Bishop discusses COVID-19 vaccine

By Margaret M. Russell 

The Catholic Free Press 

Which vaccine to choose? What if my college or workplace is mandating the vaccine? Where can I get help making these moral decisions? 

 Every week more issues arise that can be answered by a thorough and prayerful reading of “Forming Consciences on COVID Vaccines: What Catholics Should Know.” The document, crafted by Bishop McManus and Allison LeDoux, director of the Respect Life Office, was published in The Catholic Free Press April 23 and is available on the diocesan website at worcesterdiocese.org/vaccines. Parishes also have been asked to distribute the document in bulletins, on their websites and through their email lists. 

 Bishop McManus and Mrs. LeDoux sat down to discuss the evolving issues surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations and how Catholics can properly form their conscience to react.  

 Currently there are three vaccines available: Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. As the Bishops of the United States have reminded us, “If one can choose among equally safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccine with the least connection to abortion-derived cell lines should be chosen. Therefore, if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.” 

 What is the goal of the "Forming Consciences on COVID Vaccines" document?  

Mrs. LeDoux: We want people to be fully informed so they can make the best medical and moral decisions possible, relative to their own health and their own circumstances. 

Bishop McManus: What adds to the complexity of the situation is the simple fact that Johnson & Johnson only has to be administered once. We had a situation here where a free clinic in St Peter’s Parish was distributing Johnson & Johnson and some of the remarks were that people wanted Johnson & Johnson so they wouldn’t have to come back, because they were afraid to have a second shot. That just adds to the problem … everyone is so wearied by the pandemic and they don’t have the moral background to make these distinctions.… We really have an obligation to do this formation. 

Two moral principles are involved in this reflection on which is the more appropriate vaccine, morally. 

Commonly what we hear is the principle of cooperation. But I think, what is more appropriate, is the principal of the appropriation of evil. 

 In the three (COVID) vaccines that we already have, the material cooperation is very, very remote. But the question of the appropriation of evil is very current. And the question becomes how much evil was actually performed in the retrieval of this aborted fetal cell line? And should we appropriate that evil? Because, obviously, abortion is a gravely intrinsically evil activity. So, what are the moral circumstances under which we can appropriate that evil? Or very remotely cooperate in it? I think that’s what we have to keep in mind as we try to form our people’s consciences about this whole vaccine issue. 

 Why is it important for people, especially Catholics, to have this knowledge?  

Mrs. LeDoux: They are hearing so many competing voices, no matter what news station you turn on you’re getting all of this information but not the ethics. And no guidance on how to make a decision. The underlying theme from the secular news is a push to get the vaccine. Especially as Catholics we need to recognize this wider perspective.  

There is also a lot of misinformation out there. That’s becoming very concerning to me. People tend to trust well-established entities like the CDC and the FDA, Johns Hopkins – all leaders in many good ways. However, the CDC has a Q&A and when asked about long-term effects,  they say “No.” But we don’t know. We don’t know if there are long-term effects. This is too new, we can’t know for sure. Please God there aren’t any – but don’t proceed in doubt. …  

The same thing with effects on fertility. That’s still a question being explored. We just don’t know at this time. I have checked with the National Catholic Bioethics Center … and they say yes, it is still too soon to know until we have more studies done and more long-term solid research. 

 Do you think people know they have a choice?

Bishop: Allison and I had this discussion when we were crafting that document. That was my concern. I wasn’t sure. People spent hours trying to get an appointment. Do they know? 

Mrs. LeDoux: Once registered, they should get a confirmation telling them which vaccine would be administered. 

 At least of those three vaccines ..., in this part of the country there doesn't seem to be a shortage of availability. So, if somebody in their conscience does not want to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, there’s no reason they can’t ... say, "No I am not taking this one.” And there should be an alternative. Or, hopefully, they would have the conviction to make another appointment to get either the Pfizer or Moderna.…  

 We want people to know that yes, you do have the right to choose the vaccine you get.  

 Bishop: Also, a complicating factor, ... from 1973 with the legalization of abortion our people have become so forgetful of the moral malice that’s involved there. They say, “Oh, well, what can I do? I didn’t do that.” So, that’s part of the problem, their consciences are really dulled to the whole moral malice of abortion. And so when it comes to a situation where there is a certain hysteria that we have been generating in our country about this whole thing - I think many Catholics, who would be good Catholics, would not have red flags going up. So that’s part of the cultural and ambient problem we have in making these types of moral decisions. 

