Ave Maria Mutual Funds

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Ave Maria Mutual Funds is a U.S. mutual fund family that targets clients interested in financially sound investments in companies that do not violate certain religious principles of the Roman Catholic Church. Often described as socially responsible investing (SRI), but more accuratedly in the case of Ave Maria Mutual Funds, morally-responsible investing (MRI) or faith-based investing.

The funds are available with a minimum investment of $1000 and an automatic investment plan can be set up with only $50 per month.

According to the fund family prospectus and website, the company screens its investments first on financial criteria, then eliminates companies involved in the practice of abortion or whose policies are judged to be anti-family. What constitutes anti-family practices is based on moral judgments made by the company's Catholic Advisory Board. Examples cited by the fund family include companies distributing pornography, and companies with policies that they view undermine the sacrament of marriage, such as those that provide benefits to domestic partners of employees.

The first of its funds were established in 2001. A November 2004 cover story in SmartMoney noted the fund family had $200 million under management, a number that had grown to over $250 million by the time of its May 2005 publication of its prospectus. Most of that money is invested in the firm's flagship fund, Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund; other funds include Ave Maria Growth Fund, Ave Maria Rising Dividend Fund, and Ave Maria Bond Fund. The newest fund is the Ave Maria Opportunity Fund. The five Ave Maria Mutual Funds are managed by Bloomfield Hills, Michigan based Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc. The firm was established in 1980 by George Schwartz.

Other articles about the funds have appeared recently in Kiplingers and Barrons as well as regional newspapers.

Excerpt from September 3, 2006 Chicago Tribune article:

(Schwartz's goal: Continue to build on Ave Maria Mutual's roster of 15,000 shareholders who have invested about $450 million in funds that screen out companies that facilitate abortion, pornography and non-marital partner benefits.

"We're hoping our assets get into the billions," said Schwartz, who saw his investor ranks grow by 40 percent in 2005. That way, Ave Maria would be able to influence practices at companies such as Eli Lilly, which the fund sold when the company began offering benefits to unmarried partners of employees. At the end of 2005, the Ave Maria Mutual Funds had about $400 million invested in them.)

[edit] Catholic Advisory Board

In defining its process for screening investments based on religious principles, the board members are "guided by the magisterium of the Catholic Church and actively seek the advice and counsel of Catholic clergy." As of August 2006, the board consists of the following members:

The board's ecclesiastic advisor is Adam Cardinal Maida.