If you want a Catholic ETF that looks and feels like a mainstream market-cap weighted fund, CATH is basically the only game in town. State Street Global Advisors launched it in 2016 as the first Catholic values ETF in the US market, and it remains the largest by a significant margin. The full name is the SPDR Bloomberg SASB Catholic Values US Select Industry ETF, which is a mouthful.

Let's break down what CATH actually does and whether it deserves a spot in your Catholic portfolio.

The Index CATH Tracks

CATH tracks the Bloomberg SASB US Large Cap Catholic Values Select Index. That's a specialty index maintained by Bloomberg in collaboration with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), designed to screen US large-cap stocks against criteria derived from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' socially responsible investing guidelines.

The base universe is the Bloomberg US Large Cap Index, which covers roughly the 1,000 largest US companies. The Catholic Values screen then removes companies involved in:
- Abortion (direct involvement or significant material cooperation)
- Contraception manufacturing
- Embryonic stem cell research
- Pornography
- Weapons violating Catholic just war teaching (particularly landmines, cluster munitions, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and weapons of mass destruction)
- Human rights violations in conflict zones

Notably, CATH does not exclude alcohol, tobacco, or gambling. This aligns with mainstream Catholic moral teaching, which treats these as matters of personal prudence rather than automatic exclusions. It also doesn't exclude financial services, which means you get banks, insurers, and asset managers in the portfolio.

What CATH Actually Holds

After the screening, CATH holds roughly 450 to 500 US large-cap stocks. Because the screens are relatively narrow compared to evangelical BRI funds, most of the S&P 500 universe passes through. This is the key difference between CATH and something like BIBL: CATH looks a lot like the US large-cap market, just with specific exclusions.

Top holdings typically mirror the broad market: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly, Broadcom, Tesla. Most major weapons contractors are excluded (Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics), along with some pharmaceutical companies with contraception products.

Sector breakdown is roughly: 28 to 34 percent technology, 12 to 15 percent financial services, 12 to 15 percent healthcare, 10 to 13 percent consumer discretionary, 7 to 10 percent communication services, with smaller slices in industrials (less than S&P 500 because of defense exclusions), consumer staples, energy, materials, and utilities.

Expense Ratio: 0.29 Percent

CATH charges 0.29 percent per year. That's genuinely cheap for a faith-based ETF. It's the cheapest major Catholic option on the market and significantly cheaper than any actively managed Catholic mutual fund. Compared to the S&P 500 at 0.03 percent, you're paying about 10 times more for the screened version, which is on the lower end of the faith-based premium.

How does State Street price it so low? Scale. SSGA runs the entire SPDR family and can spread infrastructure costs across trillions of dollars. CATH benefits from that scale even though the fund itself is modest in size.

AUM: Around 900 Million to 1.1 Billion Dollars

CATH has grown steadily since launch. It's now running approximately 900 million to 1.1 billion dollars in assets as of early 2026. That makes it the largest Catholic-labeled ETF and puts it ahead of most actively managed Catholic mutual funds by assets.

The ETF structure helps: CATH is more accessible and tradeable than mutual funds, which attracts both retail investors and advisor model portfolios. The growth has been steady rather than explosive, but the trajectory is clearly upward.

Liquidity is adequate for retail investors. Bid-ask spreads are typically 2 to 5 cents during regular trading hours.

Performance Estimates

Because CATH's screening excludes a relatively narrow set of companies, its tracking error to the S&P 500 is small. Over most periods, CATH tracks the S&P 500 within plus or minus 1 to 2 percent per year.

One-year total return: approximately 22 to 26 percent. Very close to S&P 500 returns for 2025.

Three-year annualized: approximately 14 to 17 percent.

Five-year annualized: approximately 13 to 15 percent.

Since inception (April 2016): approximately 13 to 14 percent annualized.

The cumulative tracking error versus the S&P 500 has been small. CATH has lagged slightly in years when defense contractors (which are excluded) outperformed, and kept pace or led in years when those same contractors lagged.

The Low Tracking Error Advantage

This is actually CATH's biggest selling point. If you're a Catholic investor who wants alignment with USCCB guidelines without accepting meaningful performance drag, CATH gives you that. You're not making a giant bet on a concentrated portfolio or active management. You're getting close-to-S&P-500 returns with specific exclusions for Catholic moral concerns.