 Why is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine morally problematic?  

Bishop: In the design, production and testing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine all three processes have used the aborted cell line in the production. And Moderna and Pfizer use that cell line, just in their testing. (www.usccb.org/news/2021/us-bishop-chairmen-doctrine-and-pro-life-address-use-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine) 

Mrs. LeDoux: There are others in development. One or two that have the potential to be ethically OK. The one that intrigues me the most is the John Paul II Medical Moral Research Center in the mid-West.... They are working on this and it probably is going to take a couple years. They are doing a slow, thorough process, completely ethically. I would have great hope in that, but it will take some time. 

 What are we urging people to do, about the unethical use of aborted fetal cell lines in the manufacturing of vaccines? 

Mrs. LeDoux: The USCCB has set up a wonderful web page for this.... They have the contact information for all the pharmaceutical companies, and they provide templates for letters that people can use, make their own, and send to the pharmaceutical companies urging them to create vaccines that have no ethical problems with them, because it can be done, and has been done. (www.usccb.org/resources/letters-pharmaceutical-companies) 

 … I think if people just in normal conversations raise awareness of these ethical problems, with their doctors, … anyone they know in the medical profession, in the pharmaceutical industries. If enough people speak up, maybe it can, with time, change things.  

  What should a Catholic college student do if their college or university, secular or Catholic, requires a vaccine?  

 Bishop: I don’t have an answer for that. 

If the college or university has made the decision there will be no exemptions, or they cannot give exemptions because they are located in one of those states that it’s against the law, what do these kids do?  

 Mrs. LeDoux: I started putting together a Q&A for people going off to college and facing this.  There is a lot we don’t know. There are some states that don’t allow religious exemptions. I can only imagine that that's going to cause some lawsuits, because that’s a First Amendment violation.  

What about the liability of the colleges if something goes wrong with that student? 

Bishop: If something like that happens, as tragic as that would be, there will be lawsuits. 

Bishop, can a Catholic college morally mandate students, faculty to get a COVID-19 vaccination?  

Bishop: My position is yes. Because even the Vatican document talks about receiving the vaccine in terms of acts of charity for the common good. But, having said that, the colleges have to give exemptions. If they do not give exemptions they cannot do that. Early on the Vatican City State took the position that its workers had to be vaccinated and apparently … they pulled back and offered exemptions.... It has to be a function of an informed conscience, no doubt about it. 

Mrs. LeDoux: By law in Massachusetts they (students) can claim a religious exemption in either setting, Catholic or secular. 

How does a student go about getting an exemption?  

 Mrs. LeDoux: Hopefully the college will offer a form. I know Assumption has offered a form to their students to fill out to request an exemption. If the school doesn’t directly say it, the students should contact their school to find out the procedure. 

A form or a letter – the document we put out could be helpful in giving them the language as well as the links on our vaccine page of our website. 

 Bishop: Also, here, at WPI for example, we have Father Alfredo Porras the chaplain. If kids are at secular colleges and they feel pressured because there are not any explicit exemptions, maybe they can work through their Catholic campus ministry to advocate for them or at least to find out how they could access these forms.  

In the state of Massachusetts WPI could not say we will not provide exemptions. 

 Mrs. LeDoux: They would have to grant it because it’s law for Massachusetts. 

 Bishop They might not be bending over backwards to facilitate the exemptions.  

 Mrs. LeDoux: So, students are going to have to dig for the information in some cases. 

 What are some of the reasons to seek a religious exemption?  

Bishop: Certainly they could say because of the moral complexity that this particular vaccine is morally tainted and that offends my conscience and what my Church teaches about these moral issues. 

Mrs. LeDoux: I think that “conscience” and “morally tainted” is the primary reason. I have heard others talk about not knowing the long-term effects and that stewardship over one’s health, safeguarding that.... But I don’t think anything is as strong as the abortion connection.  

 Bishop: In our moral tradition when vaccines emerged on the scene, it raised a whole field of moral reflection. The Church has never taken an absolutely contrary position, unlike some other denominations.  

What should a Catholic, who decides not to get a vaccine, do if an employer requires a vaccine?  Do employers fall under allowing exemptions as well? 

Mrs. LeDoux: They should, in the state of Massachusetts.