A Mother/Scientist’s Plea to Reconsider the
Catholic School Vaccination Policy
February, 2024
Your Excellency [Eminence/Beatitude],
Blessings to you. I am a Catholic wife and mother of three young children. I desire a solid Catholic education for my family, and am a humble daughter of the Church in good standing, and in full submission to the Roman Pontiff, and to my local bishop.
I am writing to you today to humbly implore you to reconsider your local regulations around compulsory vaccination for Catholic school education, as it has directly impacted my family in an unexpected way.
My husband and I used to live minutes from the National Shrine of [X]. Our oldest boys were baptized there, and during the time we lived there, I’ve come to learn so much about this saint, including the saint’s heroic works of charity for orphans and children of low-income households, and how the saint valued a solid Catholic education.
As a mother and a primary educator of my children, I am moved to compassion when I think about the tremendous impact this and many other saints had despite the many, many obstacles they faced. These servants of God knew in their heart of hearts that the end goal was not one aligned with social or political agendas, but rather to get as many souls to Heaven as possible.
When I think about all the saints who worked so hard to provide a Catholic education for those who would otherwise not get it, and that now in 2024, there are many well-meaning Catholic families who are unable to receive a Catholic education outside the home, I am moved to righteous indignation. And that is the reason for this open letter.
We are very fortunate to live a few minutes from one of the best Catholic schools in our area, a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. As a Catholic mother looking to provide a Catholic education for my children, I was eager to set up a tour to see the school and move forward with the application process. But despite the lovely discussion I had with its school principal and her eagerness to welcome our family into theirs, the school has shut its doors to us because our children do not have the required number of vaccinations needed to attend.
I was told that our request for an exemption on the basis of a conscience objection could not be honored because it followed the same logic as a religious exemption, and that the school could not even consider our application due to the strict regulations of our diocese. Such regulations were only put into effect a few years ago, and are not consistent from one diocese to the next, begging the question of how necessary they are.
Upon having our family rejected by a Catholic school, I was moved to write this letter not only for our local bishop to read, but for all the bishops of the Catholic Church in the hopes that you might reconsider not only the fate of my family’s education, but that of countless others who desire a Catholic education and cannot receive it due to the public health restrictions that certain dioceses have imposed onto themselves.
As far as I am aware, there are three types of exemptions that an individual may request when he or she is unable or unwilling to comply with compulsory vaccination: a religious exemption, a medical exemption, and an exemption on the basis of conscience, otherwise known as a conscientious objection. I am told that I cannot receive a religious exemption on the basis of my Catholic faith from a Catholic school and that a medical exemption is the only provision that can be made, requiring a medical provider to state clearly why my children cannot receive the vaccinations.
But the third option, a conscientious objection, is based on first principles. A person may be required to refuse a medical intervention, including a vaccination, if his or her informed conscience comes to this sure judgment, as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. For the reasons stated below, this exemption should be given a closer look and honored in the setting of a Catholic school education.
Vaccination is not morally obligatory in principle and so must be voluntary.[1]
The Catholic Church has clearly stated that a person’s informed judgments about the proportionality of medical interventions are to be respected unless they contradict authoritative Catholic moral teachings.[2] We also know a person is morally required to obey his or her well-formed and certain conscience.[3] Therefore, a Catholic may judge it wrong to receive certain vaccines for a variety of reasons consistent with these teachings, and there is no authoritative Church teaching universally obliging Catholics to receive any vaccine. As such, a person should not be discriminated against, and a baptized Catholic should not be refused access to Catholic schools on the basis of his or her vaccination status.
We cannot be afraid of the cross, and we cannot hold the fear of human disease and sickness in a higher regard than our faith in God.
We have to ask ourselves as Catholics who are living and passing down the faith: what is our end goal? Is it to achieve “herd immunity,” or is it to get as many souls to Heaven as possible? While surely both can be accomplished in a lifetime, I’m afraid that despite good intentions to promote a material good (health and well-being), we have lost sight of the primary goal and have allowed ourselves in today’s society to become led astray into thinking that our end goal is the same as that of the public health officials. That is, to inject as many people as possible with foreign substances that may or may not be helpful. Or are harmful.
Since our Catholic faith teaches that every person has the right to refuse the injection of foreign substances into his or her body, why then is the potential for a Catholic education withheld if the person judges it imprudent per his conscience to vaccinate his children? How is it that receiving a Catholic education in the school setting is linked to a requirement of needing to have a certain number of shots, when not even the public schools have such restrictions? And how is it that a person can be discriminated against on the basis of their vaccination status?
There are many people with legitimate reasons as to why they cannot, and will not vaccinate themselves or their children. I shall not exhaust the details of that information in this communication, but I encourage all people to educate themselves on the risks and dangers associated with vaccines, which have been actively and conveniently suppressed by the media.
For a thorough and balanced examination of this topic from a Catholic lens, I highly recommend Vaccination: A Catholic Perspective, by Biologist Pamela Acker.
Despite the narrative, we are told by public health officials and social media, the mere questioning and refusal of compulsory vaccination is not an indicator of a lack of education or awareness.
I am a geneticist and medical research scientist by training. I hold a PhD in Genetics and Development from Columbia University. In addition, I am a medical writer with managerial experience in the healthcare industry working with and consulting for pharmaceutical companies — the very same companies that manufacture many of the vaccines on the market today.
I bring to you a fresh and unique perspective on this issue as a scientist, Catholic, and mother because I have seen more than the average person in my years of medical research. My principles are rooted in truth and in the teachings of the Catholic faith. With intellectual honesty and truth, I decided several years ago to embark upon a quest to evaluate the true science and data around vaccines. This was a fruitful journey whose findings led me to conclude there is sound reason to question and doubt the safety and efficacy of several vaccines, including but not limited to, those for Covid.
