Background
Some of us need all the help we can get to make certain moral decisions, and the front and center issue of taking or not taking the COVID-19 vaccine is one such issue. We may need input to navigate those waters, and there’s no lack of opinion available.
To begin, we look at the list divided by those vaccines “morally tainted” by abortion and those which apparently are not. The lists can be found here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/which-covid-19-vaccines-are-connected-to-abortion
The vaccines currently available (and of the briefest testing?) are Pfizer’s and Moderna’s and each depends on some connection to abortive materials. Two other vaccines in the development track have been reported to be clear of such issues.
We look to those who have not only thought deeply on the issue but who have shown they are not afraid to express an unpopular position, in which group Archbishop Schneider is one of the most prominent: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-christians-must-refuse-covid-vaccine-derived-from-aborted-babies-even-if-it-means-martyrdom?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=e9c6289aad-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_859&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-e9c6289aad-401405353
California Bishop Brennan has also spoken out strongly against any vaccine with abortive connection: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/california-bishop-warns-catholics-not-to-take-covid-vaccine-connected-in-any-way-to-aborted-babies?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=d828be5d96-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_901&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-d828be5d96-401405341
One can also google the strong opinions of Bishop Strickland of Tyler Texas and, of course, Cardinal Burke, who has resolutely stood by Our Lord’s own Church with his Canon Law expertise. Meanwhile, unfortunately, Bp. Wenski of Miami became one of the first US Prelates to grab headlines and notoriety by volunteering for an abortion-contaminated COVID-19 drug, the one from Pfizer.
The essence of the debate regards whether or not one can really be remotely distanced enough from the original crime of murder when receiving a mere pin prick vaccination decades later? Lady Macbeth can tell us. ‘ Out damned spot ‘ is a line she speaks in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. She walks and talks in her sleep about the assassination of King Duncan, in which she is implicated. And no matter how hard she tries, she cannot remove the sense of bloodshed which convicts her, the spots which only she sees. Perhaps just such a sense of haunting from abortive slaughter gives rise to a worldwide guilt which must be weighed in any participation in such a vaccination?
Just received from NCRegister: Archbishop Naumann on the Ethics of COVID-19 Vaccines| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)
And tonight (12/22) we also get Church Militant’s summary of division within Catholic hierarchical leadership regarding use of COVID vaccines: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vatican-to-administer-abortion-tainted-covid-vaccine
While this post is a collection of articles intended to be helpful to those seeking to come to a morally acceptable decision on whether or not to receive the abortion-tainted vaccine, and might even serve as a litmus test for the seriousness with which one makes such a decision, it also brings home the division within the Catholic Church. It is reminiscent of the reactions to the publication of Humanae Vitae, with various bishops, priests and laity accepting the encyclical and being obedient to it, vs those who sought for every possible way around what Pope Paul VI had intended because it was just “too hard” for the average Catholic to obey. The slippery slope only goes in one direction — down!
A few more reflections and opinions
In my opinion we are in the same situation as we were with Humanae Vitae, with fans of a permissive teaching on one side, and fans of Traditional respect for the teaching office of the Church on the other. Today, with Pachamama having invaded the Vatican, and the ‘splitting of hairs’ morality and nuance among the prelates, priests can find a position somewhere which they will uphold from the pulpit. And then we can wonder if there is indeed any Teaching Office left.
But the difference between then and now is that Pope Paul VI’s position against contraception was a perpetual teaching for obedience, confronted in every marital act, with the opportunity to confess and begin again. The prelates drug-pushing the vaccine are dealing with what they seem to imply is a one-time act, a global pandemic. But, therefore, it is all the more serious. In the demonic symbolism, mimicking true Sacraments, the vaccine leaves an indelible character on the body for sure, and on the soul if it was willingly chosen in spite of being aware of the split teaching, all convenienced for the benefit of the progressive mob. More simply, there is no do-over here.
What is also different from the Humanae Vitae situation is that the priest in the pulpit, when firmly committed to his promise of celibacy, did not have to personally decide to obey or not obey the encyclical. However, in the present situation, the priest must decide to receive or reject the COVID vaccine. And then the laity will decide which priest’s moral teaching they want to hear from the pulpit. My guess, strictly a guess, is that some bishops will try to order their clergy to take or not take the vaccine, to the further detriment of souls.
If we are not already in schism, just wait. God has hit His reset button again, and He is testing us, just as he tested Abraham in the sacrificial offering of his son. With an apparent split in the Oneness of the Teaching Office, it is not unreasonable to reach for the alternative which is the least likely to offend God. But we do need to be careful that the voice we hear is God’s and not the progressives’ interpretations (aka ‘teaching’ us) that what they want us to do is a ‘patriotic duty’. No it isn’t. It’s about the profit inducement to Pfizer, and opening the door for the Gates’ mark of the beast.
Where does the Pope stand? Who? and When? The reader might also want to read how Pope Francis did a ‘reset’ of his own in 2016-17 when he fired the entire Pontifical Academy for Life and went ‘dark’ for nearly a year, reinstituting it under the notorious Cardinal Paglia, and giving up the member’s vow to the Deposit of the Faith. How could this not have badly damaged the compass of moral perception within the Church and to the world? Pontifical Academy for Life – Wikipedia
As new articles appear, look for a few more to be listed here. One BIG, unanswered question is “Why are Faithful Catholics not waiting for the vaccine that will be free of abortion-tainting?
US Bishops: Vaccines From Abortions OK (churchmilitant.com)
|