That's the right answer for many Catholic investors who want to align their investments with their values but don't want to drastically reshape their portfolio or accept permanent underperformance as the cost of conviction.

Distribution and Yield

CATH pays quarterly distributions. Current yield is approximately 1.2 to 1.6 percent, very similar to the S&P 500's yield of about 1.3 percent. No meaningful dividend difference from the broad market.

Comparison to Active Catholic Funds

CATH vs AVEDX (Ave Maria Rising Dividend): CATH is passive and cheaper (0.29 vs 0.92). AVEDX is active with a dividend tilt. Different investment approaches.

CATH vs Catholic Investor funds from Knights of Columbus: Knights of Columbus offers several Catholic values mutual funds through its KoCAM program. These tend to be more expensive than CATH and less transparent for retail investors.

For simple, cheap, liquid Catholic exposure, CATH wins on cost and structure. For Catholic investors who want active management or specific strategies like dividend growth, the mutual fund options may be preferred.

Does CATH Actually Satisfy USCCB Guidelines?

Here's a fair question: does the Bloomberg SASB Catholic Values index actually implement the USCCB guidelines correctly? The guidelines themselves are general principles rather than specific screening rules, so any implementation involves interpretation.

The Bloomberg SASB index makes reasonable choices. It catches the most obvious concerns (abortion-related businesses, certain weapons, pornography) and leaves out some things you might expect to see (like broader environmental or labor screens, which the USCCB does mention but aren't implemented here).

No index perfectly captures USCCB guidance because the guidance itself isn't algorithmic. Different Catholic investors might reasonably prefer different screening approaches. CATH represents one defensible interpretation and it's transparent enough that you can decide whether it matches your own understanding of Catholic investing principles.

The Absence of Progressive Catholic Factors

CATH's screens are focused on what could be called "traditional" Catholic moral concerns: life, chastity, just war, and certain human rights issues. It doesn't incorporate progressive Catholic priorities like environmental stewardship (Laudato Si'), economic justice, labor rights, or immigrant welfare.

This means CATH works well for Catholics whose concerns center on life and sexual ethics, but feels incomplete to Catholics whose social teaching emphasis includes environmental and economic justice. For the latter group, a mainstream ESG fund might actually be more aligned than CATH.

There's no single Catholic ETF that captures the full Catholic social teaching tradition in all its breadth. Different investors will prioritize different aspects.

Who CATH Makes Sense For

Catholic investors who want low-cost, broad-market exposure with USCCB-aligned exclusions and don't want meaningful tracking error to the S&P 500. Tax-conscious investors in taxable accounts who appreciate the ETF structure's tax efficiency. People building a core Catholic portfolio who want the biggest piece to be cheap and simple. Advisors who need a Catholic fund they can slot into model portfolios without justifying unusual performance.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

Catholics who prioritize environmental stewardship and economic justice (mainstream ESG may be a better fit). Investors who want active management and specific style tilts (consider AVEDX or similar). Anyone who wants the deepest possible exclusion list (consider stricter faith-based options with more aggressive screening).

The Complete Catholic Portfolio

A practical way to use CATH is as your core US large-cap holding, then layering on other faith-based or ESG exposures for international, fixed income, and any specialty allocations. Something like:

50 to 60 percent CATH (US large-cap core)
15 to 20 percent international ESG or Catholic-screened international
15 to 25 percent investment-grade corporate bonds (Ave Maria Bond or screened alternatives)
5 to 10 percent small cap or sector-specific Catholic-aligned holdings

That gives you broad diversification, keeps costs reasonable, and aligns with mainstream Catholic investing principles.

Bottom Line

CATH is the default Catholic US equity ETF for a reason. It's cheap, it's liquid, it tracks an established index, it's backed by a major asset manager (SSGA), and it delivers close-to-market returns with specific Catholic exclusions. For most Catholic investors looking for a simple way to align their US equity exposure with their values, CATH is the easiest starting point and a legitimate long-term hold.

It's not perfect. The screening doesn't capture every aspect of Catholic social teaching, and some investors will want more active management. But as a building block for a Catholic portfolio, CATH is well-designed and reasonably priced. That's more than you can say for most faith-based ETFs.

SPDR Bloomberg SASB Catholic Values US ETF (CATH): SSGA's Take