This slim (178 page) volume by Sedmak and Reagan Hickey can be unsatisfying if read in the wrong spirit. Those looking for a detailed and systematic approach to financial decision making and Christian living (or applying those principles to a ministry) will be frustrated. Those who are willing to do a more Emersonian reading will, however, find significant thought-provoking material that can stoke positive and useful conversations about the relationship of faith and finance, especially in Catholic institutions.

The book is divided into five chapters with important ancillary material in the introduction and two closing (non-chapter) sections. The chapters only read as loosely connected, and a central thesis is somewhat hard to pin down.

Chapter 1 aims to make the fundamental point that financial decisions reflect the values of an organization; hence, some reflection and alignment between the two is needed: “We claim that financial decisions...reflect values, but also shed light on the ultimate questions of mission and purpose” (18). Yet, financial decisions such as budgeting, are often seen as merely technical exercises. Some sort of guide is needed, and the authors suggest the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) as a guide.

This idea is the close of chapter 1; one would then expect it to be addressed in chapter 2. However, that chapter turns to “budgeting on the ground,” which seems to be an extension of chapter 1 getting into more granular detail with budgets, and analyzing some of the common strategies used to budget from the perspective of what values they imply.

By chapter three we have still not got to CST, but instead an excursus into a “theology of budgeting” is made. This chapter is keen to make the point that Catholics have moral obligations that others don’t, which the authors conceptualize as a “thorn in the flesh” of financial decision makers, especially given the tendency for those in “business” areas of the church (like finance) to prioritize efficiency, prudence, and good returns on financial decisions. Yet, as the authors point out, Jesus himself offers a series of difficult sayings that are hard to reconcile with such a mindset, most famously: “You cannot serve both God and mammon” (Mt 6:24, NABRE - “wealth” in the NRSV translation).

Chapters four and five turn to Catholic Social Teaching; four to make the case that it is applicable to financial decisions and give four guiding principles drawn from the author’s reading of CST: human dignity, participation, community and service, and non-maximalization.

A few evaluative points. First, as alluded to above, a central thesis is somewhat hard to pin down. I encountered a number of sentences early in the book that included some type of language about what the central or fundamental point of the book is. Here are two of them: “The idea that values, if taken seriously, will inform and translate into financial decisions is the foundational claim of this book” (1); “Looking into the promise of Catholic Social Teaching and the risks of neglecting these values is the point of this book” (11). While these statements are not contradictory, neither are they the same.

A second point is about the decision to use interviews to buttress and support the points made in the book. All quotes are given anonymously, usually with some context (“A CFO at a large Catholic hospital told us...”). However, we don’t have any sense of what questions were asked, of how many people, and who is represented by the interviews, other than the brief context given by the authors. Nor does there seem to be any critical reflection on how narratives can reinforce bias, either personal or structural.

These points do not overshadow the real strength of the book: by asking provocative questions, giving useful examples, and drawing on deep resources from within the theological and CST traditions, anyone interested in starting a conversation about finance values in their faith-based organization would be well-served by picking up the volume. In doing so, you won’t find ready answers, but you will find excellent questions to ask and useful heuristics as you seek to make your organization’s finances into a value statement worthy of the final judgment.