The Feast of St. Michael the Archangel – An Investment Manager’s View

September 29th was the feast day of St. Michael. In the familiar picture below, St. Michael is depicted with wings and brandishing a sword. This reflects his status as an angel and the leader of God’s heavenly host in warfare with the devil, who is shown here defeated and under St. Michael’s foot.

Oddly enough, this picture got me to thinking about investing (but, then again, lots of things get me thinking about investing).

What does the picture, in its most basic form, show? Clearly, this is a battle between Good and evil. How does this relate to investing? Well, if our investments bolster companies that are committing evil acts, on whose side of this pictured battle would you suppose that puts us?

This is precisely why Catholic Investment Strategies offers a clearly faithful way to invest. Built upon the Investment Guidelines of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, companies involved in proscribed activities are avoided, while those that are less than “squeaky clean” are engaged in a dialogue intended to get them to tidy up their acts.

And the results of those dialogues have been very impressive, ranging from hotel companies acting to rid their facilities of child sex rings, to the corporate defunding of Planned Parenthood, to avoiding the use of slave labor in Brazil, and on and on.

As you think about whether faithful Catholic investing is right for you, remember the words of Jesus in Luke 11:23: “He who is not with me is against me.” Surely, if you act to eliminate evil in the world, you’ll find yourself on the right side. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:33-34).

Post from: Insights