Mother Merrill

by Father John McCloskey

"Perspectives about the importance of the "Demographic Shift in America" and "Emerging Majority" business communities such as Merrill Lynch"

Thank you for the welcome and the invitation to Merrill Lynch Headquarters. I spent three years working for Merrill as what was then known as an AE from 1975-78 in the US Steel Building, 165 BROADWAY at the SD office, then the largest investment boardroom in the world. This is before the construction World Financial Center. At that time the land not yet been filled in for it in the Hudson River and considerably before the opening of this campus headquarters. Outside my window on the 20th Floor the only two buildings I saw were the Twin Towers. During those years I witnessed the filming of King Kong, saw Philip Petit walk on a tight rope between the two buildings, and viewed a man climbing a la Spiderman to the top of one of the towers. . I also remember dining at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of one of the towers and looking down on the Merrill headquarters I imagine this was the same view that hundreds of our fellow citizens had 9/11/01 shortly before the two towers collapsed and our world changed forever.

I joined Merrill after graduation at the age of 21 and spent three years working in a way similar to what you do on a daily basis although the company was much smaller and the products a lot fewer. The technology was, in retrospect, primitive, based on Quotron machines and pneumatic tubes. I cold-called, looked for referrals, qualified prospects, and closed the sale and, truth be said, counted by commissions at the end of each day. I can say they were three of the most enjoyable and productive years of my life. The DJIA was around 600 and a Big Board trading day was 35 million shares. In 1978, having already received a vocation to an institution of the Church called Opus Dei; I discerned a vocation to the priesthood that lead me to Rome and Spain for four years before ordination and a doctorate in theology. I was not fleeing the evil world of Wall Street for the refuge of peace and joy of the Church but rather changing professional occupations to serve in another way in the Church. Although I must admit as the Lord promises as a reward in Scripture " a hundred-fold in this life and life everlasting" clearly is not a bad return on investment by any standard. Many of the young men who entered Wall Street at Merrill and other investment houses in 1975 are retired and have moved on to other occupations after participating and profiting in the longest economic expansion in our nation's history. Many of them were excellent professionals; others benefited by being in the right place at the right time. I have kept in touch with a good number of them and I can that I believe that generally the ethical climate of Wall Street is among the healthiest for the simple reason that in many cases, a contract is simply made over the phone or via a computer transaction. If you are not honest over time, you will not succeed either professionally or as a person. Avarice is always present people but the great majority has higher and better motives for their work in the investment industry than simple acquisition of wealth.

I speak as an ex FA and Catholic priest of 22 years . I can honestly say that many of the skills I learned both from my training and experience at Merrill have been of immense help in my pastoral and apostolic work. Now for me, the bottom line that is hard to measure is Glory to God and the salvation of souls, when I was at Merrill, that was still the same bottom line but I was more personal and less public, in the background. However in both cases, although the motives were the same, the means are somewhat different but they do have several things in common. Above all, the greatest opportunity that you as Hispanic American FA's is that of service to your clients, as persons, as families, as corporate or public entities.

The investment business is a noble one that offers unique opportunities for service. Indeed, The Lord himself tells the parable of the man who entrusted money to his servants for their management while he was away. He praises the two who traded their talents and doubled his money and casts the servant who buried the talent in the ground outside where will be wailing and grinding of teeth (Matthew 25:14-30). Clearly trading and investment, in one way or another, have been with us as long as there has been a medium of exchange and store of value that we call money. As you know well, savings represent the future for many families. There fore your advice, discernment of their investment needs given their financial conditions are of crucial importance, not only for their particular family, but also for future generations, and in a more expansive sense, the good of the economy and, more importantly the health of society.

My qualifications in speaking to you during these FA breakout sessions are few and simple One, I have shared your own experience as an investment advisor. Two, I can bring to you some simple considerations regarding the teachings of the Church that have to do with the world of the family and the economy. These teachings are not simply Catholic but also reflect, I believe for all humanity, underlying principles of the natural law which can be known by the use of reason and as St. Paul put it " are written on our hearts" as human person regardless of our religious beliefs or lack thereof and thus universally applicable. Third, Hablo Espanola! I spent four years of my life speaking only Spanish and have spent considerable amount of time during my lifetime living with people from many countries of America where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken. In addition, I have also lived in several Latin American countries and during he course of my pastoral life of a priest have served for years as a priest tending to Hispanic parishioners. . Strangely enough, eight of those years were spent right here in Princeton borough from 1990-1998 at St. Paul's Church on Nassau Street right across from the University. Indeed, I continue to celebrate Mass, hear confessions and give spiritual direction in Spanish in the heart of the Nation's Capital two blocks from the White House.

