By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Q: What moral responsibility do Catholics have in regard to financial investing that aligns with the values and teachings of the Catholic Church?
A: Socially responsible investing has become a much bigger thing in recent decades as people have become more aware of various social causes. Companies too have entered into the fray in the causes they support. At the same time, many people have 401K plans through their employers that third parties manage for them (ex. Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Vanguard, to name just a few). A host of mutual funds, IRAs, annuities and other financial planning options may favor certain causes and have differing investment strategies.
When it comes to the financial side of this issue, I admit I am completely out of my depth. I am grateful for the many good people who live, eat, breathe and sleep in this world of investing, finances, etc. They work at the Diocese of Davenport, serve on parish and diocesan finance councils and are smarter about this stuff than I am. I am not a certified financial planner. I am a Catholic priest with degrees in philosophy and theology. I regularly rely, therefore, on the expertise of qualified lay people in these areas. Having said that, what does the Church have to say on this topic?
Today it seems like you can hardly buy a pack of gum without unwittingly supporting values that may be at odds with your own. It would be an interesting experiment to make a list of the products you regularly consume and find out what the companies that provide those goods and services support in their investing or community causes. My hunch is that all of us would probably take a hard gulp if we knew.
At the heart of the question is what (if any) level of cooperation with evil is acceptable for individual Catholics whose money is being invested for them? And, to what degree do we need to exercise control when possible?
Before we can answer these questions, we need to distinguish between formal and material cooperation. Formal cooperation means that a person agrees with and actively supports the act being done or supported. If someone knows that a company supports something that is directly opposed to the teachings of the Church and the person says, “Heck yeah, I want to support that — here’s some money!” that would be formal cooperation. This is never permissible.
Then there is material cooperation. This is when the person may not intend for the act to happen, but nonetheless provides some level of material support that enables it. This may or may not be permissible depending on a few more questions. Is the material cooperation immediate or mediate? Is it proximate or remote? These categories have to do with whether the material provided is necessary for the act to happen and whether the material provided actually leads to the commission of the act. I know this gets complicated and warrants further discussion to get closer to an answer, but it is important to remember that not everything is cut and dry, black and white, when it comes to topics such as this one. There are layers.
My hunch is that the level of cooperation in evil present in most retirement investing done by employers or otherwise managed for individuals is sufficiently remote as not to be of too much concern, but we will explore this more in the next edition. I will also point out some options Catholics have and reference the guidelines issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. READ PART II HERE!
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
