Each year also brings new opportunities to implement a primary aspect of our mission — one that dates to CBIS’ founding by the Christian Brothers and that is continually inspired by their example. This is our commitment to thought leadership and education in the area of Catholic socially responsible investing. An important ongoing goal for us is to help fiduciaries at Catholic organizations recognize the essential unity of economic and spiritual life and the rich tradition of Church teaching that guides the integration of these realms, which may at times seem separate and distinct in the pressure-filled, day-to-day world of business. Indeed, each new year also delivers fresh examples of the damage done to human lives and to shareholder value when economic and spiritual life are lived separately and when spiritual values are ignored in the pursuit of short-term financial gain.
As thought leaders and educators, our challenge is to translate the ethical guidance offered by the Church into the concepts and language of business, forming a persuasive case for the unification of faith and finance. Our starting points are the study of Catholic social and theological teaching, including the documents of Vatican II, the writings of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the pre- and post-Vatican II social encyclicals. In addition, we consider what it means to be a Catholic in the world today, as well as an introspective examination of how we should behave as economic agents in society. Our successes occur when we help participants find new inspiration in these ideas and when we support their efforts to spread this message to colleagues throughout their institutions and to the broader Catholic community. In 2007, for example, we published a new white paper, “Becoming a Catholic Fiduciary,” that reviews the nature and history of fiduciary responsibility and advocates for the idea that Catholic fiduciaries have a responsibility to find ways to integrate Catholic religious and social teachings with investment management to enhance their organization’s mission, promote social justice and support long-term portfolio return. We plan to expand on this work in 2008, and believe that the Catholic Fiduciary concept can serve as a tool that helps participants show new colleagues on finance committees, and other fiduciaries at their organizations, why Catholic SRI is relevant to the problems that confront the world in the early 21st century and why it also supports the task of financing their institution’s financial needs by supporting long-term portfolio performance.
An important ongoing goal for us is to help fiduciaries at Catholic organizations recognize the essential unity of economic and spiritual life and the rich tradition of Church teaching that guides the integration of these realms.