New index to guide Catholic investors

The S&P Dow Jones Indices announced a new index tied to “Catholic Values”, writes Michael Sean Winters. The new stock index will follow the guidelines articulated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in its 2003 Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines.

The new Catholic Values Index will steer investors away from companies that market pornography, weapons sales, embryonic stem cell research, and child labour, among other practices.

“It is important that investors now have a representative measure of the performance of those S&P 500 companies that adhere to the Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines,” Seamus Finn told Agence France-Presse. Mr Finn is the head of faith-consistent investing at the Oblate International Pastoral Investment Trust, which invests on behalf of some 200 Roman Catholic organisations.

The US Bishops’ Conference’s investment guidelines urge all church organisations to invest in companies that embody the Church’s moral and social teachings, highlighting the need to “do no harm” and to “promote the common good.”

The guidelines are more than a decade old, but even in 2003 protecting the environment was listed as one of the central concerns for Catholic investors. The guidelines also call for investments that promote community development, especially in poorer communities and nations.