Nine catholic institutions to divest from fossil fuels ahead of G7

[rug]

Up to nine Catholic organizations have announced that they will divest from fossil fuel corporations in order to send a message to the upcoming G7 summit meeting in southern Italy. Representatives said that the move was inspired by Pope Francis's encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."



Protesters gather for a fossil fuel and climate change protest outside Trump Tower May 9 in New York City. Nine Catholic organizations, including five religious orders and an archdiocese in Italy, plan to divest from fossil fuel corporations in an action timed to send a message to the upcoming G7 summit in Italy. (Credit: CNS photo/Brendan McDermid, Reuters.)

Dennis Sadowski
May 11, 2017
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nine Catholic organizations are going green in an action timed to send a message to the upcoming G7 summit. Among them are five religious orders and an archdiocese in Italy, which plan to divest from fossil fuel corporations.

Representatives of the groups said May 10 that they were inspired to act by Pope Francis’s two-year-old encyclical, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.

Joining the divestment movement were the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters and the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary of Wheaton, Illinois; MGR Foundation in New York City; the Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit; St. Joseph’s Province of the Passionist order in the United Kingdom; and in Italy, the Archdiocese of Pescara-Penne, Il Dialogo magazine, the Society of Jesus, Interdiocesan Network New Lifestyles and the Siloe Monastic Community.

The announcement came as part of a broader global divestment campaign running May 5-13 that finds organizations pulling funds from companies involved in the extraction of coal, oil and natural gas, and turning to firms developing renewable energy instead.

https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/05/11/nine-catholic-institutions-divest-fossil-fuels-ahead-g7/

[AtheistCrusader]

1. For a group that rips on capitalism so much, the RCC sure has a lot of invested capital.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/world/americas/in-fiery-speeches-francis-excoriates-global-capitalism.html?_r=0

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — His speeches can blend biblical fury with apocalyptic doom. Pope Francis does not just criticize the excesses of global capitalism. He compares them to the “dung of the devil.” He does not simply argue that systemic “greed for money” is a bad thing. He calls it a “subtle dictatorship” that “condemns and enslaves men and women.”

Church leveraging the dung of the devil, a subtle dictatorship to... good purposes?



Out of curiosity, how long was the church profiting off capital invested in those high-carbon-output energy companies? Did they buy into those funds last week, for a symbolic divestment, or have they been farming the devil's dung for years/decades?

And since it's STILL capital if they rolled the money to other funds... still farming? Still feeding and laboring under a 'subtle dictatorship'?

If those funds go into capital investment for solar or wind... still the devil's dung?

[rug]

2. Show me the solar panels on the roof of FFRF.

It's awesome how frenetically some people react to anything good a religion does.

"But, but . . . . pederasts!"

"But, but . . . . Vatican money bins!"

It won't surprise me to see Huey, Dewey and Louie to weigh in soon.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Not even close pal.

We're talking about a capital investment mechanism, and the pope/church both USES it, and simultaneously says very mean nasty things about its very existence.

Pick one.

My objection didn't say anything about pederasts or even the amount of money in play. If the pope is going to vilify the very nature of capitalism, any subsequent effort to leverage capitalism to good by that person/entity, is suspect.

He didn't just say it was 'exploitative' or 'bad' or 'inequal' etc. He called it the "dung of the devil".


Apparently the dung of your imaginary enemy is fertile financial leverage for good?

[rug]

4. No, bub, we're talking about divestment from pollution, not "a capital investment mechanism".

I understand from prior posts that you are a strong supporter of capitalism and that it takes very little for you to transform criticism of capitalism to "vilification" of capitalism. Here. I'll make it easier. Leave Francis out of it. I say capitalism is the most destructive economic system ever seen on earth. It is irredeemable, unworkable and benefits only the wealthy. Let's have that argument anywhere, any time.

Returning to Francis, the fact that he "vilifies" capitalism is one of the things he's most correct on. Second only to protecting the planet from the destruction caused to it by the means of production (aka the means of pollution) controlled by, guess who, capitalists, who wield their concentrated wealth for their own gain at the expense of billions and the very air we breathe.

So, go ahead, be an apologist for capitalism but don't delude yourself into thinking you're doing anything else.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. No, I'm not going to let you leave the titular head of a religious organization that has

used very specific religious language to literally demonize capitalism 'out of it'.

What you posted, is a POSITIVE example of the power of capitalism. I could add non-religious entities doing the same, to the pile, and that's all well and good.

But the RCC itself categorizes the very system being used, as evil, or the work of evil. Yet it uses it. That's a paradox or hypocrisy. It participates IN it. The RCC(TM) is a capitalist.

I'm actually ok with that. What i'm not ok with is the two-faced bullshit that its evil, but oh yeah, gonna profit off it for a long time, and then make a political statement by profiting off a different tech now that the conversation has moved.

The invisible hand of the market is moving toward renewables. The RCC isn't 'leading' here. It's attempting to score a political point while attaching itself to a profitable caboose as it goes by.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-06/wind-and-solar-are-crushing-fossil-fuels
That's from 2016.

Here in the US, our mixed-market regulated capitalist system is shifting the costs to make renewables the less expensive option. That's fucking kickass. That is not, in any sense, the dung of the devil. The pope is a hyperbole factory, putting on a show attacking a 'unpopular' abstract with his other hand out to collect monies from same unpopular abstract.

All the while, the invisible hand moves on, kept in the right direction by good regulatory oversight. Do let's have the debate, but no we're not leaving the pope out of this. Not a chance. He made himself fair game.

[rug]

6. You'll have to.

I'm going to my daughter's lacrosse game.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. The RCC(TM) is a capitalist. Have a nice day.

[rug]

8. Bingo! "The invisible hand of the market".

There is no "invisible hand". Nor are there invisible unicorns or teapots. Turn in your card.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. I agree there is no invisible hand.

It's a colloquialism.

No gods, no masters, no unicorns, we're on the same page now man.