Do Catholics have to be smarter than their friends to invest their money?

Absolutely! Their options are narrowed by the integration of their religious values with their investment opportunities. All of a sudden the simple act of investing becomes more challenging for a Catholic who has an informed conscious.

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From Vat II: The Church in Human Vocation: Sec 43:
Let Christians follow the example of Christ who worked as a craftsman; let them be proud of the opportunity to carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific and technical enterprises with religious values...

From Saint Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus:
Eph 3:10 His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.......

Not long ago I had the opportunity to address my Catholic brothers and sisters in a church seminar about finance, taxes, and investing. I made the following statement:

"Christians must be twice as smart, twice as resourceful, and twice as wise to do as well as their non-Christian friends in the investment arena! Why? Because God has narrowed the playing field to include only investments that we would be proud to give an account for owning. Some of the very best money makers, year in, and year out, are not even on the table for consideration. Abortion clinics make money. Would you like to own a portion of one? Pornography, in all of its various media, makes money and appears recession proof. Would you like to inform Christ you own stock in such an enterprise? Certain manufacturers report amazing profits on simple manufacturing of durable goods, but employ and exploit child labor to hit their margins. Would you like to explain this during your review of your life's work and decisions in your personal account to Christ of your earthbound activities? Can we ask God to bless such enterprises for the benefit of our retirement planning? What say you?"

In truth, a Christian must invest with a different filter of evaluation and examination. It is never going to be enough to simply be a "good steward" that obtains good returns, if the returns are obtained by measures that degrade, exploit, or harm those unable to protect or defend their human dignity or in ventures that exploit the satisfaction of the most degrading of human actions. A Catholic looks at the world of opportunities and immediately rejects otherwise acceptable high yield investment opportunities as off limits.

Some say the Church should stick to spiritual issues and leave the practical issues to others. Wrong! The Church is not only right to weigh in on such topics; God declared that the Church, from its inception, has specifically been designed to do so. Where are the voices of Christ that will state in the marketplace, "This is not right. This is not a wholesome concept. This is not an avenue to obtain returns for a retirement fund. No Christian could or should own such an investment, now or ever!"

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In that we truly are called to stewardship, what some will define as the righteous administration of opportunities, money, talents, and relationships; and we are encouraged by the teachings of the Church to integrate all areas of our life with religious values, we must be more alert, more wise, more resourceful, and more disciplined than those who live with no such standard.

We must provide for our children, our parents, our own needs, and the needs of our extended family by investing wisely in opportunities that we would be pleased to have Christ review in our quarterly reports. In truth, the standard we live by demands we be wiser and more discerning in this area of investment management.

May God, in His mercy, and consistent with His words of encouragement through St. James, Grant us daily wisdom to administrate our necessary affairs. Amen.

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