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On St. Patrick’s Day, Protect the Irish March 19th, 2012
Rev. Seamus P. Finn, OMI and Eric LeCompte, Director of Jubilee USA – wrote a joint piece on the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of international debt burdens. Their full article can be found on the Huffington Post:
“On the Feast of St. Patrick, there may be no better way to honor the patron of Ireland, who according to legend drove out snakes from the country, than by protecting the Irish people from bailing out a nonexistent reckless speculation bank.
Anglo-Irish Bank (Anglo) financed some of Ireland’s worst property speculators for unsustainable golf courses, hotels and super markets and saddled the Irish people with a massive, unjust debt.
At Jubilee USA Network we know a lot about unjust debts. …”
Read more…
Faith-Based Shareholders Call for News Corp Board Shakeup March 1st, 2012
The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and Christian Brothers Investment Services are calling once again for a shakeup of the Board of Directors of News Corp and the resignation of James Murdoch, son of newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch. The faith-based groups were part of an investor revolt , calling for reform of the News Corporation board at last year’s annual general meeting. Thirty five per cent of shareholders voted against James Murdoch’s re-election then, and the ICCR members are calling again for major changes on the Board.
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI was quoted in several press stories about the need for James Murdoch’s resignation and a Board shakeup after it was announced that Murdoch was giving up his position as executive chairman of News International – the British publishing division hit by the phone-hacking scandal – and returning to New York. ” It seems to me that … either [the] Leveson enquiry or the internal enquiry from the company [may have] … turned over some new thing that has made James decide he is going to step down.” “This raises further concerns about the way this company is governed. … It is clear to us that there are too many conflicts of interest in the way this company is run.”
The shareholder campaign at NewsCorp is in keeping with investor campaigns for better governance, one element of which is separation of the Board Chair and CEO. Best practices, according to Julie Tanner of Christian Brothers, which is drafting a shareholder resolution against News Corp, is that 2/3 of Board Directors should be independent (not related by family or personal ties). Rupert Murdoch currently owns 40% of the company and is Board Chair and CEO.
Learn more…
Article in the Guardian Newspaper…
Interview on ABC News show “The World Today”…
Reflections from a Recent Trip to Asia February 14th, 2012
Seamus Finn, OMI reflects on his experiences and observations during a recent trip to Asia and the implications for the Oblate work with corporations. He looks at questions raised by the realities of life experienced by ordinary people, from Bangladeshi tea plantation and garment workers, to Burmese refugees in Thailand, and Cambodians dealing with the long-term impacts of land mines.
Read Fr. Finn’s latest blog on Huffington Post…
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.
Responsible Purchasing and Investing: A Catholic Priority January 12th, 2012
From buying toothpaste to managing a portfolio – Catholics across the country are taking action to avoid buying from or investing in companies that fail to respect human dignity.
In the 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the economy should be at the service of people, and not the other way around.
“Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it,” the pope wrote. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”
Going further, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI has argued that faith-based investors should demand accountability from the companies they invested with or they should divest stock in companies engaged in morally objectionable practices. “With ownership comes responsibility and rights.”
