Letters: Pope and bishops have provided us with guidance

Paul Schratz’s Aug. 30 column “Conscience vs. vaccination passports” made a good case for freedom of conscience and the decisions on which acceptance of the vaccine should be based.

However, the article did not give enough weight to the importance for consciences to be informed and educated. To guide Catholics, the Pope has been addressing the issue, saying that the vaccine is not only morally acceptable, but that to receive it is a moral obligation in order to protect one’s own health and to safeguard the common good.

His statement is in accordance with St. Thomas Aquinas’ view on the obligation to serve the common good and the need for prudential judgement in matters of morality.

The objective truth of the preventive value of tested and approved vaccines, the duty to obey civil authorities when there is no good reason to disobey, the relative importance of witnessing the opposition to any misuse of abortion cells when there is an authoritative presumption of causing harm to our neighbors by avoiding vaccination, the voice of the Pope and of most cardinals and bishops, including ours, should provide enough guidance for a prudential decision.

While Aquinas and the Church teach that every person should follow his or her conscience, even if the conscience is in error, doing so does not excuse one’s subsequent behaviour if one’s conscience is misinformed by avoidable ignorance. Some Catholics objecting to the vaccine may, perhaps, suffer of excessive scrupulosity, in itself a corruption of the freedom of conscience.

Margherita Oberti
West Vancouver

I was disappointed to read Jenna McDonald’s Aug. 30 article which essentially said we should take the vaccine because Pope Francis said Catholics should do so and because it is what the government wants us to do.

The Catholic Church teaches we need to follow our conscience. The Pope is not infallible when it comes to medical matters such as COVID vaccines. The government is not informing people of the true risks of the virus and is not offering any alternative treatments, which studies have shown to be very effective.

When a person faces manipulation by media and government, as well as vaccines that relied on abortions for development, we should encourage people to make their own decisions and not ostracize those who choose a different decision than our own. 

Joan Davies
Coquitlam

Re two letters in the Aug. 24 B.C. Catholic:

Kathleen Higgins wrote that people are hearing only one side of the COVID issue “due to censorship.”

There is no such animal as “censorship” when it comes to all the COVID misinformation out there on social media. 

Then Joan Davies wrote, “the unfortunate suffering seen in hospitals (from COVID) is a small percentage of the population. 

This certainly does not reflect the impact on the family and extended family members left behind.

Thea Baxter
Surrey

Congratulations on your Aug. 23 coverage of the disaster in Haiti and your appeal for donations. You mentioned Catholic Relief Services, a worthy U.S. organization, but we have in Canada an organization founded by the Catholic bishops of Canada, Development & Peace/Caritas Canada, which is already active in Haiti funnelling resources to the people most in need.

D&P has partnered with Haitian organizations that are on the ground and able to take swift action. 

Here in Squamish the parishioners of St. Joseph are already sending funds through D&P, either online at devp.org, or by mail to Development and Peace, 1425 Rene-Levesque Blvd West, 3rd Floor, Montreal, Que. H3G 1T7, marking our cheques Haiti Relief.

I would appreciate your mentioning this avenue of helping the people of Haiti in your next edition.

Peter Hart
Squamish

Each year, a culture of fear, loneliness and abandonment is resulting in the death of thousands of Canadians through abortion or lethal injection. Each day, 300 Canadian women undergo an abortion, where her baby’s body is ripped from the womb in a brutal procedure. That same day more than 15 vulnerable Canadians will be killed by a doctor under the deceptive euphemism known as Medical Aid in Dying.

Many believe these insidious acts are being carried out in the name of choice. The real reason is fear and a government obsessed with promoting a culture of death.

Dean Clark
Langley

I’m grateful for Tony Gazdik’s Aug. 2 letter. I have been asking myself the same question: “how many apologies are enough?”

I also loved the interview on anti-Christian hatred with Madeleine Enzlberger, executive director of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination.

And then there was the article by Agnieszka Ruck, “You seem to need some support, I’m here for you.”

Thank you all for being here for us.

Bozena Szucs
Burnaby