, and especially faith based and socially responsible investors, will need to consider how to engage companies that are identified as the most aggressive in developing legal strategies to either avoid or evade the payment of approved taxes. The use of such tools and action that are clearly designed to profit by avoiding responsibility to contribute appropriately to the revenue streams, that are essential to the fulfillment of the government’s mandate to safeguard the public welfare and protect the common good, deserves much closer evaluation and scrutiny.”
2012 promises to be an interesting year as societies across the globe struggle with financial and environmental sustainability in the context of justice.
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…
