Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

Medical Guild Members… Hear Homily On Ethics Of COVID-19 Vaccines

February 24, 2021 Frontpage No Comments

By DEXTER DUGGAN

PHOENIX — The director of medical ethics of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix reviewed ethical considerations involved with receiving a vaccine for COVID-19 in a homily to members of the Phoenix guild of the Catholic Medical Association.
Fr. Ignatius Mazanowski, who also is chaplain to the Phoenix guild, spoke during a February 13 evening Mass for the guild’s members at St. Joan of Arc Church in north Phoenix offered by the pastor, Fr. Dan Connealy.
Although the Mass was in the main church, St. Joan of Arc has a chapel with an altar that was used at the nineteenth-century Philadelphia home of the wealthy Drexels, one of whose daughters, St. Katharine Drexel, became a pioneering missionary nun to Native Americans and blacks. She died at age 96 in 1955. Her feast day is March 3.
Connealy told The Wanderer that although his parishioners are well aware of the Drexel altar, not many other people show up looking for it.
Mazanowski provided a three-page handout printed on both sides to the Mass-goers that is a rough draft of a pamphlet being prepared for the diocese on COVID-19 vaccines. He didn’t read the complete handout during his homily, but referred to information in it. It addressed the use of abortion-derived cells in the vaccines’ production. He began the homily by noting the Gospel recounting the isolation of lepers, “a real parallel to COVID-19.”
There’s a lot of information about this virus, Mazanowski said, but not all of it is accurate.
Although some companies are seeking to have a COVID-19 vaccine from ethical sources, the handout said, “The unfortunate reality is that at this time . . . an ethically produced vaccine has not been produced.”
While the Church “hopes, prays and advocates” for the arrival of such a day, the handout explored the current production methods, ethical rules, and the people who might receive the vaccine.
One approach for COVID-19 vaccine has “(n)o abortion-derived cells in the manufacturing process (i.e., those that do not use abortion-derived cell lines in the manufacturing process but used an aborted fetal-cell line at one point in development, such as confirmatory testing),” the handout said, citing the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.
A different approach, the handout said, used “(a)bortion-derived cells . . . in development (i.e., those that use abortion-derived cell lines in more than one phase of development and, in particular, the manufacturing process).”
Neither of these methods is ethical, it said, “because the destruction of human life through abortion should never be considered an ethical means to derive cells for developing, manufacturing, or testing vaccines.” The handout then reviewed different levels of cooperation with evil.
“Formal cooperation means you are directly and intentionally choosing to take part in the immoral action, and doing so is always wrong,” the handout said. “In effect, you become an accomplice to the evil action, and you have an evil end that is directly chosen through an evil means.
“Material cooperation occurs when the evil end and means are indirectly chosen by the person who has chosen a good end and good means,” it said. “All acts of material cooperation must involve a grave reason in order for it to be a moral or permissible act.”
The handout provided additional categories.
“Immediate material cooperation means that your involvement is necessary for the evil to continue; thus, it also is immoral and always wrong. . . .
“Mediate material cooperation is when your involvement is only contingent or accidental to the wrongdoing. In other words, the cooperation does not contribute to the perpetuation of evil….
“Cooperation can also be proximate (i.e., a contribution to the act that does lead to the commission of the act) or remote (i.e., a contribution to the act that does not lead to the commission of the act). Proximate acts of cooperation normally are considered immoral, and remote acts of cooperation are normally permissible.”
As to persons who could receive the vaccine, the handout said:
“In the case of a normal person who is taking the vaccine because of their age, underlying conditions, or because they have close contact with someone who is vulnerable due to age or underlying conditions, this would be mediate, remote, indirect and moral material cooperation with evil and, though ultimately undesirable, as all cooperation with evil is, it would be considered morally permissible.
“When it comes to a healthy person who isn’t in direct contact with vulnerable populations, it would be a matter for personal discernment and prayer, and they would be free, morally speaking, to take the COVID-19 vaccine or not take the vaccine.”
Does the Catholic Church specifically believe, the handout asked, if “taking the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is an ethical option?” The answer, it said, is that receiving these vaccines “is mediate, indirect and remote material cooperation with evil and, thus, it is a moral and ethical option for Catholics.”
The Church recommends, it said, that people urge pharmaceutical companies “that future vaccines would not use cell lines from aborted fetal tissue,” that people also make others aware of this issue, and that they should pray and fast “for an end to the immoral use of aborted fetal tissue in vaccine production and in all scientific research.”
If an effective, safe, ethically produced vaccine becomes available, “then Catholics do all they can to take it,” the handout said. “Catholic hospitals should do everything they can to make it available, especially if they are mandating it for their employees.”
The handout referenced the website of the Children of God for Life (cogforlife.org) for additional COVID-19 vaccine information.
The power of intercessory prayer never should be underestimated, the handout said, citing the Scriptures. “When you are . . . faithfully bringing your intentions to God, things change as a result.”

Born An Heiress

St. Katharine Drexel, the missionary nun whose family altar is at the St. Joan of Arc campus, also has a stained-glass window in her honor in the Virginia G. Piper Chapel at Phoenix diocesan headquarters. Born an heiress, Drexel left that life behind to serve the disadvantaged, a reversal of “the ‘rags to riches’ American dream,” Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted once wrote.
An article at Catholic Online said Katharine’s own mother died shortly after she was born, and her father remarried. “After watching her stepmother suffer with terminal cancer for three straight years, Katharine also learned that no amount of money could shelter them from pain or suffering. From this moment, Katharine’s life took a turn,” this article said.
A December 2019 article in the Phoenix Diocese’s now-shuttered Catholic Sun newspaper said: “When visiting Pope Leo XIII in Rome to ask him for missionaries to staff some of the Indian missions she was financing, she was surprised to hear the Pope suggest that she herself become a missionary.”
She became a powerful leader, founding schools and exercising other influence.
Among her accomplishments, the Catholic Sun article said, she founded Arizona’s St. Michael Indian School and “was also influential in establishing the Diocese of Gallup, N.M., which included the northern parts of what is now the Diocese of Phoenix. At her invitation, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli visited the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona and New Mexico in 1936 and three years later, as Pope Pius XII, erected the new diocese.”

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)