Adult entertainment production outranks development of weapons of mass destruction on newly released list of moral priorities Catholic investors consider when working on their portfolios.
In fact, adult entertainment businesses rank twice in a top ten for Catholic investors according to a survey by an influential Catholic investment manager, outranking sweatshops and military contractors.
Pornography production placed third, and porn distribution placed eighth on list of issues to be considered by conscientious Catholic institutional investors, based on a survey conducted by Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS), which serves as the investment manager of $3.5 billion in assets for Catholic institutions.
Support of companies that would provide universal access to health care tied for third with the avoidance of investing in porn production.
Mainstream media with sexually explicit content tied with porn distribution for ninth. Mainstream media was also cited for violent content, which placed sixth on the list.
The survey was based on responses from 151 Catholic institutional investors, ranging from dioceses to religious orders, to hospitals.
CBIS claimed that 83 percent of the respondents surveyed intended to follow a policy of "socially responsible investing," by investing their money only in companies that adhere to Catholic values, and that 82 percent of their respondents believed in shareholder activism, using their clout to discourage corporations from becoming involved in activities that contradict their values.
Abortion led the list, followed by "environmental justice", defined by CBIS as the rights of "neighborhoods and communities particularly in disadvantaged areas to have meaningful involvement in the corporate decisions that impact their cultural, environmental and economic lives."
CBIS advocates an investment policy they refer to as "principled purchasing," a strategy that restricts and excludes investments in certain companies generating goods or services that are deemed to conflict with Catholic values, such as tobacco and pornography.
