To coordinate our thinking, outreach, and creative problem-solving we are establishing the Centre for Integral Ecology, Economy and iMpact (CIEEM).
At the Mount, we are using the model for Integral Impact Ecology to transform our students in the classroom, create positive synergies with local businesses and organizations, and partner with international groups and peoples to co-create new opportunities for integral human development. We then unleash students’ creative problem solving initiatives through support of the CIEEM and the Palmieri Center for Entrepreneurship.
As a Catholic university, Mount St. Mary’s graduates ethical leaders who are inspired by a passion for learning and lead lives of significance in service to God and others. Mount St. Mary’s is a Catholic institution of higher education dedicated to liberal learning in the pursuit of truth.
Mount St. Mary’s, mindful of its role in the Church’s mission to the world and respectful of the religious liberty of all, affirms the values and beliefs central to the Catholic vision of the person and society, and seeks to deepen understanding of our faith and its practice in just and compassionate engagement with the world.
The Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business, proudly integrated within a Catholic university, fosters the divine calling of business professionals who consider the dignity of the human person, who apply the highest standards of personal integrity, and who serve the common good.
As stewards of the Mount St. Mary’s and Bolte School’s visions, we prioritize excellence in business and economic practices that foster integrety, dignity for all, and respect for the world around us in answering the call of the Holy Father to reshape our world.
Pope Francis in Laudato Si reminds us that “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving our world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the areas in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.” But, business has to be integrated into respect for the environment, for humanity, and the common good: “We urgently need a humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision.”
Pope Francis echoed the core tenents outlined by Pope Benedict in his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, emphasizing that putting the person at the center of the economy is crucial and that ethical and spiritual concerns should be favored over those of strictly material and technical nature. Both our current and most recent Pope expand upon elements of concern already expressed by Saint John Paul II in his Papal encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis of 1987. In Sollicitudo, Saint John Paul II discusses the need to conserve and protect natural resources and to develop economic practices that benefit society as a whole over the individual. His Holiness followed with Centesimus Annus in 1991 where he states, “Profit is a regulator of the life of a business, but it is not the only one; other human and moral factors must also be considered which, in the long term, are at least equally important for the life of a business.” Taken together, our Holy Fathers call upon us to have a holistic approach to Business that seeks to foster human development, build capacity and dignity, while also preserving our precious God-given resources.
“Your universities, your businesses and your organizations are workshops of hope for creating new ways of understanding the economy and progress, for combating the culture of waste, for giving voice to those who have none and for proposing new styles of life.”
(Letter of the Holy Father May 1, 2019 – “to Young Economists and Entrepreneurs Worldwide”)
After the catastrophic global financial crisis in 2009 and as we move towards a post-COVID era, this is the ideal time for a great reset in the ways we practice, live, and teach economics, finance and enterprise (business).
The Economy of Francesco (EoF) is a serious and urgent invitation by the Holy Father to transform current economic thinking which has been based on pure material aspirations. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis exposes the reality of growing economic inequalities, social and environmental degradation. The Pope demonstrates an intimate relationship between the poor and the planet’s fragility, our moral behavior (even our inactions), and ecological degradation. The truth is that everything in the world is interconnected.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis moves our hearts to have an integral, spiritual, and ecological conversion. What is more, the EoF is a necessary spiritual and intellectual exercise and a real and practical transformation, which is meant to reshape economies and societies.
The Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business and Mount St. Mary’s University are embedding the Economy of Francesco into our programming, education, and development of a new generation of business leaders focused on creatively solving challenges of our world. Together with international partners we are forging a new path for business operations and solutions based on the urgent call in Laudato Si to apply what we are learning to reshaping our world in a sustainable manner that respects ecology, environments and humanity.
Here at Mount St. Mary’s University, together with our partner Transform Communiversity Associates in the UK, we are part of this transformation to change the world. At the Mount, we are implementing a model for Integral Impact Ecology that is transforming Economics, Finance, and Enterprise in different parts of the world. We do this through creating self-sufficient economic models integrating nature and community in the south; developmental economic models integrating the cultural and spiritual dimensions of the east; social-economic models integrating science and technology from the north, and living and humanistic economic models integrating finance and enterprise based in the west.
This model incorporates Social & Integral Return on Investment (SIROI) measures, focuses on developing each person’s capability. We meet our collective vision through centering our business thinking around Pope Francis’s (integral) call for caring for the planet (ecology) and each person (impact) which will create a sustainable future for our planet and its people.
In the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business at Mount St. Mary’s University we work to develop your skills to live extraordinary lives in the service of God and others, join us in reshaping our world for a brighter future!