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Fr. Seamus Finn Speaks at Socially Responsible Investment Coalition April 29th, 2010
On April 28, Fr. Seamus Finn was a panelist at the annual Socially Responsible Investments Coalition Annual Event held at the Oblate Grotto Ministries Center in San Antonio, Texas. The discussion panel on current events was titled “Care, Climate and Cash.” It included Alyssa Burgin, founder of the Texas Drought Project, who spoke about specific consequences of climate change in Texas and around the world, as well as Donna Meyer of CHRISTUS Health who spoke about the recently passed health care bill.
Fr. Seamus spoke of the progress made recently by ICCR in pressing for socially responsible investment policies with corporations. He highlighted the much-higher-than expected 39 percent vote at Bank of America earlier in the day in support of the religious shareholders’ proxy resolution on derivatives filed by the Missionary Oblates. The Resolution calls for greater disclosure on derivatives trading on Wall Street. This surprising response from Bank of America shareholders and those of Citicorp, where a strong vote of support was also registered for a similar Resolution led to invitations from EWTN and the Daily Show. (Learn more)
Fr. Seamus also talked about responsible investment in the light of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Caritas in Veritate”. As most of the 100 plus members of the audience were members of Catholic religious orders and church activists, the articulation of the moral, spiritual foundation of work for financial reform and other socially responsible investment work was much appreciated. Fr. Seamus ended with a plea to broaden our thinking and awareness so we see that actions taken in the world of finances and investments have implications not only for people in the United States, but consequences for the entire world.
Thanks to Patti Radle who supplied the material for this report.
Oblate Presents at 12th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice April 29th, 2010
Br. Jose de Jesus Filho, OMI represented the Catholic Prison Ministry of Brazil in discussions at the 12th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Salvador, Brazil from 12-19 April, 2010.
Nearly all countries sent delegations to the Congress. The draft declaration will be finalized in May at the UNODC in Vienna, and presented to the 19th UN Commission on Crime Prevention.
In accordance with the Brazilian Government, the International Prison Ministry promoted an exhibition of paintings by prisoners from all over the world. The National Secretary of Justice Romeu Tuma Jr., along with the President of the International Commission on Prison Pastoral, Christian Kuhn, inaugurated the show with a nice reception. Prisoners were present also through a theater piece called “Bizzarro” promoted by the National Penitentiary Department.
The Prison Ministry was involved in discussion on many important issues, the most important of which were:
- Proposed conversion of existing Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners into a Convention; in other words what is today a soft-law will turn into a binding law;
- Proposal of UN Basic Principles for Pastoral Care in Prisons
- Proposal of Thailand for the Treatment of Women Arrested
The creation of a Convention met resistance from some countries like the United States and Canada, which do not welcome the idea of a new Convention. However, most countries in Latin America are in favor of the idea, because this would be an effort to improve the conditions of incarceration in these countries.
Read the full report on the Congress (Download PDF)
Strong 39% Vote at Bank of America for Religious Shareholders’ Proxy Resolution Maintains Growing Pressure for More Derivatives Disclosure on Wall Street April 28th, 2010
Vote at BofA’s Annual Meeting Comes on Heels of 30 Percent Support at Citigroup on Same Resolution; More Disclosure Vital at BofA Given How Mishandling of CDOs Tripped Up BofA’s Merrill Lynch.
In the second major 2010 shareholder vote urging more derivatives disclosure, a much higher-than-expected 39 percent of Bank of America (BofA) shares were cast today in support of a resolution sponsored by faith-based institutional investors belonging to the 300-member Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The BofA shareholder vote took place as Congress debates the fate of financial regulatory reform, including increased derivatives disclosure.
The Bank of America shareholder vote improves on a 30 percent support level for the same proxy resolution at Citigroup on April 20, 2010. The ICCR member-sponsored resolution gave Bank of America shareholders an opportunity, as it did at Citigroup, to express their concerns about the lack of transparency in the derivatives market that contributed significantly to the financial crisis.
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Chilean Bishop at Enel’s Annual General Meeting to Argue Against Big Dams in Patagonia April 28th, 2010
“No to new big dams in Patagonia; Water should be public again”
The Bishop of Aysén Luis Infanti De La Mora
Luis Infanti De La Mora, Bishop of Aysén region (Chile), will attend Enel’s Annual General Meeting today to say “no” to a project for the construction of five big dams on the rivers Baker and Pascua, and to get Chilean water back in public hands. The Bishop will be delegated to attend the meeting by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, by initiative of Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica. The Oblates are shareholders in Etica.
“We wanted to involve the international network of religious investors”, explains Ugo Biggeri, the Foundation’s Chairman. “The Oblates are part of Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of more than 275 religious orders, based in New York, that submit over 200 shareholders resolutions each year to the AGM’s of US most important companies and they are founding members of the International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG).”
Enel has inherited the big dams projects in Patagonia by Spanish utility Endesa, acquired by Enel in 2009. It’s a project with devastating impacts on a real natural paradise that poses serious risks on the security of dams, since Aysén is a seismic region.
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Vatican Radio Interviews Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI Interviewed on Bringing Faith Values to the Financial Sector April 26th, 2010
Putting faith principles back into the world of finance and business is not usually the business of priests, but it is for Oblate Seamus Finn, Director of the Justice, Peace/Integrity of Creation Office of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Washington, DC. Past President of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and Executive Committee member of 3iG (the International Interfaith Investment Group), Fr. Seamus has worked for two decades to encourage faith institutions to bring their values to bear on corporate decision making.
Fr. Seamus explains why people of faith can and should bring their values to bear on the financial sector in particular in an interview with Vatican Radio. What is the economy for? What does it do to people and how do we participate in it? Is it helpful to local communities? What impacts are the economic structures in which we participate having on people and on the earth? How do we account for the damage done to the environment? Many would say that this system is built on the basis of continual growth and consumption without always taking into account the fact that natural resources are limited.
