Faith and reason
In Mensurum Bonum (MB), the Vatican document on Catholic Investing, the Church calls Catholics to invest in a “Faith Consistent” manner, which far exceeds a superficial screening of products and services. What will your “yes” look like? Ideally, security selection decisions will involve a deep review of a company’s entire impact, in light of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) which is based on scripture, the Catechism and the Compendium of Social Doctrine. Mensurem Bonum encourages frequent referencing and reflection on these source documents.
MB means "good measure;" we would suggest the title should have been
subtitled overflowing to a degree of heroic virtue. P. 35 of MB states some
investments are unsuitable for combining the use of capital with promoting
the common good-even if this means that investors lose out on benefits,
for example diversification of such products. For Catholic investors, who believe
in the promises of Christ, no monetary gain makes complicity with evil acceptable. On p 34, MB notes possible exclusionary criteria is considerable and that their list of 24 exclusions divided into 4 major categories (upholding the intrinsic Dignity of human life, avoiding destructive
behaviors, recognizing global and sustainability impacts and securing
environmental protection) is by no means definitive. The United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops have also provided investment guidelines
with similar exclusions and encouragement for investors to both avoid evil
and promote the “good.”
The good news of MB is that through grace investors can know the true value of an investment- whether profits are true for providing honest, fair and enabling value to humans and society or whether harmful impacts are being downloaded on others or future generations for false profits? Finally, faith consistent investing involves voting proxies and participating in corporate engagement to encourage continued adherence to Catholic teachings.
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Although MB definitively states ESG standards do not equate to CST, CST clearly subsumes and even goes beyond ESG. CST could even be seen as the original source of ESG standards. On page 23, MB provides an outline of the principles of CST divided into 8 categories: The Human Person and Human Dignity, The Common Good, Solidarity, Social Justice, Subsidiarity, Care for Our Common Home, Inclusion of the most vulnerable and integral Ecology.
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Faith consistent investing is our DNA. Since our inception in 2005,
Wallick Investments has aligned our clients’ investment portfolios with
the USCCB Investment guidelines, and we have also followed the
Vatican guidelines issued by Mensuram Bonam since they were published in 2022.
Wallick Investments uses two third-party companies for faith-consistent screening.
proxy voting and corporate engagement.
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Altum Faithful Investing provides Investment Guidelines developed based on Catholic Social Teaching (USCCB, MB, encyclicals, pastoral letters, etc.) The Altum Certified program conducts a comprehensive assessment to determine whether a financial product conflicts with the principles of the Social Teaching of the Church. The evaluation is based on Altum’s proprietary Investment Guidelines, which rest on four core pillars, which cover categories mentioned in Mensurum Bonum and the USCCB guidelines :
• Promotion of Human Dignity
• Promotion of Human Life
• Promotion of the Family
• Care for and Protection of Creation
Our Fidelis 100 Index is the first & only US investment
product to receive an Altum Faithful Investing Gold Certification
as of 12/31/2025.
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Visit altumfi.com for
for Catholic social teaching
investment guidelines and screening.
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Inspire Investing, the world's largest provider of faith-based ETFs, is our resource for meeting scriptural standards and identifying companies promoting positive impact. Inspire Investing’s proprietary Inspire Impact Score is a Biblically Responsible screening framework which incorporates screening for life and health; morality and lifestyle; social and political criteria; and governance and ethical criteria. Positive social impact scores are given to companies with no negative violations and are based on 26 environmental, social and governance categories viewed through a generally accepted traditional world view and in alignment with Catholic Social Teaching. Inspire also provides proxy voting and corporate engagement services.
Let us help you steward your investments.
