US nuns get companies into trouble with investment activism

In the US state of Kansas, a group of religious women is calling on large companies to change their business practices.

The women are Catholic Benedictine nuns. They live together in a monastery called Mount Saint Scholastica. The nuns, who call themselves sisters, pray and singing three times a day in their small church. Members of the Benedictine order have been maintaining this lifestyle for around 1,500 years.

The sisters also invest their money in several companies. This gives them the right to propose changes to company policy at regular shareholder meetings where important decisions are made.

For example, the women called on the oil company Chevron to more carefully rethink its human rights policies. They called on Amazon to publish how much money the company spends to influence government officials. And they suggested that several drug manufacturers reconsider their proprietary rights, called patents, which they say increase drug prices. Patents legally protect a company's right to make and sell a product it has developed or owns for a limited time.

“Some of these companies just hate us,” said Sister Barbara McCracken, who leads the nuns’ group Companies Responsibility Program. She added that because they are a small group of women, the big companies may see them as an unwanted insect.

Until the 1990s, the nuns had made little investment. That changed when they began to invest money in caring for older sisters as the community aged.

They invest the little money they have in companies that serve their religious IdealsBut they also invest in companies that don't conform to their ideals, pushing those companies to change policies they consider harmful.

Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer oversaw the community's finances for years. She said it was important that the group “invested responsibly.” She added that they wanted to make sure their investments did not harm others.

The Sisters of St. Scholastica and other Benedictine groups work closely with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The ICCR is a New York City-based organization that brings religious groups into the organization to pressure companies to change their policies.

Tim Smith is a policy adviser to the center. He said the Benedictines have been an important part of the ICCR for years. He said that while it can take years for organizations to change, the sisters “have the Endurance of long-distance runners.”

Support for many of the changes the nuns have called for has grown over the years. Initially, their resolutions received less than 10 percent approval from shareholders. But in some cases they received 30 percent or even over 50 percent approval.

Pushing companies to change comes naturally to McCracken. She has been a peace activist for many years. “There isn't a demonstration she wouldn't go to,” said Sister Anne Shepard. She said McCracken's past includes anti-war, anti-racism and union-Support of demonstrations.

McCracken joined the Benedictine community in 1961. She describes herself as unusual for a person living in a monastery because she “hates to miss a party.” She and the other sisters follow the Benedictine rule of “pray and work.”

At the heart of many of their activities is the belief that the rich have too much, the poor too little, and that more should be done for the To use from all.

“For me, it’s a continuation of Catholic social teaching,” McCracken said of her activist investing.

Environmental protection has long been a central concern for members of Mount St. Scholastica. One of their college's alumni is Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Maathai died in 2011.

One of their biggest concerns is climate change. They use much of their 21 hectares of land for solar panels, community gardens and 18 beehives that produced about 360 kilograms of honey last year.

Their activism has often brought them criticism for being too politically liberal. They recently attracted attention when they responded to comments made by professional American football player Harrison Butker. Butker had given a speech at nearby Benedictine College – which the Benedictines co-founded – and said that most women there were more happy to be wives and mothers than anything else.

In a written statement, the sisters expressed concern about the idea “that the role of housewife is a woman’s highest calling.”

The nuns are not married and have no children. Many of the sisters have Doctoral degrees. Most of them have worked professionally. Their group includes a doctor, a lawyer specializing in Catholic canon law and a professional violinist.

The sisters received angry phone calls after releasing their statement. At the same time, the nuns are big supporters of the team Butker plays for, the Kansas City Chiefs. On days the team plays, they often wear the team's red and gold colors during services.

Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger helped draft the nuns' statement. “It came from a very basic understanding of who we are and the values ​​we hold,” Schweiger said. “We just felt that this voice needed to be heard because we believe so strongly in inclusivity.”

Sister McCracken said her religious beliefs put her in touch with political and economic issues. “It's just the nature of being an active citizen,” she said.

McCracken is nearly 85 and can't be as active as she once was, but for her, pushing companies to change is “a sedentary job when you can't get out on the streets.”

The members of Mount St. Scholastica do not really retire.

“We don't use that word,” McCracken said. She added that if they still had the ability to think clearly, “we'd just keep going, you know?”

I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith.

Tiffany Stanley reported this story for the Associated Press. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in this story

monastery -N. a place where members of a religious order (usually monks) live

singing -N. Words that are repeated, often as part of a religious ritual

Companies –adj. in connection with a business association or with measures taken as a group within the framework of organisational rules

Ideal -N. an idea that people want to copy or embody

To use -N. a good result of an action or decision

Endurance -N. the ability to do something over a long period of time

union -N. a trade union that supports the interests of workers, often in opposition to the representatives of the companies that employ the workers

Doctorate -N. the highest degree offered by a university