War on Innocents

Seeing why Catholics can receive Covid vaccine

12/28/2020

Matthew 2:13-18 When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son. When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.

Yesterday, at the end of Mass at Our Lady of the Ozarks in Winslow, Dc. Mike Henry read Bishop Taylor’s letter regarding Catholic using the new vaccines protecting people against the coronavirus. When he read the line that the vaccines were produced from cells taken from aborted fetuses many years ago, someone in church gasped: “What?!” That statement came as a surprise to that parishioner, and maybe it does to you, too. The bishop had stated: “All the vaccines currently in use were developed with some connection to a past abortion.”

The bishop concluded with a summary of his entire statement: “In short, receiving one of the vaccines currently available is justified because (1) the connection to a past abortion is remote, (2) the need to protect others from COVID-19 is so great, and (3) there is currently no vaccine available which is completely free of these concerns.” Bishop Taylor emphasized: “I wish to be very clear here: receiving the vaccine is morally permissible.” Besides Bishop Taylor, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, as well as the Vatican, have stated that Catholics in good conscience could receive the currently available vaccines, at least the ones produced by Pfizer and Moderna, but not the one produced by AztraZeneca.

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, the baby boys who were murdered by King Herod as he waged war on the newborn King of Kings. Therefore, with the intercession of the Holy Innocents, I would like to offer some observations about the vaccines and protecting the innocent babies in the womb today, threatened by abortion, specifically about taking the available vaccines.

Let me explain a little what the phrase “remote connection to a past abortion" means. The U.S. bishops clarified: “There are currently three vaccines that have been presented to us as having demonstrated their effectiveness…those from Pfizer, Moderna and AztraZeneca…Neither Pfizer nor Moderna used morally compromised cell lines in the design, development or production of the vaccine." Note, however, that "design, development and production" are not the only steps of the vaccine process that utilize cell lines; there is also a step called a "confirmatory test" to double check that the vaccine is working effectively.

The bishops continued: "A confirmatory test, however, employing the commonly used, but morally compromised HEK293 cell line was used on both vaccines.” The bishops sifted through those scientific steps and offered the following moral conclusion: “Thus while neither vaccine is completely free from any connection to morally compromised cells, in this case the connection is very remote from the initial evil of abortion.”

I know that is a lot of technical lingo to listen to at a 7 a.m. Mass, so let me break it down a bit. “Remote cooperation” means you act together with someone but do not intend or share in all their goals. For example, you might buy a hamburger or a chai latte from restaurants or coffee shops that are national chains, and whose corporations likely give some money to support Planned Parenthood. Buying that hamburger or sipping that chai latte is “remote cooperation” in the evil done by Planned Parenthood. You are not committing a mortal sin when you eat a quarter pounder with cheese (except maybe gluttony).

The closely connected web of the world in which we live means we need to educate ourselves, especially to form our conscience, on what is morally right and wrong, acceptable or reprehensible. That is, try to learn the difference today between “remote cooperation” and “proximate cooperation” in an evil act like abortion. Also, we Catholics believe Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide and lead the pope and bishops in troubled times like these. Faithful Catholics are not merely groping in the dark, but have the light of faith shining in the Church, to guide our steps on earth. We should listen to the teaching of the pope and bishops far more than we give credence to other voices in social media, or even theologians.

May the Holy Innocents intercede for us, so that as we wage war against the coronavirus, we do not wage war against the innocent babies in the womb!

Praised be Jesus Christ!