Priests query Church shares

Westminster clergy have called into question the morality of Catholic-owned shares in South African gold mines.
After a meeting at London Colney Pastoral Centre the diocesan Senate of Priests is asking a working party of the Justice and Peace Commission to give advice on Church shareholdings in Consolidated Gold Fields, Ltd, a company which in 1973 was described as "an instigator and prop of the apartheid system".
report on the gold-mining firm issued two years ago by Counter-Information Services alleged that black mineworkers operating in "almost unimaginable conditions" were at that time being paid an average of less than £3 for a 60-hour week.
This was said to be less than one-fifth of the "poverty line" income calculated by Professor Watts of Natal University.
The 1973 report listed five Catholic bodies which at that time owned shares in Consolidated Gold Fields totalling more than £27,000. The largest single Catholic shareholder was the "Trustees for Roman Catholic Purposes" — better known as the Jesuits — with investments of £20,000.
The dioceses of Portsmouth and Westminster held shares worth £2,500 and £3,520 respectively, while a sum of £888 was listed under the name of Bishop Casey of Brentwood on behalf of a trust. The Carmelite Monastery, London WIO, possessed shares totalling £233.
Following publication of the 1973 report a number of these Catholic shareholders sold their shares in Consolidated Gold Fields.
But Fr Harry Turner, secretary of the Westminster Diocesan Senate of Priests, explained that members of the Senate were unclear about the Westminster diocesan holdings.
"We felt that it could well be that the good name of the diocese would be damaged if it were known that we were investing in this sort of cornpany,he said. Originally the Senate intended to approach the diocesan investment panel directly. But on hearing from Bishop Mahon that the Justice and Peace Commission for England and Wales had set up a working party CM investments they decided first to contact the Commission.
The Financial Secretary for Westminster Diocese, Mr George Marriott, said that the diocese still possessed shares in Consolidated Gold Fields. After publication of the 1973 report advice had been taken and it was decided to retain the holding so that pressure could he brought to bear on the company. But now the matter was being reviewed.
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