$ymbol and Sacrament: Fossil Fuel Divestment and Reinvestment as a Real Symbol of Love
By Erin Lothes Biviano
Journal of Moral Theology
Vol. 11, No. 1 (2022): 55–84
Eucharistic love flows from the heart of the Church into the lives of all the faithful, transforming the matter of daily lives into signs of solidarity and communion. Even the most mundane of all realities—money—partakes of the transformative dynamism of faith when its investment is directed to purposes that serve the common good and is offered as a sacramental act of love of neighbor. In the Catholic tradition, love of neighbor re- quires both charitable works and social justice, which involves, “above all, the structural dimension of problems and their respective solutions” (Compendium, no. 201). Thus, the just commitment of funds through investments—the structural support of the fossil fuel economy—merits theological consideration.