Ministries
Faith in the Service of Justice By Anne Murphy
Mortgage lending as mission? Call it a sign of the times, but Fr. James Walsh, SJ, a practicing attorney and veteran social activist, has made foreclosure relief for struggling families in Boston’s economically distressed neighborhoods his latest foray into social ministry.
In September 2010, Fr. James Walsh, SJ, surrounded by family and colleagues, celebrated 50 years in the Society of Jesus at the New England Province’s Jubilee celebration.
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bout three years ago we realized the banks had been bailed out, but they weren’t doing anything,” explains Fr. Walsh, who serves on the board of Boston Community Capital, a community development finance institution — what Fr. Walsh calls a “non-bank bank” — chartered to invest and lend in poor communities. “Traditional banks weren’t making mortgage loans in low-income neighborhoods. There were few alternatives for the poor. And Boston Community Capital (BCC) strives to be a hedge fund for the poor. So we realized BCC needed to become a mortgage company — to
John Gillooly
stabilize communities and help families stay in their homes.” BCC, which also makes smallbusiness and community-development loans, as well as venture investments through its equity funds, became a licensed mortgage lender in 2009 and, through its Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods (SUN) program, began buying properties facing foreclosure at deeply discounted prices. Reselling the properties back to their residents on more amenable terms, SUN also underwrites new mortgages at affordable rates. More than $15 million has been lent so far, and about 135 families have been spared