Contrary to popular opinion, the burden of proof does not fall upon the person who questions the safety of a product, but rather it falls upon the party who makes the claim that something is completely safe. Pharmaceutical companies knew this and protected themselves against this when the Vaccine Injury Compensation Act was put into effect in 1988, blocking parents from taking legal action for vaccine injury. This, together with the fact that long-term studies are rarely if ever conducted for vaccines, and almost all vaccine safety research is performed by the pharmaceutical companies themselves, should be sufficient to raise our concerns.
Every vaccine has the potential to cause harm and a fatal reaction.
Whether it’s a severe allergic reaction, a neurologic or other immunological reaction, fatal reactions do occur from vaccines. It is a known fact that injection with a foreign substance, especially harmful ones like aluminum adjuvants (present in vaccines) can cause an anaphylactic response in an individual.
In other words, the mechanism of injection in and of itself can be problematic and harmful because it adversely affects the immune system, making a person atopic and more sensitive to developing immune-related problems. It is well documented that the rates of food allergies in children skyrocketed in the late 1980s/early 1990s when the following events occurred: the vaccines were injected with alum adjuvants, the frequency and potency of vaccines increased, and the age of the first injection dropped to birth.
My two oldest children developed serious food allergies within a month of receiving certain vaccinations that only grew worse as they got older, yet our youngest child, who has not received any vaccinations, remains free and clear of any such allergens.
One might wonder why I would not simply submit a request for a medical exemption based on the information above. As it turns out, it is very difficult to find a medical provider who is willing to put his career and reputation on the line by putting in writing any claim that even suggests that a vaccine could have been linked to any adverse outcome, including food allergies. This is because the medical community is highly influenced and even coerced by public health and political figures to comply with the overall messaging the public receives. In other words, doctors are not allowed to say anything negative about vaccines, because medical professionals are all taught in their years of medical training that vaccines are safe and effective, without a shadow of a doubt, no questions asked. Case closed.
Well, that is not true. There is a very interesting history of the true facts and story behind vaccines, including how the first vaccine ever developed was not even successful but was promoted to the public as a success in an effort to push the vaccination campaign. It also sheds light on the fact that vaccines were not the reason why the rates of communicable diseases dropped, but rather because sanitation laws were put into effect and the streets were cleaned up. This historic recount of events, supported by extensive epidemiological data and records, can be found in the book Dissolving Illusions, by Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk.
We are no longer living in an era of outhouses, workhouses, child labor, and poor sanitation in the USA. Rather, we have the opposite problem today. We are too clean, our hands too sanitized, and our hearts too sterile to cultivate the seeds of truth. Having said all of that, together with the fact that the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, it saddens me that a well-meaning Catholic who chooses not to vaccinate his children is left in quite a predicament: homeschool the children, send them to public school (which makes provisions for vaccine exemptions), or go out on a limb to find a bold medical provider who can make a case for why the child cannot receive one or more vaccines.
Instead of providing Catholic families with hope and comfort, supporting their journey, and educating their children to pass down the faith to the next generation, the Catholic schools here are ignited with the same strict mandates found in the public health system. These are the very same mandates that led to countless numbers of well-meaning, hard-working individuals who lost their jobs because they would not in good conscience receive an experimental vaccine that has, in fact, been linked to adverse outcomes (including deaths), which were actively suppressed by the media.
We cannot be afraid to ask ourselves: What is our primary end goal as Catholics?
Is it herd immunity? Is it compliance with the public health narrative, with the media, with the prospects of affability on social media sites? If it is any of the above, then surely we have let the evil one deceive us. But if our goal is greater than all of that, then may we all be bold in proclaiming our true conviction and sense of purpose in the Catholic Faith. I humbly ask you to reflect on the following question: Is God calling you in your role to promote the education of the Catholic Faith to as many people as possible, or to restrict it only to those who have complied with the social norms and public health restrictions?
Let us not forget that many of the prominent figures in our country and world that we look to please do not hold God and His one true Church as their highest regard, but rather, place themselves on the throne instead of Christ the King. Therefore, let none of us be deceived by such wolves in sheep’s clothing. Rather, let us reevaluate what the true meaning of being Catholic is, it’s literal meaning of “Universal,” and the message Jesus Christ taught His disciples when He established His Church here on earth.
After I wrote this letter, I questioned whether to share it, uncertain of its fate. I am not naive in thinking that a single letter can change the outcome of the current regulations, but I do have faith that with God, all things are possible.
We will all have to answer to Christ the King on the day of our judgment, providing an account of our lives — what we did, and did not do. I pray we all live to serve our heavenly Father in the best way we can and be greeted with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Because, as you know, this is truly what our life is all about.
So please, I humbly implore you to reconsider your local regulations. Let our children, and all children, attend Catholic schools free of compulsory vaccination. We would be most grateful, and God will bless your merciful and generous hearts for reconsidering this matter.
May God open your minds and give you a resigned peace in your souls as you process this request, and may your faith be strengthened by it regardless of the outcome you choose to pursue.
May God bless you and keep you always. Yours in Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph,
A Wife, Mother, Geneticist, Medical Writer, and above all, a Catholic servant of God
ENDNOTES:
[1] https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html)
[2] https://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/ethical-and-religious-directives/upload/ethical-religious-directives-catholic-health-service-sixth- edition-2016-06.pdf
[3] https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P62.HTM