The Benedictine Sisters, who recently gained notoriety for denouncing a graduation speech given by the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, are no strangers to social justice. For the past two decades the sisters have taken their beliefs to the bank, using investments as social activism. Benedictine sisters, Rose Marie Stallbaumer, left, and Barbara McCracken, right, look through corporate resolution archives and newspaper clippings at the Mount St. Scholastica monastery in Atchison, Kan.
They invest what little they have in corporations that match their religious ideals, but also keep a bit in some that don’t, so they can push those companies to change policies they view as harmful. “We decided it was really important to do it in a responsible way,” said Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer, who was the community’s treasurer for years. “We wanted to be sure that we weren’t just collecting money to help ourselves at the detriment of others.”
The Benedictines have played a key role at ICCR for years, said Tim Smith, a senior policy advisor for the center. It can be discouraging work, where the needle only moves slightly each year, but he said the sisters “have the endurance of long-distance runners.” At the core of much of what they do is the belief that the wealthy have too much, the poor have too little, and more should be shared for the benefit of everyone. Or as they say in Catholic parlance, for the common good.