Catholic Investment Strategies & Direct Indexes

Investment & Direct Indexing Strategies Conforming to the Guidelines as set by the Roman Catholic Church & U.S. Catholic Council of Bishops (USCCB)

What is Catholic & Socially Responsible Investing?

As investing has evolved, there are now opportunities to create investment strategies more closely aligned with personal, moral, and ethical values. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) focuses on building portfolios and investment strategies that exclude companies that cause harm to people and the planet. Investments for SRI strategies typically undergo a screening process to analyze potential social, moral, and ethical shortcomings of a company.

Catholic investment strategies (a subset of SRI) are investments that follow the guidelines set forth by the Roman Catholic Church and the U.S. Council of Bishops (USCCB). A Catholic investment strategy is built upon six principles that lay the foundation for an investment strategy in accordance with Catholic social, moral, and ethical values.

The 6 Principles of Catholic Socially Responsible Investing

The USCCB has outlined six guidelines for investors seeking to create Catholic values-based portfolio strategies. Only companies that meet the six principles are included in the strategy. The guidelines are intended to allow investors to best align their investments with their personal religious beliefs.

For example, a typical screening for a Catholic investment strategy may exclude companies that:

  • Cause Harm to the Environment
  • Produce or Sell Tobacco Products
  • Produce or Sell Alcohol
  • Manufacture or Sell Weapons
  • Use Unethical Labor Practices or Child Labor
  • Contribute or Produce Products Related to Contraception or Abortion

The guidelines help to create exclusionary screens for potential investments in order to build an investment strategy purely based on Catholic values.

Protect Human Life The Catholic Church recognizes the dignity of every human life, and investments should be made to celebrate and preserve each life.
Promote Human DignityAll human life is created equal in the eyes of God. We look for companies that strive to realize this truth in their day-to-day operations.
Reduce Arms ProductionThe Catholic Church discourages any nuclear and conventional arms races. Our investments avoid companies primarily engaged with the engineering of weapons of war.
Pursue Economic Justice Companies that use sweatshops in production of their goods are excluded from investments.
Protect the EnvironmentTo support the sanctity of the planet, companies that act in ways supporting environmental sustainability are included in investments.
Encourage Corporate
ResponsiblityAccording to USCCB standards, we include companies who act responsibility in both social and corporate domains.

The Catholic Investments Screening Process

Our proprietary screening process helps us create Catholic investment strategies that adhere to the values of the Roman Catholic Church while still providing excellent investment opportunities.

I
Identify
Investment Opportunities

From the universe of investment securities, we identify potentially high-performing investments that fit an investor's risk profile.

II
Analyze Company
Financials & Performance

Our Investment Committee analyzes the company across several dimensions, including: 

  • In-Class Performance
  • Management Team
  • Risk-Adjusted Returns (Historical)
  • Correlation of Asset Movement (Beta)

III
Evaluate Company on
the 6 USCCB Principles

Once a company has passed the Financials & Performance screen, they are evaluated along the six USCCB Principles for social, moral, and ethical fits within a Catholic portfolio.

Once a company passes the 6 Principles screen, it is added as a possible investment within the overall investment strategy.

Ready to See What It Would Look Like?

If you are interested in seeing how a Catholic Socially Responsible Direct Index would look in your portfolio, you can use the contact form below.

An advisor will connect with you to learn more about your specific goals and objective, and will follow up with a sample direct index so you can see how it might fit in with your portfolio.