What can I offer you today in the few moments I have with you before opening up the floor for discussion? The real opportunity for Religious organizations and Faith Based Communities in Hispanic American context is that of service based on understanding the people and culture and organizations you desire to be your clients. I gather the majority of you here either speak Spanish or of Latin American ancestry and as such already are somewhat enculturated in the Latin world yet at the same time assimilated in the " classic " Anglo-Saxon world of the US of the past. You also know that Puerto Rico is as different from Argentina as Chile is from Paraguay and that there is a great variety in the North and South hemispheres which comprise what Pope John Paul II likes to simply refer to as " America" getting rid of the distinction of South, Central, and North. Indeed with Hispanics growing at a prodigious rate due to a higher birth rate than the rest of the United States and continued immigration now forming the largest ethnic minority in the US, it s clear that while the US is the only world power in a cultural and military sense, for better or worse, nonetheless the Hispanic influence is making great in roads in U.S. culture in many ways After all thirty years ago, who would have ever dreamt that salsa would outsell ketchup, or even knew what salsa is. I might add, I think this is a highly positive influence.

I grew up in Washington D.C. As a young man, the only Hispanics were diplomats and Cuban refugees. Now there are literally hundreds of thousands of Hispanics in the, emigrants from all points Central and South in the greater DC Metropolitan area. A minority is firmly entrenched in the upper middle class and higher but the majority are the construction workers, waiters, gardeners, etc. They form the blue-collar workers of Washington DC. What most impresses me simply on the anecdotal level (I am sure you are getting statistics galore during this symposium) is their spirit of hard work, and their larger than average family size. You well know that hard work combined over time with higher education of children that will inevitably come, produces prosperity over time regardless of the business cycle.

But you know all of this already. To get to the hear of my little talk and before opening up for discussion, I thought I would introduce some texts of the teaching authority of the Church that address specifically the market you are trying to serve. Remember that the overwhelming majority of Hispanics in this country are either Catholic or come from Catholic cultures regardless of the practice of their Faith.

There was a meeting of American Bishops before the great Jubilee year of 2000 that addressed their plans for the future. Pope John Paul II said "one of the reasons for the Church's influence on the Christian formation of Americans is their vast presence in the field of education and especially in the university world. The many Catholic universities spread throughout the continent are a feature of Church life in America. Also in the field of primary and secondary education, the large numbers of Catholic schools make possible a wide-reaching evangelization effort, as long as there is a clear will to impart a truly Catholic education.

Another important area in which the Church is present in every part of America is social and charitable work. The many initiatives on behalf of the elderly, the sick, and the needy through nursing homes, hospitals, dispensaries, canteens proving free meals, and other social centers are a concrete testimony of the preferential love for the poor that the Church in America nurtures.

The constant dedication to the poor and disadvantaged emerges in the Church's social teaching, which ceaselessly invites the Christian community to a commitment to overcome every form of exploitation and oppression. It is a question not only of alleviating the most serious and urgent needs through individual actions here and there, but also of uncovering the roots of evil and proposing initiatives to make social, political, and economic structures more just and fraternal."

The Church of course is speaking in supernatural terms of evangelization whether it is through the hospital, high school or university, or faith based social initiatives. However, for your purpose of service which is mutually beneficial, you must keep in mind that the bedrock principle of these institutions is " respect for the dignity of the human person from conception until a natural death " and the "sacredness of human life." All oft his has to be seen in the context of the centrality of the family, the basic social unit of society. For these institutions the bottom line is service to the person or family in the context of the motive divine charity. Your work will be made easier by recognizing that their investment objectives may be growth or conservation of capital, or assuring cash flow, or for that matter insurance but their bottom line is glory to God and service to souls, and ultimately salvation. The better you grasp these essential principles, the greater your opportunity to serve and, I say this positively, to profit, personally and corporately.

The Catholic Church is the largest private provider of social services in the US. The Catholic Church is the largest provider of private education in the US. The Catholic Church has the largest networks of private religious based hospitals in the US. I don't have the statistics at hand but Hispanic Catholics may well already more than 50 % of the population of Catholics in the US and given immigration and the higher birth rate of Hispanic families in the US that percentage will only go up in the decades ahead, It is certainly the largest single immigration of a language and Church based culture in our history. The Hispanics Americans, like many of you here, will surely assimilate, learn English, and just as surely will increase their income, their standard of living, their educational level, their political influence, and their cultural contributions to our country. All of you are living examples of that. I think this is all to the good. You as Merrill Lynch Hispanic American FA's can carry out a great and mutually beneficial work in helping Hispanic American grow and conserve wealth that in turn over time will enable them to not only better their family situations but also contribute to those religious organizations and Faith- based communities that you are already serving and prospecting as future clients.

Just a word in closing, if President Bush is successful in gaining Federal support for Faith-Based Initiatives, there could be a considerable amount of funds flowing from government coffers to not-for-profit religious based organizations that heretofore had relied on endowment on year fund-raising to stay afloat.