The following press release was circulated by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a lay Catholic organization that promotes awareness of Catholic social teaching through the media and provides opportunities for Catholics and citizens of goodwill to advance the common good in the public square.
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April 26: As the U.S. Senate works on financial reform legislation, Catholic leaders are drawing on centuries of Catholic social teaching to denounce Wall Street abuses and advocate for sound economic principles that serve the common good.

Last summer, Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical that addressed the global financial crisis as a moral issue and called for “greater social responsibility” on the part of business. Catholic sisters have long invested in Fortune 500 companies in order to attend shareholder meetings and urge CEOs to do business more ethically.

[On April 27,] Faith, labor and community groups march through San Francisco's financial district to Wells Fargo's annual shareholder meeting. A delegation will address the bank's top executives and demand changes to corporate practices that have bankrupted families while enriching a privileged few. The following day, on April 28, faith and labor leaders gather at Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in Charlotte, NC. Bank of America has the highest number of mortgages that are eligible for the Obama administration's federal mortgage modification program, but has granted the smallest percentage of modifications of any major bank.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of faith-based investors, has called for the U.S. government to support a Citigroup shareholder resolution urging the company to provide more disclosure about its derivatives trading. The U.S. government controls 27 percent of outstanding Citigroup shares.

“Financial reform is about making sure our economy works for human beings, not the other way around,” said Morna Murray, president of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. “We can’t allow Wall Street abuses to destroy families and assault the dignity of workers. Our faith compels us to speak out for a more sustainable economic model.”

“We must address the greed and economic injustice that increase the suffering of so many people, especially those who struggle in poverty,” said Sr. Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. “Families have lost homes and livelihoods because of economic practices that only serve the wealthy. Based on our recent history, it has never been clearer that reforming our financial systems is urgently needed.”

"The Catholic tradition is clear about the responsibility of governments to order and regulate economic activities and financial markets so that they serve the common good,” said Fr. Seamus Finn, director for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and a board member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. “The near collapse of the financial system in 2008 should serve as a wake up call to Congress, investors, Wall Street and the American people. A well regulated and supervised financial system is in everyone's interest."

“People of faith who care deeply about impoverished people and a threatened earth understand financial reform as a moral issue and this is an essential step toward building a just global economy,” said Marie Dennis, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns and co-president of Pax Christi International. Maryknoll has worked closely to ensure greater oversight of derivatives markets and launched a You Tube video and website, Stop Gambling on Hunger, that explains how Wall Street speculation drove up food prices around the world.

Resources and media references

Nuns v. Bankers: The Shareholder Proxy Wars. Time magazine, April 21, 2010

Pope Urges Forming New World Economic Order to Work for the Common Good. New York Times, July 7, 2009.

PICO National Network -- Our Money, Our Values Campaign

Catholic teaching on economic life, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, 1986.

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility