In an essay published this month, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois argued that months-long lockdowns in response to the coronavirus are an extraordinary means of saving life, and are therefore not morally obligatory and should not be coerced by the state.
We have “taken the extraordinary and unprecedented step of shutting down a major portion of our economy for the past several months, telling people to stay home, not to go to work, and not to go to school,” Bishop Paprocki wrote in “Social Shutdowns as an Extraordinary Means of Saving Human Lives”, an essay in the September edition of Ethics & Medics, a commentary published by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
“The distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means of preserving life is important, for if a means is extraordinary—that is, if the burdens outweigh the benefits—then it is not morally obligatory and should not be coerced by state power,” he wrote.
“[I]n the face of a pandemic, do we have a moral obligation to shut down our society, require people to stay at home, put employees out of work, send businesses into bankruptcy, impair the food supply chain, and prevent worshippers from going to church? I would say no,” the bishop concluded, saying that such actions “would be imposing unduly burdensome and extraordinary means.”
Speaking to CNA, Bishop Paprocki drew an analogy with the distinction between ordinary means of preserving the life of a patient in medical care, which are obligatory, and extraordinary means, which are so burdensome that they are not obligatory, in the response to a pandemic.
“It just occurred to me that that very word extraordinary is a word that we use in Catholic medical ethics when we talk about treatments to save life, when you’re talking about an individual patient,” he said.
“Looking back, at emails and decisions we were making at that time, we were very much thinking in the middle of March, that this was going to be for a couple of weeks – we’ll close our schools until the end of March, and then things will reopen.”
“Obviously that didn’t happen that way,” he said, “so the lockdowns got extended another month, and so here we are several months later and this is ongoing.”
“The impact that it’s been having on people being able to go to church, receive Communion, go to their jobs, go to school, with all that being basically shut down for a period of time, again, it just struck me as extraordinary, that this had never happened in my lifetime, and probably in the lifetime of most people who are alive today, and so the word extraordinary kept coming back to me,” he explained.
Full story at Catholic World Report.
Just over 200,000 dead. Yes, some had issues of co-morbidity.
With all due respect to the Bishop, I think the difference between ordinary and exrtraordinary care depends on whether ones loved one is in the hospital ICU.
So violate the orders, bishop. Easy. Catholics don’t have an obligation to obey an unjust law/order/edict/regulation. If you think the order is unjust, then violate it.
The Bishop, I assume is not an expert in decease control. If he were, he would tell you that we did not shut down the country as we were advised to do. Each governor, for lack of national leadership, took it upon himself or herself to set up their own rules. We did not shut down the country. Florida is a good example. Even today, with virus cases spiking, young people now 20% of the cases, he is opening the state as it was before the pandemic started. Think about that. We are still in the first phase of a national crisis and the state is fully open, including schools. We not only have a national public health crisis, but we also have a national moral crisis. The Bishop’s thinking is much like a circular firing squad.
Survival rate of 99.995% refutes everything you say.
Anon, this is still above epidemic levels.
The Bishop is simply wrong. Catholics are morally obligated to follow just orders given by civil authorities. Also, Catholics are obligated to respect life.
By the way, to the anonymous guy spitting out incorrect things…the death rate after exposure to this virus is between 1 and 4%, depending on how overrun the health care system is, with many many more suffering long term ailments even if they don’t die. It is irresponsible to be putting out crazy fake facts.
So stay in a state of physical or mental lockdown all you want, hang out with Bob One. The bishop is right in his analysis and actions, I’ll follow his lead.
No is he is not, YFC, if those laws are immoral, which they are, the Church is not obliged.
I think most of the wars America is engaged in are immoral. Does that make me immune from following them and the taxes they cause me to pay? I thiink the vast trillions of dollars in corporate bailouts are immoral. Does that make me immune from paying THOSE taxes?
Governments have the constitutional right to establish laws that protect the health and safety of the citizens. That is all that is being done here. Those laws are not only moral, but they are just, and they are necessary.
YFC, you side with the State over the Church we know where your loyalties lie.
So let’s use real numbers, as of today the US has had 32,600,000 cases of the virus. Of those, 200,000 have died. Many are old with underlying conditions but the number of young people with the virus is rising quickly. Opening colleges and other schools are part of the reason. Over 200 million people would need to catch the virus for herd immunity to work. Assuming a 3% death rate, we have to be willing to let six million people die. Even if we cut the death rate in half, millions will die. The prediction is that at least another 200,000 will die by year-end because of the early opening of everything. Let’s pray the predictions are hugely wrong. In the meantime, the least we can do is avoid crowds, stay six or more feet apart from other than your household folks, wear a mask outside the home, and wash hands often. That isn’t really being locked down. That is not a big deal. Filling a church with people is a big deal.
Bob One will not be happy until every small business is gone, and gulags are filled… burns your masks ladies and gentlemen never wear them, defy these psychotics who will not be happy until they have complete control. Open the Church’s close the bath houses.
I thought Catholics are pro-life? I guess not if you are elderly! I wonder how much the Republican National Committee or the Trump campaign paid the good Bishop to write this article.
