Statement from the Diocese of Madison:
Despite how it is being characterized in some news reports and social media posts, the decision for parishes and other diocesan entities within the Diocese of Madison not to host onsite COVID-19 vaccination clinics is not about condemning or discouraging vaccination.
Bishop Hying has given guidance on the moral dimensions of the vaccine, and he has even encouraged its reception, alongside his brother bishops in the state of Wisconsin. He has never discouraged reception of the vaccine.
However, this is not a decision that involves either an absolute moral imperative or an intrinsic moral evil. As such it should be made by individuals and parents with a well-formed conscience as to what is appropriate for their own circumstances, weighing carefully the medical and moral facts and the potential risks versus the hoped-for benefits.
Apart from the moral and medical dimensions of this decision, the issue has become bitterly divisive. Since there are already ample vaccination sites within the eleven counties of the diocese, Bishop Hying has decided that it would be best for parishes and other diocesan entities not to host vaccine clinics.
This is what is missing from some of the reporting and commentary about the Diocese of Madison’s decision not to host child vaccination clinics.
This distortion has only been exacerbated by the comments on social media from Fr. James Martin, SJ, who called the diocesan decision “Anti life.” When there are more than enough facilities to offer vaccinations throughout the diocese, choosing not to host vaccination clinics does not equate to being “Anti life.” Rather, it avoids the appearance of unequivocal moral endorsement while also respecting individuals’ and parents’ ability to make a decision based on their legitimate weighing of the medical and moral concerns involved.
For Fr. Martin and other critics to attack this decision of the bishop and characterize it as anti-life is at best a case of rash judgment, especially considering they did not have the decency to contact him first.
For context, the content of the diocesan statement that was partially quoted in the article that spurred this and other uncharitable posts is provided here in its entirety:
“Diocesan locations, parishes, and parochial school sites will not serve as locations for Covid-19 vaccinations, nor will they sponsor vaccination distribution offsite. This should not be in any way interpreted as the local Catholic Church or her leadership discouraging vaccinations. As we have stated repeatedly, it is morally permissible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination in good conscience, but there are also valid reasons, including reasons of conscience, why people might decide not to be vaccinated or have their children vaccinated.
“Every individual, and now every family, must make a prudential judgment about whether COVID-19 vaccination is appropriate for their own circumstances, weighing carefully the medical and moral facts, and the potential risks versus hoped for benefits. Given that, by all indications, plenty of secular sites are already available in all eleven counties of the diocese, the diocese has not and will not wade into the polarizing and political environment surrounding this issue, especially as it could potentially pressure individuals to act against their consciences.
“If any parish has hosted a clinic, it is news to us. Similarly, I don’t have any information as to who has contacted our parishes or schools with regard to hosting clinics, only that our guidance has been consistently that of neutrality, as there are sufficient resources throughout the area. As for the other almost 200 dioceses in the United States, you’ll find there is a wide variance of guidelines, practices, and allowances on this issue as well as countless others.”
The November 12 statement from the Diocese of Madison (Wisconsin) was forwarded by a California Catholic reader.
I got the coof. Mild fever, mild chills, weakened smell, cough. I didn’t quarantine. There is no legal nor moral imperative to quarantine. People who want to live in fear have to isolate themselves. The rest of us will get on with enjoying life. Nothing came of me not quarantining. Everyone is going to get the coof, even the jabbed. Just a matter of time. Might as well not quarantine and not mask so as to speed up herd immunity. That’s real science.
No that’s real anonymous irresponsibility
Perhaps you meant to say “cough.” I am sure you are not a coof, a silly or stupid person.
He meant Covid. He got Covid and the fool didn’t quarantine. Proving Fr. Martin right.
Rev. Martin won’t answer the question whether or not he is gay. Yet, he proudly virtue signals to the world that he is vaccinated and that everyone else should be too. According to Martin, you’re self-centered and don’t love your neighbor if you have reasons (of conscience or personal health) to choose not to be vaccinated numerous times against COVID. Why is he so public about his medical decisions about COVID, but not about his sexual orientation?
Maybe we don’t need to know such personal information about him, including when he had his last colonoscopy or his blood pressure.
Thanks for the link. This is on their website and it discusses SSPX. I confess to not being too cordial to them and it is because I feel they mislead people as to their status in the Church.
We should all read it.
https://madisoncatholicherald.org/society-of-st-pius-x/
One of the points it makes, which I feel that we have not done well here, is that the situation of SSPX bishops is different from the situation of SSPX priests is different from the situation of the laity “who align themselves” with SSPX is different from the situation of the laity who may occasionally attend an SSPX Mass.
Injecting children with that experimental concoction is child abuse.
Cookie, the vaccines available for fighting covid are not experimental concoctions. They are the result of decades of research on how to attack a virus. The previous administration’s Warp Speed program gave the pharma companies the funds to do large tests on thousands of people. The result is vaccines that are 90+% effective. Like all vaccines, the effectiveness wanes over time, which is why one gets the booster. One gets boosters for all kinds of vaccines. By the time kids go to school, they have received 4+ shots for polio, measles, etc. One gets a flu shot each year. There is good data that shows the efficacy of the vaccines. The lack of people getting vaccinated in many places in the country results in overcrowded hospitals and ICU units, doctors and nurses overwhelmed with dealing with preventable deaths. Please don’t spread inaccurate information.
Ah the giant Novus Ordo cookie.
Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.
That’s an irreverent way to speak about our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Pure blasphemy. Get to confession ASAP. Even a SSPX priest will confirm this.
Blasphemy.
Regardless of how big or small the host is, it is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, really, truly and substantially present. This applies to every little particle and the entire unbroken host.
What cookie means that he’s unwilling to state is that he doesn’t affirm the validity of consecrations in the Novus Ordo.
Yes indeed, cookie is a sedevacantist. Would that cookie would tell us how the Apostolic Succession was broken, for that is the only grounds for his characterization above.
“For Fr. Martin and other critics to attack this decision of the bishop and characterize it as anti-life is at best a case of rash judgment, especially considering they did not have the decency to contact him first.” Given enough time, all of us who are guilty of rash judgment will get called on it, and I am glad Fr. Martin has been called out, and look forward to reading an apology. People of influence like Fr. Martin are doubly accountable for every lack of charity in speech or action as these are often sins against truth and thus violations of a good conscience. We all need to be brought down to earth, but especially those who occupy positions of importance.
The S.S.P.X. are the one who saved the Traditional Latin Mass, and one day His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefevre will be raised to our altars as the Saint he is.