Southwark Report Internals final single

IMPACT
REPORT
ranging issues affecting the human dignity and
protection of refugees under the new regulations,
including those from Ukraine. It was standing room
only for the initial Mass at the Chapel of St Edmund
of Abingdon. The Assembly was live streamed
for the first time with over 100 additional attendees
online.
In addition, on Refugee Day, a declaration originally
signed by Archbishop Peter Smith in 2015 with
the Bishops of Dover and Arras was renewed. It
called for migrants to be treated with dignity and
humanity. In addition to Archbishop John Wilson,
three more bishops signed the renewed declaration,
representing the Lille and Bruges dioceses plus the
Anglican Bishop in Europe. They stated, “Sadly, we
find it necessary to repeat calls for people to respond
to the challenge of listening to the strangers amongst
us who are exiled from their homelands.”
The post in the official Vatican News attracted
significant attention.
View the Vatican News
Article & link to the
Signed Declaration
https://bit.ly/MigrantDignity
At the end of the year preparations began
for the Papal Nuncio to visit Kent, conveying
the Holy Father’s concerns for the plight of
refugees by meeting local concerned people and
visiting the 400 or so asylum seekers housed
in the previously disused Napier Barracks near
Folkestone.
In following up an enquiry from Operation Noah,
forwarded by a member of the Southwark JPIC
Commission, Bishop Paul Hendricks confirmed
that the diocese no longer holds shares in fossil
fuel companies. Looking further into this matter,
we heard from the Chief Operating Officer for the
diocese, Paul McCallum, that this results from the
adoption of a new Ethical Investment Policy, which
is outlined in the most recent annual submission
from the diocese to the Charity Commission.
The further good news to be celebrated is that
the policy involves much more than the boycott of
fossil fuels, as additional ethical and environmental
considerations are taken into account. The
diocese now checks that it has no investments in
companies involved in alcohol, tobacco, fossil fuels,
armaments, gambling or adult entertainment -
though the odd parish may still hold legacy shares
in Shell, for example. Concerned activists will be
grateful to Operation Noah for prompting us to
make this discovery!
The Policy was developed via a process of ethical
screening to eliminate organisations that are
not consistent with Catholic principles, followed
by evaluation in terms of Environmental, Social
and Governance practices (ESG), which led to
selection of candidate stocks. The final stage was to
evaluate each company's contribution to the UN's
Sustainable Development Goals.
The former policy, in place for many years, was
essentially one of avoidance. The diocese avoided
any companies that either offered abortion services
or with 10% or more of their turnover in strategic
military sales (e.g., strategic military parts and
combat equipment) or in tobacco sales.
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