Opening address given at the Mensuram Bonam conference at the London Jesuit Centre on Monday 3rd July
Welcome to this conference during which you will be reflecting on Mensuram Bonam, a document focussing on faith-based measures for Catholic investors and produced by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
I thank you for your presence especially as there are competing demands on your time. I am sure that reflection on this document and the topics it addresses will be fruitful.
There is in the Church a desire for dialogue with all aspects of society and our striving to create a better world. This is not an easy dialogue to construct or maintain, especially in a culture which tends to reduce everything to conflicting voices, eradicating nuance and potential cooperation. This document totally avoids such a tendency, inviting rather a careful reflection on the process for establishing ethical principles and frameworks for action in the field of financial investment.
Key phrases are 'faith based investment' or 'faith consistent investment' and the aim is to bring a 'sharper insight' into the overall purpose of asset management, of the challenges to be faced and the urgent needs to be met. I particularly like the phrase that the work of this document, a work in which you engage today, is to ensure that financial management is indeed 'a noble vocation'.
As I look around I am struck by the range of Catholic dioceses, religious orders and organisations that are represented here today. What an important gathering this is and another expression of a one Church approach which is so important for the mission of the Church today. As we all know, it has not always been so. I rejoice, then, in this gathering and I thank you again for your participation.
I wish you well in your listening, engagement and encouragement of each other in the quest to make the investment process coherent with our faith. I thank most sincerely those who have worked hard as the organising committee of this event, for their energy and generosity of effort: Sr Margaret Fitzpatrick, Lyn Murray, Pauline Morgan, Paolo Camoletto and Fr Keith McMillan.
And just a moment of prayer:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonders of your creation, for its diversity, rich resources, beauty and fruitfulness. You are indeed a bountiful Creator.
This day we seek again your grace and blessing that we may perceive in all humility the responsibilities you have laid upon us for the well-being of all that you have created, especially the human family in every age and place.
Help us to have a wide horizon that takes us beyond our immediate benefit or gratification, a horizon that is shaped by your call to eternal fulfilment and to the path of service, especially of those most in need.
Inspire us with a fresh appreciation of the nobility of our calling and of our daily work, so that all we do may be to the glory of your Name. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Father…
✠ Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster