I recently asked a nationally known person in Catholic media for advice on how to responsd to vaccine drives taking place in churches in my own diocese.  His response was, “what is your desired outcome?”  We talked about weighing the options, considering what effects will flow from certain courses of action, and what actions could bring about the most good and eliminate the most evil (without causing more evil).  Pretty reasonable.  Pretty Thomistic.  Pretty Catholic.

I have proposed and participated in several different responses within my community, and I have received a myriad of responses.  They are all across the board.  “Not nearly enough!”  “Too far!” “Catholics praying outside of a Catholic church as if it were an abortion clinic?… think of the optics!”  Or my favorite… “How about you let us, the parishioners of our own parish initiate the shoulder talk with our pastor next time?”  To which I respond, “Thank you for accepting that responsibility.  I don't like feeling like I need to do it for people anyway.”

Here is my perspective in a nutshell: if Dignitas Personae tells the faithful that we have an obligation to object to the use of illicitly created vaccines, when others are available, then that obligation must be taken seriously.  The example should be set at the highest level within the Church.  If that is not done, than the next representative of the Church must take that stand.  And so on.  Have I heard much from my clergy in the Church at large or within my own diocese reinforce the obligation to make formal objection known to our government?  No.  Well, I did see a formal condemnation of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine (which was materially derived using cell lines from an aborted baby) both by the USCCB and by my own diocese.  For what those are worth.  

So when there is clear evidence that our own Cathedral, the capitol of our diocese, had the Johnson and Johnson vaccine distributed on it’s own premise, aren’t I simply acting on behalf of the Church to object strongly to this via petition, email, phone call, “shoulder talk”, and perhaps even (and I know this sounds wild to some) by praying a rosary outside of a Catholic church?   

Mistakes are made from time to time.  Groups go unvetted when people assume goodwill.  And unscrupulous groups do unscrupulous things, such as slide in a treatment they have been told not to or tell people that all of these treatments have been FDA approved, when they were not.  After two weeks of making our voices heard, and holding our leaders accountable, what was accomplished?

Well, if you followed notinourschools.net at all over the past week, you would have seen how a flood of emails and phone calls alone forced onecommunityaz.com to remove the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from the menu at a nearby church hosting a vaccination event.  Still, I decided there was one way to know for sure.  I went in at the event and asked.  Here’s what I have to report: two signs on the doors stated “Moderna and Pfizer only” in big bold letters.  When I went in to make sure, I talked to four different people on site working the event.  Every one of them denied that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine would be administered.  I found out that another man went in and came away with the same report.  And for my own validation that my tack was good, I heard a later report that a representative of the diocese also stopped by in the afternoon to confirm that the Johnson and Johnson shot was not administered.  

So I guess holding authorities accountable and true to their word is a worthy pursuit.  Even within your own community.  Even within your own Church.  

I would rather that gene editing shots with unknown long term side effects not be distributed in churches and schools in my community.  I dream of being taken seriously when informing our clergy that their participation in these drives helps inch us closer to a dystopian bio-tech security state.  But for now, I’m going to recognize that being told “I prohibited the Johnson and Johnson vaccine” by the pastor at the most recent event is a win.  A small win, but a win.  

So here’s my moral message after a calm, peaceful, and joy filled last two weeks: fret all you want about “too far”, “not far enough”, “optics”, “but the division”, etc… doing something clearly has an effect.  Figure out what that something is and actually do it.  Again, if you aren’t calling the one or two priests whom you are close friends with, who would actaully take your phone call, then you aren’t doing your job.  If you aren’t even signing petitions or sending emails, then do that next time, and then find even more to do.  In fact, don’t complain about people praying a rosary outside of a Catholic church and label it a “protest” (loaded word) if you aren’t willing to march down to the diocesan office, dressed well, with a hand written letter expressing your disappointment.  Arm-chair quarterbacks need not apply.  

Finally, God bless everyone for standing for truth and goodness these past two weeks.  I am happy to have met even new agents of righteous fervor in my community, people I otherwise would not have met had it not been for the crud of these past two weeks.  Men and women far better than myself in their commitment and their zeal.

There truly is not finer time to be a faithful Catholic.

God bless,
Gadfly