We are not able to send our son John Paul to a Catholic school within our Diocese because he has not recieved the MMR.

I have had e-mail discussions with Father Tad Pacholczyk on the matter, as well as, had discussions with Debbi Vinnedge, founder of Children of God for Life. A couple of years ago we had invited Ms. Vinnedge to be a keynote speaker at a pro-life event.

Here are some observations on the subject.

There is a difference of opinion between those who are scientific minded and those who are not. In the number of Dioceses in the U.S. which do not allow for religious exemptions there is generally an invididual, lay or clergy, working within the Diocese who has a backround in Science or Medicine that has influenced the decision.

Why should there be a discepency between each Diocese over allowing religious exemptions? Shouldn’t every Diocese be unified in their stance on the issue?

The Vatican, allows for the usage of the “tainted” vaccines due to social health concerns (such as the threat of Rubella to pregnant women), however, condemns the creation of these “tainted” vaccines and has called for leadership within the communities to stand up against there creation.

In the regard of allowing the use of these vaccines the Vatican has compromised its position in opposing the use of aborted fetal cells to create medicines. It took a letter, sent decades after the these “tainted” vaccines have been absorbed by a generation, to motivate a declaration by the Church on the matter. Our society as a whole (portentially greater than 99%) is oblivious to its receptiveness of these vaccines. And, 2005, the Church instructs social opposition to the creation of new vaccines using aborted fetal cells, but, it is not a subject that it typically addresed by the Bishops and Pastors.

What would be the stance by the Church if it were determined that there is no serious threat to society by diseases which the tainted vaccines were designed to protect against? Obviously, they would be against them, however, the Church has been forced to compromise it’s position by the science community.

The Church states that there are different degrees of complicity in regards to Catholic acceptance and use of these vaccines. The big question is should we be complicit with anything that attempts to justify any abortion and at what point do Catholics not comply with accepting the vaccines that compromise the belief in respecting the dignity of the life exploited as a human resource.

The pharmaceutical corporations have not halted using cell lines from aborted fetuses to produce vaccines, but, have actually increased their efforts. As a result the Church and Catholics should prepare to face an impending challenge to their moral beliefs regarding these vaccines.

If, for example, the U.S. Government reforms it’s health care program that enables the opportunity for a public option (a Governmental health plan) then it should be anticipated that the Governmental health plan could eventually monopolize the marketplace. If this event does occur then the public should anticipate that the Government would dictate a plan of mandatory vaccines. The logic being that by taking vaccines it would improve the overall health of the public and eliminate long term health risks that would be costly to the system. Those resisting mandatory vaccines could be veiwed as placing an unfair and unwelcome burden on the system. The Government could threaten those resisting as failing to comply with the plan and drop them from receiving health insurance. It could very well reach a point where Catholics could be in a position to either accept “tainted vaccines” or lose their health coverage. Would the Church continue to bend on the issue or if they were to take a firm stance at this point would Catholics comply?

The main issue to all of this is whether or not we are jeopardizing ourselves spiritually by choosing to accept these vaccines for the benefit of our physical bodies.

I have, admittedly, pondered this question at great length and there are a number of Bible passages that lead me to question whether we should be complicit.

Today’s 1st Reading
Rom 8:12-17

Brothers and sisters,
we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.

Lk 11:46-48

And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.
Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.
Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.

Are we consequently bearing witness and giving consent to the destruction of human life, by the most heinous crime of abortion, and allowing for their remains to used in building vaccines?

This does not give all information, nor does it supply information about companies that continue to use aborted babies in their research to produce new vaccines and/or other drugs. This paper provides some excellent background as well: http://www.lifecanada.org/html/science/Vaccines/ABriefHistoryofHumanDiploidCellStrains.pdf

Finally for those who express the viewpoint that they will not allow those who will not vaccinate using these tainted lines to be in school, their argument seems counter-intuitive. There is no danger to vaccinated children from
unvaccinated children, unless of course parents want to acknowledge that
some of these vaccines are not particularly effective. According to Dr. Deisher, “The measles outbreaks we have seen in the past year or so on college campuses were primarily among vaccinated people. Interesting.”

If someone chooses life, and not to vaccinate with a tainted line, how would this endanger someone else who is vaccinated (protected) from the disease?

The sad reality is that for children born after 1993, over 90% have now been vaccinated with tainted vaccines. What many pro-life Catholics want now are clear options to not continue on that course both for pro-life reasons certainly and perhaps because of what may be the link to other heartwrenching consequences like autism.

http://www.cogforlife.org/vaticanresponse.pdf

a great 9 page answer which also lists the particular vaccines including the three for which there are no alternatives in the US.

God bless

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/abortedtissue.htm

I hope we can get the word out so that people can make fully informed decisions on this…it is scary to think of the consequences of ‘social sin’…the decisions forced on us by the culture we live in.

God bless

Thank you for bringing up Gardasil. As I have a daughter as well, who was slated to receive this, I had to do my research on this as well. I ended up being interviewed by our local tv news show as the parent who was not going to go ahead with it (the other parent wasn’t sure – which was interesting). There is an excellent brochure available from Alliance for Life Ontario – click on the link “HPV Updated Statistics” here: http://www.allianceforlife.org/ You can print out this pdf, or copies of the brochure can be ordered. One of the sources cited in the brochure is an excellent article, “Our Girls are Not Guinea Pigs” from Canadian news magazine Macleans – it is superb: http://www.macleans.ca/science/health/article.jsp?content=20070827_108312_108312

D.Ferrell

We have chosen not to get flu shots in our family and instead focus on good health choices — vitamins, good food, lots of exercise, hand washing, etc. So far so good. I respect the decision by other families to vaccinate and just ask that you respect my decision not to. My decision was reached through much prayer and research; I assume that yours was, too.

I don’t know what to believe about autism and vaccines. I have read a lot of good information on both sides of that issue. I do know that we have chosen not to use vaccines that are derived from aborted fetal cells. That includes rubella. Rubella can be very dangerous if contracted by a pregnant woman. I had the vaccine as a child and tested as immune for my first 3 pregnancies. Then with my 4th I tested non-immune. Why? How did that wear off when it was supposed to confer a lifetime of immunity? I don’t know but I have chosen not to get the vaccine again. My daughters will have to make their own decisions when they get married with regard to that vaccine. I won’t make it now for them.

Like someone else said, I wish that the Catholic Church would take a stand on this issue so that pressure would be placed on the pharmaceutical companies to create vaccines that are not derived from aborted babies instead of just saying that it’s alright to take the vaccines if a moral vaccine is not available.