The National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, Economic Justice for All, instructs those responsible within church institutions that own stocks in U.S. corporations to “cooperate in shaping the policies of those companies through dialogue with management, through votes at corporate meetings, through the introduction of resolutions, and through participation in investment decisions.” (Para. 354.) Our Coalition exists, in large part, to carry out this directive.

We do this primarily through our membership in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. This entity, based in New York, has some 275 other members who are also religious organizations interested in socially responsible investing. The ICCR, acting through its staff and member volunteers, decides on issues to develop with companies and we cooperate in that activity.

Issues may be brought before companies through letters or through the filing of a formal resolution seeking a vote on the matter by all of the shareholders. Sometimes meetings with the companies come out of this process. Sometimes progress is made; sometimes not.

While some of the issues with some of the companies are of several years standing, the process more or less starts anew each fall. This is because most corporations have fiscal years ending in December and deadlines for filing shareholder resolutions that run roughly through the fall. For purposes of these activities, the most critical of ICCR’s four annual meetings is the one that takes place in September. Final decisions are made on what issues to pursue and who will take leadership roles on them.

In 2001 there was no September meeting of the ICCR. It was scheduled to begin on September 12. Not only was there no meeting but, like other Americans, we went through a period of wondering whether what we used to do was what we ought to do now. In general, we concluded that, yes, it was—and perhaps with even renewed vigor. And, thanks to outstanding efforts under the most unlikely circumstances by ICCR staffers and issues group volunteers, issues were selected, strategies were devised, resolutions were drafted, and all of it was communicated.

In this office 29 resolution/packages were prepared and passed along to member/shareholders for their consideration. Resolutions we know of that members filed are detailed in the table at the top of Page 2. ICCR reports that all of its members, and the 50 secular investors that work closely with it, prepared 144 resolutions involving 99 different companies.

Subsequent to filing the resolutions, we have represented members in dialogs with Visteon, Alcoa, Johnson & Johnson (all concerning global standards), and General Electric (concerning greenhouse gas emissions). The primary thrust of the meetings concerning global standards are the rights of employees and particularly those along the U.S.-Mexico border. Enough progress has been made in the discussions with Alcoa and Johnson & Johnson that decisions have been made to withdraw this year’s resolutions.

The resolution with General Electric represents a new approach to the issue of global warming. For many years we have confronted the energy and automobile companies on this matter but not appliance makers. The resolution primarily asks for reporting to the shareholders concerning the volume of emissions that their facilities and their products generate. So far, this does not appear to be something that they want us to have. (Incidentally, with reference to GE, I had been conditioned since childhood to connect the company with appliances. In prepping for the meetings, however, I found that appliances is now but one of 21 components of the firm and accounts for less than 5% of revenues. Others include financing companies, war materials manufacturers, and, of course, NBC to put a happy face on it all for us.)

Some members of our Coalition also hope to meet this year with General Motors about global standards although no resolution has been filed with that company and no arrangements have been finalized.

Recent Resolutions by SRIC Members
Corporation	Issue	Member
Abbott Labs	Drug Pricing	Benedictine Sisters/CHRISTUS Health/Srs. of the Holy Spirit
Alcoa	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters/CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross/Incarnate Word – CC
AT&T Corp.	Pornography	Benedictine Sisters
Bristol-Myers	Drug Pricing	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Divine Providence
Caterpillar	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters
Chevron Texaco	Global Warming	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross
	Toxic Emissions	Benedictine Sisters
Citigroup	Human Rights Criteria	Benedictine Sisters/Cong. of Holy Cross
Coca Cola Co.	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters/CHRISTUS Health
Cooper Industries	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters/Cong. of Holy Cross
Delphi Automotive	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters
ExxonMobil	Alternative Energy	Cong. of Holy Cross/Marianists/Providence Trust/Srs. of the Holy Spirit
	Executive Compensation	Incarnate Word – CC
General Electric	Global Standards	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross/Srs. of the Holy Spirit
	Global Warming	Cong. of Divine Providence/Incarnate Word – CC
Hartford Financial	Tobacco	CHRISTUS Health
Johnson & Johnson	Drug Pricing	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross/Srs. of the Holy Spirit
	Global Standards	Benedictine Sisters
Kmart	Vendor Standards	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross
Merck & Co.	Drug Pricing	Benedictine Sisters/CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross/Incarnate Word - CC
Raytheon	Offsets	Benedictine Sisters/Cong. of Holy Cross
Schering-Plough	Drug Pricing	CHRISTUS Health/Cong. of Holy Cross
Tricon Global Rest	Tobacco	CHRISTUS Health/Providence Trust
Unocal Corp.	Executive Compensation	CHRISTUS Health/Priests of Sacred Heart
Visteon Corp	Global Standards	CHRISTUS Health/Benedictine Sisters
Wal-Mart	Tobacco	Benedictine Sisters/CHRISTUS Health/Priests of Sacred Heart

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