Renegade, why do you think the bishop was paid? Have you asked the bishop how much he was paid or are you just trashing him without any basis? Are you only a renegade Republican or are you a renegade Catholic-in-name-only too?
That unsubstantiated allegation is inappropriate to make of anyone, let alone a bishop. I recommend you follow what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17 and confront the bishop privately and directly, if you think he is sinning. Here’s the telephone number: 217-698-8500.
And, if your local priests are in COVID-19 lockdown and not available for Confession, you might be able to call and arrange for such outside, six feet apart and in masks.
Excellent reply Curious, Bada Bing!
Bob One, “real numbers”? That’s questionable. The reliability of the test is unclear and there is evidence that exposure to previous coronavirus strains can lead to false positives. Renegade, what a slanderous statement! Protecting the elderly did not require shutting down the entire economy. Those who are particularly vulnerable have the option of sheltering in place and avoiding situations where they could be exposed. Many people are suffering and dying from the isolation imposed by the draconian restriction. Suicides are up 600%. People who have strokes are avoiding the ER. Cancer treatments are postponed. We have no idea of the death toll (i.e., the unintended consequences) of the response to the virus. Cuomo killed thousands by forcing nursing homes to take infected patients back in from the hospitals. I applaud Bishop Paprocki for his common sense, which seems not so common these days.
I am elderly and have received Communion on the tongue and in hand out of necessity at least three times each since Masses have been held out doors. Reasonable precautions were taken, and my doctor knowing my prolife directive recommended the pneumonia vaccine to help against COVID. Besides taking reasonable amounts of Zinc in multiple vitamin form every other day and Zicam tablets when exposed to something, I looked up the pneumonia vaccine on the Children of God website and took it.
Question: why are not more doctors recommending this ethical vaccine since COVID turns in pneumonia? Quite suspicious!
Correction to last post: COVID turns into pneumonia.
So many incorrect statements by Mary Ann Kreitzer. There is no evidence that previous exposure to coronaviruses causes a false positive PCR test. No evidence.
There are definitely serious psychological consequences to the pandemic. There are serious psychological consequences to facing the prospect that millions of your countrymen may die. That is on top of the isolation we all feel. I don’t at all suggest that we don’t take those things seriously, but to say that suicide is up 600% is irresponsible. Suicides are increasing year after year. This year they are up, true, but not 600%. More like a range between 16 and 60%. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-pandemic-effect-suicide-heightens.html
Speak for yourself, we all don’t feel isolation and we all don’t believe the CDC numbers which have been inflated for political purpose. Furthermore, 100% of our countrymen will die, eventually, of something, but highly unlikely it will be from covid 19. This breathless take on the current situation is an over reaction from Trump haters to keep a diminishing problem on the front burner.
Carlos, where is your evidence that CDC numbers have been inflated for political purposes? That is purely an accusation without any reasonable basis in belief.
First off, CDC just reports numbers that thousands of health providers report into them. They don’t conduct the tests, they don’t just have people pencilling in the numbers they want you to believe. Why would they do that in the first place? What could possibly be in it for them?
Second, “for political purposes”. The CDC is controlled by agencies under the control of Donald J. Trump. Why would Donald J Trump want numbers to be artifically high when he invokes magic to say that the numbers will suddenly disappear? Where is the politics in that? If politics play any role in the numbers, the reported numbers are TOO LOW.
Thirdly, aren’t we pro-life? This fatalistic “We will all die of something” argument justifies abortion, euthenasia, and callous disregard for human life at every leve. We all die of something…is that what Jesus told Lazarus?
No argument justifies abortion or euthanasia and is obviously not what I said. And no callous disregard for human life at any level either, so stop clinging to your misrepresentation. Political purposes are on full display in San Francisco which is not under Trump’s control and is doing it’s own thing far beyond CDC recommendations, as over the top as they are. Wrapping your lefty political opinions in a Catholic robe doesn’t make them true, profound, or even interesting.
Yes, a simple matter of trade-offs. I believe we used to call it . . . common sense.
Well, today the world surpassed one million deaths from covid and the US is at 206,000. We have 4% of the world’s population and 10% of the deaths. Gee, we have done such a great job, haven’t we? If we had shut down the country for two months we may have come close to killing the virus, but we didn’t. If 90% of us would wear a mask when we leave the house, we could save 100,000 lives by year-end. I think it’s worth the trouble.
Tell that to Antifa and other groups burning down stores.
Highly inflated figures I am sure. There is no need to wear a mask when one gets into ones car if steering wheel and so forth are wiped down with sanitizer periodically, and there are only people in the car who live at ones house. People do not have to wear masks in parks either if they distance themselves. In fact runners should not wear them while running, not safe. Just keep one in a pocket or on wrist in case of restroom use.
Anne TE, forgetting the views on politics and protests, you are correct in your analysis for the most part. Why do people find it so onerous to do what you suggest, and the CDC suggests. There is still some question as to the transmission through the air, so wear a mask whenever you can’t be more than six to ten feet from others. It is really simple to be safe, yet some people make a political issue out of it.
Ooooppps! 20% is more correct, My bad math shows up again.