Top Catholic Investor Concerns

A survey of 151 Catholic institutional investors conducted by the Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (which manages over $3 billion for Catholic institutions) found that the top ten concerns of such investors in 2004 were: (1) abortion; (2) environmental justice; (3) pornography and universal access to health care (tied at #3); (4) military weapons contractors; (5) fetal tissue/embryonic stem cell research; (6) violence in the media: (7) responsible operations in the developing world; (8) sweatshops/contract supplier terms: (9) sexually explicit material in ther mainstream media; and (10) affordable AIDS drugs in developing countries.

The 2004 findings show some change from a similar survey conducted in 2001.  Although abortion, stem cell issues, sweatshops, health care access and military were high concerns in both years, pornography went from #10 in 2001 to #3 this year and violence in the media was not listed as a top ten concern at all in 2001.

The survey also finds support the active use of shareholding - through proxy voting and restriction of certain investment - to voice these concerns.  (The survey is reported at plansponsor.com.  Your need to register, but it is free.)

Susan