Re Natalie Sonnen’s Oct. 5 article “Catholics have a role in demanding ethical vaccines”:

The Catholic Church is opposed to abortion. Nevertheless, the Pontifical Academy for Life concluded in 2005 that parents are free to allow their children to receive vaccines made from fetal tissue. The academy also called for the development of new vaccines that can be made by other means. The National Catholic Bioethics Center states that " … one is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion.”

The reason is that the risk to public health if one chooses not to vaccinate outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine.

Ben Nuttall-Smith
White Rock

 

In an Aug. 15 letter to the bishops of the world, Cardinal Robert Sarah wrote, in part, “As soon as circumstances permit, however, it is necessary and urgent to return to the normality of Christian life, which has the church building as its home and the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, as “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed, at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows …” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10)

Relying on broadcast Masses, he said, “risks distancing us from a personal and intimate encounter with the incarnate God who gave himself to us not in a virtual way, but really, saying: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56).”

There is a double standard regarding health regulations in British Columbia. While two metres of spacing is the standard throughout the province, one-metre spacing is allowed between students if they’re all facing the same direction. Meanwhile many people are quietly and gradually drifting away from the Church. 

In June, an Albany, N.Y., judge ruled that restrictions on public worship were unconstitutional because they were inconsistent with other, more liberal regulations allowed for non-religious gatherings.

It's time to consider similar legal challenges. 

Kathleen Higgins
Delta